As the 2016 World Cup winds down, we wondered: Was the eight-team, best-on-best tournament a triumph for the sport? ?Our writers offered their thoughts.Well, first off define success. Did it make money for the National Hockey League and the players who organized the tournament? If its true that every ticket was sold then yes, that part of it was a success. Was the hockey good? Yes. I thought the World Cup featured more, better hockey than we saw at the Sochi Olympics, but nothing that compared to the hockey on display four years earlier in Vancouver at the 2010 Games.If success is measured in part by pure enjoyment of the product, then having Team North America dazzle us for three tournament games qualifies this World Cup as a rousing success. Europe, the other team that was made up just for this tournament, also far exceeded expectations if you want to add that to the success quotient.If success is also measured by sustained interest and buzz, then the tournament fell short. As the best-of-three finals opened between dominating Team Canada and upstart Team Europe, it appeared as though fans were weary as opposed to energized. The bottom line is you dont get to pick who succeeds at these tournaments (even though organizers did their best to pave a way deep into the tournament for Team USA). So the final matchup between Team Europe and Canada has seen the air slowly go out of the event at its pinnacle -- even though Team Europe provided a stern test for Canada in Game 1 of the best-of-three finals. Does that mean the tournament is a failure? Hardly. Its just less of a success than it otherwise might have been.--Scott BurnsideCanada needs competitionWhat qualifies this World Cup as a success or not? The NHL and NHLPA, I think, will make money. So theres that. Staging an entire tournament in one city over two weeks takes a whole lot of manpower, and for that I tip my hat the folks at the NHL Players Association and the NHL who worked tirelessly over the past 18 months to bring this thing together. A lot of them havent had a day off in months.The empty (although were told they were sold) seats for Game 1 of the World Cup finals, not to mention the tepid atmosphere, left a sour taste for me. A clip of Mario Lemieuxs winning goal from the 1987 Canada Cup played on the big screen during the game Tuesday night and you couldnt help but be struck by the juxtaposition of it all, the scenes of those delirious fans going out of their minds at Copps Coliseum almost 30 years ago compared with the lifeless crowd on hand at Air Canada Centre.Im not blaming the fans -- there simply is no rivalry or history between juggernaut Team Canada and the made-up Team Europe. Maybe thats just it. This tournament will be great again once we get a team to rival Canada, which I suspect will be Team USA next time around given the rising young American star talent. The NHL and NHLPA did a nice job of bringing this event back. A rousing success it was not. Ill give it a solid B-plus. -- Pierre LeBrunThe players clearly caredI look at this tournament and I see unrealized potential. I cant help but wonder what a USA-Canada final might have looked like. I also cant help but wonder if Team North America could have beaten Canada. Maybe not in a series, but man, would I have liked their chances in a one-game, semifinal-knockout opportunity. We would have seen fewer empty seats if one of those scenarios had materialized. What this tournament showed us is that there is real potential for a great World Cup for the ages, even if we didnt get that here. The players clearly cared. You saw it in the effort turned in by Sidney Crosby and his teammates. You saw it when the veterans on Team Europe buckled down and got serious at just the right time. You saw it in the red eyes of the Americans when they were eliminated. Ill leave this tournament thinking about what might have been and what might still yet to be at the next one. --Craig CustanceNorth America-Sweden was worth every pennyIve loved the World Cup. I think, from a hockey standpoint, that it was worth holding the entire tournament just to see that 3-on-3 overtime between Team North America and Sweden. Holy crap, that was amazing. Id be lying, however, if I said the air has felt so electric all the way through. I think thats a function of the artificiality of the event -- unlike those other non-invented sporting events found in nature -- and the fact that the World Cup isnt yet entrenched in the collective hockey mind.Time will improve its stature. I just hoped for more from Toronto. The surprise success of Team Europe changed the dynamic of the finals (and blame the Americans, not Europe, for being absolutely terrible and blowing the chance for a more compelling matchup), but Canada remains one of the great hockey teams ever assembled, even