09-08-2024, 08:26 PMLime Wrote: I think you are entirely missing the point of why I brought those countries up... There is already precedent in a major sports federation for including non-states in their system. Valid choice of a nation should be based on precedent and demand. IIHF does not include Scotland and Wales because there simply isn't a demand for it. If you are really hung up on hockey precedent, note that Hong Kong is a long-standing IIHF member. It is important to realize that the SHL IIHF is not the IRL IIHF and has different demands and therefore should weigh its needs independently. I have no idea how active a Quebec team would be versus an Italian team etc. but I don't think it is in any way outside the scope of realism for a simulation hockey league.

While I don't have a hat on this or any interest in doing so, I would like to note that Hong Kong's participation in the IIHF started during British rule who were more hands-off in their administration of the region, long before it was handed to China and that the Home Nations that compose the United Kingdom usually compete separately for historical reasons (they do so in football because they already did so in the British Home Championships).

A Quebec team would lean somewhere closer to a Catalonian or a Basque national team competing regularly which is generally frowned upon because of its direct association with separatism. It's why neither of those gets to join UEFA for example, Spain would be furious.