Is USA hockey's window smaller than we think ?

[Brookbank]

The U.S. has 10x the population of Canada and U.S. youth hockey participation is growing while it is shrinking in Canada.

The ratio has been the similar since the White house was burned down.

 

[Coaches Coroner]

The window might be closed if the the US continues on the path to supporting Russia in this conflict; if the IIHF decides to equally enforce sanctions/bans on countries like Belarus that support Russia.

 

[Peiskos]

I think most would agree that the US currently has its best collection of talent in a long while, yet the core group of Matthews/Eichel/Tkachuk/Larkin/Slavin etc still has nothing to show for it in the trophy case, so while I don't exactly know about the window per se, what I do know is that the pressure is certainly on for them to finally win something of relevance before this generation of players retires. Canada's current crop has already gotten the job done at various tournaments at the mens level.

 

[ORRFForever]

I think most would agree that the US currently has its best collection of talent in a long while, yet the core group of Matthews/Eichel/Tkachuk/Larkin/Slavin etc still has nothing to show for it in the trophy case, so while I don't exactly know about the window per se, what I do know is that the pressure is certainly on for them to finally win something of relevance before this generation of players retires. Canada's current crop has already gotten the job done at various tournaments at the mens level.

A year or 2 ago, an American poster (@WarriorofTime ?) started a thread called "Did The U.S. Miss Its Chance?" - or something like that. In the thread, the poster lamented that America's best players are getting older and they had not represent their country BoB. It was a terrific thread and a real concern from a U.S. point of view.

Matthew Tkackuk was on Jimmy Kimmel last night and he mentioned he's been in the league 9 years and this was his FIRST Best On Best - the 9 caught me by surprise! As Canadians, we should count our blessings that Matthews/Eichel/Tkachuk/Larkin/Slavin did not get MORE kicks at the can because, compared to the players we produced from 2016-2019 drafts, the U.S. could already have a few Golds under their belt.

The U.S. will win in 2026 - the Olympics being the 30th anniversary of their 1996 win. Canadians have a year to prepare themselves for that pain.

2028 will be very competitive and could go either way.

Once 2030 comes, as Matthews/Eichel/Tkachuk/Larkin/Slavin age out and Canada's NEXT Generation comes into its own, I like our chances of going on a long run of Golds.