Is hockey still Canada's game?

[Papa Smurf]

Sorry? How old are you?! 12? 13?

Really STUPID jokes!

How? It's simple humor used to make a point, and he made it, I believe his intention was to make it sound stupid and thats what made it humorous. If you don't like the fact that people believe hockey is still Canada's game maybe you ought to reply to him in a mature way yourself rather than the old "How old are you 9?" routine.

 

[Reilly311]

lol, it took canada 50 years + NHL players to win an olympic gold medal. Great performance in 98 by the way. Oh, and nice choke job in the world juniors this year, and the year before that...and the year before that. The World Championships are a joke because the only players playing on canada are players of NHL teams that couldnt make the playoffs, or got eliminated early. This past draft had the least amount of canadians that went in the first round.

 

[stockwizard*]

lol, it took canada 50 years + NHL players to win an olympic gold medal. Great performance in 98 by the way. Oh, and nice choke job in the world juniors this year, and the year before that...and the year before that. The World Championships are a joke because the only players playing on canada are players of NHL teams that couldnt make the playoffs, or got eliminated early. This past draft had the least amount of canadians that went in the first round.

You must be joking. The only reason why we didn't win Gold is because we sent amateurs to the Olympics.
If you are trying to say Canada is not the dominant Country in hockey you are only going to make yourself look stupid.
Watch next years draft if you need further confirmation of our greatness.

 

[Reilly311]

You must be joking. The only reason why we didn't win Gold is because we sent amateurs to the Olympics.

oh, I wasnt aware that other countries were allowed to use NHL players

 

[stockwizard*]

oh, I wasnt aware that other countries were allowed to use NHL players

Other countries like Russia's best players weren't playing in the NHL in the 40's 50's 60's 70's. Surely you knew this.

 

[kacz]

This thread is laughable :lol

Canada is home to the best players, coaches and fans.

 

[Reilly311]

Other countries like Russia's best players weren't playing in the NHL in the 40's 50's 60's 70's. Surely you knew this.

 

[stockwizard*]

Good comeback. I guess you don't have anything of substance to say.

 

[Reilly311]

Good comeback. I guess you don't have anything of substance to say.

Well, I was going to ask what time your pity party was, but then I noticed the violin smiley, so I just used that to save myself from having to type

 

[stockwizard*]

Well, I was going to ask what time your pity party was, but then I noticed the violin smiley, so I just used that to save myself from having to type

I would like to know what you are trying to imply. What country is a greater hockey nation than Canada? The U.S.?

You brought up the fact that Canada didn't win a Gold in 50 years, then you made the ignorant statement that other countries weren't sending NHL players either. Do you expect our players who coundn't make the NHL to beat Russia's best?

You are trying to enter into a debate that you obviously know nothing about.

 

[glenjackson]

This past draft had the least amount of canadians that went in the first round.

And still, they had the most and the number drafted was almost double the next closest country (USA I believe).

 

[Papa Smurf]

lol, it took canada 50 years + NHL players to win an olympic gold medal. Great performance in 98 by the way. Oh, and nice choke job in the world juniors this year, and the year before that...and the year before that. The World Championships are a joke because the only players playing on canada are players of NHL teams that couldnt make the playoffs, or got eliminated early. This past draft had the least amount of canadians that went in the first round.

Riiight... Nice choke job? The USA were heavy faves and was a surprise Canada even came that close to victory. Canada advances to the gold medal game 3 years in a row, while they may not have won them, it sure as HELL doesnt mean they suck! The Worlds are a joke? Why? Because Canada always wins them?

Where the hell are you from?

 

[TORRUS]

How? It's simple humor used to make a point, and he made it, I believe his intention was to make it sound stupid and thats what made it humorous. If you don't like the fact that people believe hockey is still Canada's game maybe you ought to reply to him in a mature way yourself rather than the old "How old are you 9?" routine.

It's a childish and stupid type of jokes. If you call that humorous then I don't know what else to say!
I was talking only about humor and it has nothing to do with hockey (not)being Candada's game!

 

[Backin72]

Tell ya what, when hockey can surpass figure skating and bowling as a popular sport in the USA, then maybe you have a leg to stand on in this arguement. To argue otherwise only shows an inferiority complex. So relax, you dominate everything else, you don't have to own the whole world.

