Does the rest of Canada get to form a team? Because that team would be much better than the Ontario team.
Stamkos-Tavares-Giroux
Neal-Thornton-Carter
Perry-Duchene-Staal
Richards-Hall-Skinner
Doughty-Pietrangelo
Giordano-Subban
Girardi-Boyle
Smith
Mason
This line-up >>>Sweden, Russia, USA, Finland
Think about it, this lineup is more well rounded than any of those teams.
A Nontarian Team would have this pool to draw from:
Crosby, Getzlaf, Toews, Sharp, Benn, Bergeron, Marleau, St. Louis, Nugent-Hopkins, Eberle, Iginla, Lucic, Johansen, Turris, Ladd, Kane, Mackinnon, Marchand, Lecavalier, Perron, Lupul, Kunitz
Weber, Keith, Bouwmeester, Letang, Phaneuf, Green, Schultz, Seabrook, Beauchemin, Demers, Vlasic, Hamonic
Price, Luongo, Crawford, Bernier, Fleury
Would make for a fun head to head game. I think there was a Quebec vs Ontario vs Western Canada tournament back during the 1995 lockout. That would be fun to have again, although the Quebec team would have to merge with the Atlantic region these days.
Hmm, could Canada win with only lefthanded players? What about green eyed players - could someone make a team of only them? Could Canada win with players born in October? I think it could. Could Canada win with only players who prefer cats to dogs?
Challenge accepted.
Kunitz-Crosby-St. Louis
Hall-Tavares-Duchene
Benn-Toews-Marleau
Staal-Thornton-Neal
Kieth-Vlasic
Bouwemeester-Phaneuf
Giordano-Hamhuis
Nope.
Canada can't even win at the World Championships with top players (maybe not THE best but still pretty good) from across the country, much less a single province...
Nope.
Canada can't even win at the World Championships with top players (maybe not THE best but still pretty good) from across the country, much less a single province...
Stamkos-Tavares-Giroux
Neal-Thornton-Carter
Perry-Duchene-Staal
Richards-Hall-Skinner
Doughty-Pietrangelo
Giordano-Subban
Girardi-Boyle
Smith
Mason
This line-up >>>Sweden, Russia, USA, Finland
Think about it, this lineup is more well rounded than any of those teams.
Stamkos-Tavares-Giroux
Neal-Thornton-Carter
Perry-Duchene-Staal
Richards-Hall-Skinner
Doughty-Pietrangelo
Giordano-Subban
Girardi-Boyle
Smith
Mason
This line-up >>>Sweden, Russia, USA, Finland
Think about it, this lineup is more well rounded than any of those teams.
Does the rest of Canada get to form a team? Because that team would be much better than the Ontario team.
Those who think a team of Ontario players alone could win the Olympics are drunk from the power of just having won the Olympics. Canada ices a pretty damn good team every year for the WC and has missed the podium the last four years in a row. There is a chasm between the quality of those teams and the quality of the team that Canada just iced for the Olympics. Without its best players, Canada would be in tough against an Olympic team from at least one of the other world hockey powers. Any other view is just plain delusional.
And another thing. All this talk about Canada's much-vaunted "depth". If we are so deep, why don't we win the WC every year against other countries that also don't field their best available players? I'm sorry, but once any top 4 country fails to field its absolutely best players, it's in tough against any other top 4 country team. Canada included. That's how good hockey is now among the top countries and how little there is to choose between them.
If Canada fields its best team, it's going to beat all the other best teams three times out of four. That's what the last four Olympics prove. Four out of five if you include the last World Cup. But with anything less than its best team, all bets are off.
Team Ontario is just as good a team on paper as Sweden, Russia, USA, Finland etc.
Do you think Canada can only win if the talent on paper is legitmately twice as good as everyone elses? That anything less than a perfect team Canada is not good enough to beat other teams with less talent?
It's not like Canada doesn't win the World Championships, it's basically a revolving door where every team wins a few of all three medals. No one has truly dominated the tournament in the past 20 years.
But if that team Ontario were intially brought together a few months in advance, given a great coaching staff, and were focused on creating a team do you think they wouldn't have a chance?
With regards to other countries at the world championships I don't know why Canada doesn't win more often. They other countries have a majority of their players coming from the European leagues that are finished by the time the tournament starts. Can anyone answer these questions for me?
What is the consistency among these national teams in terms of rosters? Does half of the same roster come back year after year? Are there guys on those team who play every world championships? Also when do they start training and skating together after their season ends. Do these guys have weeks or month to start to work together and train as a team? All of these things may be factors or they may not be. I know if you took a team of all the guys who missed the playoffs and gave them one week to get ready and sent them to play NHL playoff teams they'd be better on paper but I doubt they'd win every game. It takes a while for a team to form.