WJC: 2025 Team Canada Roster Talk

[Killahpunk]

This is probably the most unlikable Canada junior team ever from a Canadian perspective.

 

[Bileur]

If Cowan is played on the 3rd line told to get in on the forecheck and create havoc and kill penalties he is probably a fan favourite honestly. For some reason he was asked to be the top offensive threat and carry the puck all the time and didn’t even kill penalties lol just absolutely ridiculous player usage from day 1.

I agree with this completely.

When I saw him slotted on line 1 I thought of Curtis Lazar being a first liner in the past. Sure, he can be the 200 foot defensive conscience/worker if he’s paired with an elite offensive threat. I didn’t see a McDavid on this roster though.. and as the tourney went on it seemed they were expecting Cowan to be the catalyst, which is pretty baffling.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Body language. And assumptions are all that can be made right now. None of us were actually in the locker room. Better save that argument for those harping on management too I guess.

I don't need to make assumptions to disagree with coaching decisions or roster construction? That is purely an opinion. You deciding a teenager doesn't care about this tournament because of how you think he looks says more about you then it does the player tbh.

 

[ryan callahan]

I don't need to make assumptions to disagree with coaching decisions or roster construction? That is purely an opinion. You deciding a teenager doesn't care about this tournament because of how you think he looks says more about you then it does the player tbh.

You don't know the context behind these decisions. What if Sennecke didn't care for the WJC? What if he showed up hungover to practice? What if he insulted the coaching staff? You are making assumptions just like I am. Stop acting holier than thou.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

You don't know the context behind these decisions. What if Sennecke didn't care for the WJC? What if he showed up hungover to practice? What if he insulted the coaching staff? You are making assumptions just like I am. Stop acting holier than thou.

I will continue to act holier then thou over people like you. Thanks though.

 

[Joe Hallenback]

The left 2 first lines and 4 top 4 D back on their Junior/College teams and decided to run every line like it was a 3rd/4th line and play "safe" hockey and neutering there offense D men that could rush the puck.

Not sure what they were expecting but we didn't have a single guy in the top 50 in scoring for this tournament. Kazakhstan had 2 guys would have lead our team in scoring

 

[DavidLamb]

This is funny as Dave Cameron said he has no regrets about any of the decisions:

1. There was nothing wrong with the virus that he instilled on the team, 6 roles players, and they could not score. Slower players cannot create offense. This puts stress on the 2 top lines, hence everyone is pressured to play overly aggressive, causing more penalties.

2. Taking so long to realize there was something wrong with the PP.

3. His role players did not do good jobs on PK, so why picking so many role players. He must thought that his role players were equally as offensive as others who were left off like Crystall and Sennecke.

4. Lack of line chemistry.

5. It is amazing that they do not even practice when there were so many things that were wrong with the team and the way that they played.

6. Peter Anholt refused to acknowledge that there was need to practice. Team USA did practise for short period as there were scientific evidence that they may help players.

7. Dave Cameron and Peter Annholt are too old for this job. Get better and more intelligent people for coaches and GM.



https://www.tsn.ca/hockey-canada/video/why-did-canada-stop-practicing-at-world-juniors~3055688

 

[Some Other Flame]

And “Why should (Canadian hockey fans) be confident that this management group has the answers moving forward?”

“I think we’ve proven to do things the right way, with the right people, and so that’s not going to change,” Salmond said. “I don’t think the results are always indicative of the people or the process."

Salmond is a certified moron

 

[wickedwitch]

Salmond is a certified moron

He's not wrong in that the results aren't always indicative of the process. But he's wrong in that he doesn't realize how often the level of talent in Canada leads to good results even when the process was stupid.

 

[Silky mitts]

Salmond is a certified moron

It’s turtles all the way down

 

[jj cale]

This iteration of Team Canada was so bad even the goal song chosen is a legitimate topic of criticism.

They got it wrong in every single area you could possibly get it wrong in.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

This iteration of Team Canada was so bad even the goal song chosen is a legitimate topic of criticism.

They got it wrong in every single area you could possibly get it wrong in.

Eh if they had of been a great team and playing that song all the time it would have caught on lol or people would stop caring.

 

[jj cale]

Eh if they had of been a great team and playing that song all the time it would have caught on lol or people would stop caring.

Well of course but it didn't. I always hated that song.

Honest question, I wonder if this team gets some different result ( gold is out of the question) if Schaefer hadn't gone down?. It was like the very first shift after that injury this team started to go downhill.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Well of course but it didn't. I always hated that song.

Honest question, I wonder if this team gets some different result ( gold is out of the question) if Schaefer hadn't gone down?. It was like the very first shift after that injury this team started to go downhill.

I don't know whether it is the difference between Gold and a QF exit....but I am pretty confident that we are playing a game today if he doesn't injure himself. You are right though his tournament ending was kind of the point it seemed like the entire teams play fell off and they never found it again until the 3rd period against the Czechs and it was to late.

 

[Crosby2010]

Schaefer getting injured hurt. But even him getting injured was a sign of things to come. He skates to the net, he isn't tripped, he isn't hacked, he isn't even touched, and yet he slams into the post on his own doing. It was weird seeing that. Normally a player is pushed in, but not in this case. It might mean nothing, but it just seemed to be a sign that this team wasn't organized or prepared. If you lose your best defenseman and the potential #1 overall pick, then that's not good, but this shouldn't affect Canada's chances at gold when this happens. In 2023 when Bedard had the tournament of his life I loved watching it, but even as I was watching it my concern was that Canada was relying too heavily on him to be the guy to score. They needed more.