 

[Papa Smurf]

Tell ya what, when hockey can surpass figure skating and bowling as a popular sport in the USA, then maybe you have a leg to stand on in this arguement. To argue otherwise only shows an inferiority complex. So relax, you dominate everything else, you don't have to own the whole world.

Thats true, I dont see why so many Americans are so desperate to make the world believe they dominate at hockey! They have Football, Basketball, Baseball, Golf and hell, even Cycling. Why can't they just let Canada have it's pride?

 

[Gabriel Knight]

This thread is a joke. It's a disgrace to people who like hockey around the world. A game isn't a countries own unless it's played specifically inside that countries borders. Hence, hockey is not Canadas game. Discussion over. Can we get a lock on this.

Edit: Forgot the swear filter and it just makes the text look stupid. Deleted some words.

 

[wilka91*]

You don't make sense. There are way more U.S. teams. How come the league isn't over 50% American.
You are saying Sweden or Russia has the same depth as Canada. Good luck.
You are jealous of the fact that Canada is a great Hockey nation.

No. You simply choose to ignore the fact that Canada and US are almost the same country, everyone speaks English, the lifestyle is the same, etc.
I've already given the example of Krutov. He was better than 99% of players in the world, and did you see his NHL stats?
There's many other examples. Look at Zidlicky for instance. Was he some best of the best player in Europe? No. But he comes to the NHL and gets 53 points (not too bad for a D)
But I just know that in 20 years, you won't see as many Europeans in the NHL. People prefer to stay home, and the only reason the Forsbergs, Fedorovs and Haseks are playing in the NHL is US MONEY. And that will change. You'll have 85% of Canadians again and you'll say "yay, 85% of the top talent in the world is from Canada".
Ridiculous.
But I'm not saying other countries have more depth than Canada though, because there's 10 times more rinks in Canada than Russia and much more people are playing hockey. But Canada doesn't have 52% of the World's top talent. It's closer to 20% actually.

 

[stockwizard*]

No. You simply choose to ignore the fact that Canada and US are almost the same country, everyone speaks English, the lifestyle is the same, etc.
I've already given the example of Krutov. He was better than 99% of players in the world, and did you see his NHL stats?
There's many other examples. Look at Zidlicky for instance. Was he some best of the best player in Europe? No. But he comes to the NHL and gets 53 points (not too bad for a D)
But I just know that in 20 years, you won't see as many Europeans in the NHL. People prefer to stay home, and the only reason the Forsbergs, Fedorovs and Haseks are playing in the NHL is US MONEY. And that will change. You'll have 85% of Canadians again and you'll say "yay, 85% of the top talent in the world is from Canada".
Ridiculous.
But I'm not saying other countries have more depth than Canada though, because there's 10 times more rinks in Canada than Russia and much more people are playing hockey. But Canada doesn't have 52% of the World's top talent. It's closer to 20% actually.

Believe me, if those guys playing in some of those Euro leagues making $100,000 a year were good enough to crack an NHL team and start making $1,000,000 a year they would be over in a second.
Your Krutov example just proves my point. Over in Europe he is supposed to be one of the best, when he comes over here he sucks. You won't find a Canadian star in the NHL going over to Europe and becoming a bust. Of course we wouldn't want to go over to Europe anyhow.

 

[coolio123]

No. You simply choose to ignore the fact that Canada and US are almost the same country, everyone speaks English, the lifestyle is the same, etc.

But I just know that in 20 years, you won't see as many Europeans in the NHL. People prefer to stay home, and the only reason the Forsbergs, Fedorovs and Haseks are playing in the NHL is US MONEY. And that will change. You'll have 85% of Canadians again and you'll say "yay, 85% of the top talent in the world is from Canada".
Ridiculous.
But I'm not saying other countries have more depth than Canada though, because there's 10 times more rinks in Canada than Russia and much more people are playing hockey. But Canada doesn't have 52% of the World's top talent. It's closer to 20% actually.

First of all, Canada and the US aren't "almost the exact same country" and "everyone speaks english" because 10 million+ people in Canada speak French and if you have ever been to both countries you would see a difference.