a perfect one. For that team to play in front of empty seats in a hockey capital is inexcusable to me. -- Chris JonesIt was great for the game -- at every levelI will watch hockey anywhere, anytime and at any level. It could be a youth, high school, college, junior, minor league or NHL game and I will pay attention. I love the game. For an entire month -- which included trips to Gothenburg, Sweden; Helsinki, Finland; Washington, D.C.; and Toronto -- Ive been spoiled by the best talent in the world during this tournament.The World Cup of Hockey is a good thing. Sure, it has some wrinkles, but this event needs to have a future no matter whether NHLers participate in the Olympics or not. I picked Sweden to win the World Cup championship and that obviously did not come to fruition. Being an American, I was hoping for a better outcome by Team USA. Team North America was like watching a bunch of kids play on the pond. It was exciting and actually brought me out of my seat once or twice. You have to love how Team Europe literally surprised the world and reached the finals against Team Canada. Speaking of the Canadians, this roster has to be one of the greatest collections of talent -- ever. After you take time to digest the entire process you will realize this tournament was great for the game of hockey at every level and it needs to happen again. -- Joe McDonald Fake Yeezy Online . Soukalova missed only one target and completed the 15-kilometre course in 40 minutes, 32.6 seconds for both victories in this seasons individual discipline. Darya Domracheva of Belarus was second, 34. Fake Yeezy . 1 position. 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BALTIMORE -- Wade Miley punched a cooler in the dugout after the sixth inning, and the frustrated Baltimore Orioles lost again.Josh Donaldson hit his fourth homer in two days and Jose Bautista also went deep in support of Marco Estrada, leading the Toronto Blue Jays over the fading Orioles 5-1 on Monday night.Toronto maintained a two-game lead over the Red Sox for the AL East lead, while Baltimore fell four games back.The Orioles have lost four of five and are clinging to the second wild card.We just got to play ball, Miley said. Weve got plenty of games against Toronto. Its in our own hands. We just got to play ball games.Miley (8-11) allowed three runs and five hits while tying a season high with nine strikeouts over seven innings. He has lost three of six starts since being acquired from Seattle on July 31.Wade was good, Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. Mixed in a lot of different looks and gave us a good chance. A good seventh inning to get one more inning out of him.Miley retired the first 10 batters before allowing Donaldsons 34th home run. Troy Tulowitzki gave the Blue Jays a 2-1 lead later that inning with an RBI single.Bautista provided a two-run cushion when he led off the sixth with his 16th homer, and Miley took out his frustrations on the water cooler a few minutes later.Estrada (8-6) allowed one run and four hits with four strikeouts over seven-plus innings. The Blue Jays have won three of his four starts against the Orioles this year.J.J. Hardy provided Baltimores only run with his eighth homer in the third. But thats about all Baltimore could muster against Estrada.Weve had trrouble with him for a while, Hardy said.dddddddddddd He locates his pitches, kind of right on the top. His fastball is sneaky. He can elevate it. He can pitch down with it, and his changeup is a really tough pitch.Donaldson hit a solo homer in the fourth to tie it 1-1. The reigning AL MVP had three homers in a 9-6 win over Minnesota on Sunday.Hes such a good player, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. When hes doing his thing, it makes such a big difference for this team. It really sets everything up.The Blue Jays added two more runs in the ninth on an RBI single by Justin Smoak and a fielders choice by Devon Travis off Tommy Hunter.LEADING OFFJonathan Schoop batted leadoff for the first time in three years with the Orioles and went 0 for 4 with a pair of strikeouts.TRAINERS ROOMOrioles: CF Adam Jones was out of the starting lineup for the third straight game with a left hamstring strain. ... Right-hander Chris Tillman, on the 15-day DL with right shoulder bursitis, threw on flat ground without any setbacks. He will play catch again Wednesday before throwing off a mound.UP NEXTBlue Jays: Left-hander J.A. Happ (17-4, 3.19) had his 11-game winning streak snapped in his last start against the Angels. Happ has won both of his two previous outings against Baltimore this season.Orioles: Ubaldo Jimenez (5-11, 6.62 ERA) is back in the rotation with the injury to Tillman. He took the loss in his past outing Thursday against the Nationals after allowing one run over six innings. ' ' '