This team was slow as well. They didn't hit despite picking far too many role players. They weren't fast skaters and it showed. They didn't enter the zone together as a team through passing and such. You know, a practice or two might have helped with that Cameron! It was poorly run from the top to the bottom, the beginning to the end. I was criticized a lot when I said I couldn't see this team winning after Latvia's loss because it was too damaging mentally. That's what happened and I wish it hadn't. But they weren't prepared and it showed.

It worries me for future tournaments because one thing is certain Hockey Canada won't learn a thing from this. Even the 4 Nations squad we picked should win Gold I think, but everything may not line up. However, it is closer to how we always picked Canada Cup teams and World Junior squads. A so-called "Ghost roster" as they always called it. Three scoring lines, then an an energy line. And it worked so well. This team didn't have that. There was no energy line at all. No one wearing the other team down. Terrible sustained pressure, terrible forecheck, just looked like they weren't interested, almost scared. This falls on Hockey Canada and Cameron.

 

[Mathieukferland]

Button willing to criticize roster selection and management/coaching more than his other TSN colleagues, fair play to him

 

[PaulD]

Oh that wasn't "my" take on a team. Just an example of a team that could be made with next to zero thought based on what was left after the professionals had their pick of the litter.

We left 12 first rounders at home, with 2 more (Lindstrom and Iginla) that I left off due to injury. The cupboard isn't bare, the sky isn't falling. We just took a sub-optimal team that the coach turned into less than the sum of it's parts. We can probably medal doing one or the other, not both.

Yup !

Button willing to criticize roster selection and management/coaching more than his other TSN colleagues, fair play to him

But did he criticize any of that at all before they lost.

 

[newmanager]

Our roster was way too small to compete in best on best.
Forwards getting muscled off the puck and not being able to penetrate into the prime scoring areas.
Cowan, Pinelli and Nadeau shouldn't be put in scoring roles but are better suited to energy roles. Pinelli shouldn't have even been considered for this team.
Tanner Howe for his physicality? WTH?Beaudoin was our biggest forward. Our last gold medal team had 5 guys bigger than him to do the heavy lifting and open up space for our offensive wizards. ( Colton Dach, Nathan Gaucher, Zack Ostapchuk, Reid Schaefer and Caden Bankier)
Our defensemen couldn't defend. They could skate and attack but caved under a heavy forecheck. We didn't have our defensive workhorses, like those that played on the last gold medal team, such as Ethan del Mastro, Nolan Allen, Tyson Hinds and Jack Matier who could all play physical, win their puck battles and move the puck out of the zone. Even our offensive defensemen ( Korchinski, Clarke) had good size. Zellweger was the only smurf on d.
Goaltending was ok.
This year's team would be hard pressed to win the Memorial Cup.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Button made a good point, you had two extra roster spots compared to prior years with alternates being allowed to be subbed in and out of the lineup, why wouldn't you bring Cristall and Parekh? Even if you think for some reason that they are auto goals against on the ice, it's clear once the powerplay isn't great that they'd be good players to sub into a lineup to put out there. Would love to see what goes in Dave Cameron's mind to believe Oliver Bonk QB'ing a powerplay is a better option than Zayne Parekh.

Parekh just needs to be there. That's an inexcusable omission. This isn't the Stanley Cup Finals, it's a junior tournament. Those rover defensemen like ASP for Sweden, C. Hutson for USA... they're gamebreakers in this event.

 

[DuklaNation]

Hadn't seen Dickinson or Bonk play much before aside from few highlights. Within 2 shifts from each, I could tell they weren't top PP QB talents (at least currently). Both from same deep junior team that benefited from inflated stats. This miscalculation shows the team's management is incompetent.

 

[TheDoldrums]

Interviews sound better today. Finally reading the room it seems.

 

[donghabs98]

That whole article is really a must read. A lot of defending Cameron, blaming the refs, blaming Schaefer's injury, Salmond even noting that it sounds like they are making excuses, Anholt indicating his belief that practice doesn't improve chemistry and bringing better offensive players doesn't lead to more goals. At least Salmond admits that he hired the management and staff, so the head that needs to roll first is obvious.

Scott Wheeler does what TSN refuses and asks the reasonable tough questions that should be asked, and reports on it rather than joining in the party line.

Button willing to criticize roster selection and management/coaching more than his other TSN colleagues, fair play to him

The post game TSN panel where they led off with the penalty call over shadowed the bigger point which was it should never have gotten to the point where that penalty made the difference between the medal round and getting out early. This started with a questionable selection camp roster and continued with poor coaching and sub par play.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Interviews sound better today. Finally reading the room it seems.

Seems to hint at the possibility of Al Murray taking the team over and going away from having a junior GM pick the team?

 

[Mathieukferland]

Seems to hint at the possibility of Al Murray taking the team over

Maybe behind closed doors it was a different story, but the way he so ardently defended their philosophy, process and selections publicly would make me want to move off him. His work and accomplishments in the past are appreciated, but he seemed to be one of the main proponents of a roster building philosophy that was not fit for purpose

 

[bossram]

There were a ton of bad decisions from brass and coaching. The team just flat out wasn't good though. People are ripping on Cowan for disappointing (and he was), but if the go-to player of WJC Team Canada is a 28th overall pick who was supposed to go in the third round....that's a pretty bad look for Canada.

They didn't have the actually elite talent they usually have in previous years. And obviously part of that is they left some of it at home. Cameron is a doofus.

Maybe two exits in the quarters in a row will make HC stop being dumbasses....lol