Second-If European players playing in european leagues are so great, why are there so many players on the World cup teams playing in the NHL and so few playing oversees:
Czech Republic-2 players in european leagues
Finland-4 players
Germany-most players aren't good enough to play in the NHL yet
Russia-4
Slovakia-4
Sweden-2
On all of these rosters, 80%+ plays in the NHL(Germany is the exception)

 

[Prince Mercury]

Yes, hockey will always be Canada's game, for two reasons. One is the passion that most any Canadian has for the game, and the second reason is the history of the sport in Canada. Even if Canada never won another event, it'd still be our game.

That's stupid because if the NHL was a Russian league, there wouldn't be 52% of Canadians, and on the other hand there would be probably 50% of Russians, or if it was a Swedish league, there would be 40% of Swedes. There's a hell lot of very average players in the NHL. The NHL does have the crop of the cream, but the rest of the players are not the best you can find.

Hockey may be Canadian, but I assure you the NHL is not. Every time Bettman turns around the country gets another signal that he wants Canada as a whole out of the NHL.

No. You simply choose to ignore the fact that Canada and US are almost the same country, everyone speaks English, the lifestyle is the same, etc.

How ignorant. I'll thank you to show some respect. Were you around for WWII then I'm sure that you, a European, would well know the difference between Canada and the U.S.

 

[tripledekehockey]

still canada's game

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Thats true, I dont see why so many Americans are so desperate to make the world believe they dominate at hockey! They have Football, Basketball, Baseball, Golf and hell, even Cycling. Why can't they just let Canada have it's pride?

How many Americans are trying to do that? In reality, the handful of American fans on this board who actually care about U.S. success in international hockey try desperately to get some respect for our country's place on the world stage.

 

[psycho_dad*]

No. You simply choose to ignore the fact that Canada and US are almost the same country, everyone speaks English, the lifestyle is the same, etc.

How ignorant. If you'd ever visited these countries you would not make such mistakes. Lifestyle is not even close, Canada is way closer to for example my native Finland than USA. There is just a huge difference in people, and that difference shows also in landscape. Canada was "Finland with mountains" for me, USA is something totally different. Of course it is a big country so some parts can be similar to Canada too.

The difference from the outsiders view is HUGE.

 

[wilka91*]

How ignorant. If you'd ever visited these countries you would not make such mistakes. Lifestyle is not even close, Canada is way closer to for example my native Finland than USA. There is just a huge difference in people, and that difference shows also in landscape. Canada was "Finland with mountains" for me, USA is something totally different. Of course it is a big country so some parts can be similar to Canada too.

The difference from the outsiders view is HUGE.

Do you think many Canadians would have accepted to go play in a Russian NHL and learn Russian?

 

[wilka91*]

First of all, Canada and the US aren't "almost the exact same country" and "everyone speaks english" because 10 million+ people in Canada speak French and if you have ever been to both countries you would see a difference.

Second-If European players playing in european leagues are so great, why are there so many players on the World cup teams playing in the NHL and so few playing oversees:
Czech Republic-2 players in european leagues
Finland-4 players
Germany-most players aren't good enough to play in the NHL yet
Russia-4
Slovakia-4
Sweden-2
On all of these rosters, 80%+ plays in the NHL(Germany is the exception)

If what you say is true, Russian, Czech Republic, Sweden (...) should have only players from the NHL. There's about 70 Russians, 70 Czechs and 60 Swedes in the NHL. And they chose to include players from Europe on a 26-man roster nonetheless. Isn't that strange? If the NHL had all the best players, there would be 100% of NHLers in the World Cup (except Germany).

Anyway it's easy to tell how much of the world's top talent Canada has, VERY EASY. Simply compare the total number of people playing in Canada to the other countries. No country is more gifted than another, it's just that there are much more people playing hockey in Canada than the rest of the World (that's the only thing that Canadians can play by the way), that's why Canada produces more players.

For example Russia is a 150-million people country, and Czech Republic has only 10 million. Does that mean that Russian should have 15 times more players in the NHL? No. And that's because in the Czech Republic 55,000 people play hockey, and in Russia just a little over 50,000. I don't remember Canada, but that figure was much bigger, several hundred thousands (300,000 if I remember).