Obviously losing to Latvia was ugly. Canada has won tournaments after some horrible losses before, but any positives coming out of the Finland game seem long gone now. The team intentionally took several passengers, and they are playing like passengers. The main problem for the team is still there but a new problem - lack of discipline and/or simple stupidity, emerged.
The biggest concern right now is Schaefer, but realistically he looks done. If he comes back that's great but I wouldn't bet on it. Hopefully he recovers without any lingering issues going forward. Schaefer is a significant blow since Canada was leaning heavily on him and Molendyk. Bonk remained on the power play and I swear it looked like they were avoiding passing it to him, and I get why. There are calls for Dickinson but I don't know, he hasn't looked particularly good either. I'd say Molendyk has to move to the first unit if Schaefer is gone and someone who isn't Bonk, whether it is Dickinson or Price, needs to go to the second unit. Cameron's one change, putting Beaudoin in Howe's spot, actually makes sense since Howe was doing nothing in front of the net and Beaudoin is at least the team's strongest forward.
Pretty much every criticism of the roster has been demonstrated at this point. Canada clearly needs another defenceman with some offensive talent and the team does not need six grinders. At least goaltending has been good. Molendyk and Ritchie have been good, and Cowan has too. McKenna is threatening. Defensive structure is fine. Other than that the team has a blatantly terrible power play and has too many lines that are not threatening. Rehkopf should not be in the press box, Wood should have made the team, and some of Sennecke/Misa/Cristall should be there. I'll guess that Rehkopf will get a shot next game.... but I wouldn't bet my life on it.
Anyway I don't think that this team can be completely written off yet, nor does it look as bad as last year's team did as of yet. I suspect that with solid defence and good goaltending this team can compete in every game, but the wins probably won't come easily too often, as we just saw in a loss to Latvia.
Cameron's post game quotes make me more pessimistic but I'll try to ignore that for now. Something I don't think he or Anholt get is that the guys they picked for energy roles in this team don't impact things as much as they used to, and the reason is physicality. Canada's depth guys used to physically wear down and sometimes intimidate the other teams at the junior level. It was a valid strategy and often worked when paired with good talent. Howe, Gauthier, Cataford, etc. aren't really doing anything but giving the designated scorers a breather. That edge is gone and if Canada doesn't plan to develop that ability going forward then team selection needs to move on.
