GDT: Latvia Vs Canada | 7:30PM | Group A - Canadian Tire Centre

[Czechboy]

To be fair, the Czechs aren't Canada. And the tournament was in Sweden last year. At least it wasn't home ice. Canada loses to a team they pounded 10-0 last year and they do it in front of their home fans who paid a lot of money to watch absolute filth last night. You just don't put that jersey on and play with that kind of shame against an opponent that was surprised they weren't losing 5-0 in the 1st intermission. You let someone else put that jersey on and play with more pride. I have never forgot Cameron's coaching from 2011 when he cost us a gold medal.

Boy do we see things differently here.lol. I'm not sure how you managed to insult a poster who was saying nice things about your team but you nailed it.lol.

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

 

[NyQuil]

So which team was this Canada?
If it wasn’t your A team was it your B,C,D…..EFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ?

I was under the impression Canada never needed to ice it best to win these games?

Apparently we do.

 

[Crosby2010]

Boy do we see things differently here.lol. I'm not sure how you managed to insult a poster who was saying nice things about your team but you nailed it.lol.

To be fair, I was insulting our team. They played shamefully. There is nothing nice about this team or their coach. They were a disgrace and they deserved every bit of it. If they want to earn millions of dollars they'd better get used to criticism. At this moment, I'll counter anything nice said about our team at the moment as they deserve no praise at all.

 

[GreatSaveLuongo]

Shame TSN highlights don't even have 1 highlight save from the Latvian goalie

 

[Duffy13]

This team can still win it all, in spite of coaching, not because of it.

 

[Crosby2010]

This team can still win it all, in spite of coaching, not because of it.

At this point Cameron could rescue an orphans from a blazing fire and I'd still remind him of his coaching collapses!

The biggest choke job in World Juniors history was 2011 in the gold medal game. And the most embarrassing loss in WJC history. Both had Cameron behind the bench. I don't know if there is a more embarrassing loss in WJC history by any team. I am trying to think of it. But in Canadian history this one takes the cake. Even in 1998 with Kazakhstan and that 6-3 loss it was just a meaningless 8th place game that they have since thankfully abolished. And that was bad but this is worse.

 

[bobber]

Latvia's goalie put on a clinic last night. They were out shot by a huge margin. Their PP look amazing and came through with two goals that got them to OT and consequently the shoot out. A skillful squad that can skate and shoot and had the same chance to win the shoot out as Canada. Both goalies were amazing in end but Latvia pulled off a huge upset. Good for them.

 

[hoglund]

Canada could be in trouble losing their best defensemen and either overconfidence or bad luck. They did outplay Latvia, but their goalie got a well deserved win. We'll have to see how Canada plays on Sunday.

 

[D Wakaluk]

Damn, glancing through the last 20~ pages - Latvia really broke down a certain Leafs fan. Hilarious.

--

Canada was pretty meh against Finland too. USA - CAN will be extra spicy

 

[Czechboy]

Latvia's goalie put on a clinic last night. They were out shot by a huge margin. Their PP look amazing and came through with two goals that got them to OT and consequently the shoot out. A skillful squad that can skate and shoot and had the same chance to win the shoot out as Canada. Both goalies were amazing in end but Latvia pulled off a huge upset. Good for them.

I thought it was really cool as both Latvian goals were gorgeous. Not some seeing eye lucky bounce puck. Those were skill goals.

 

[bobber]

I thought it was really cool as both Latvian goals were gorgeous. Not some seeing eye lucky bounce puck. Those were skill goals.

That powerplay was clicking and looked extremely dangerous. Not a team to take ill advised penalties against.

 

[Crosby2010]

19 players drafted in the 1st round in 2024. 19 out of 32 were Canadian. 7 in the first 10 picks. One, just a SINGLE player, was picked among the most recent top 10 draft picks on Team Canada, when we had 7 to choose from. Not to mention we could have also picked a coach who isn't collecting his Old age pension. I always dislike the team selections as I think they are more politically driven than anything and has an old boys feel. But if we win then it is what it is, you don't complain. But we lost. To Latvia. Latvia. Maybe if we wondered why NHL scouts picked so many Canadian players in the 1st round of the draft last year we might succeed a little bit better if we picked those guys.

 

[scotian1]

The vast majority of Canadian shots came from well outside the prime scoring areas. Lack of patience and willingness to compete for space in the prime scoring areas along with Latvia's commitment to clog up the middle of the ice led to most Canadian shots to being relatively harmless. A masterful coaching plan by the Latvian coach and his players willingness to execute it contrasted sharply with Canada's unstructured attack and lack of discipline. Kudos to Latvia!

 

[Nakawick]

I am not upset. Happy for Latvia as a fellow hockey nation. I am sure our soldiers over there are getting trolled a bit today.

 

[zenator]

Just like last year, Canada left a ton of offense at home. Misa, Cristall, Sennecke, Parekh, Yakemchuk. No wonder they struggled to score against Latvia. Their management always hurts the team by getting cute like this. Why does the same group pick the team every year?

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Ivankovic is an undersized goalie, so when he’s down in the butterfly it leaves him vulnerable for high shots. Which is exactly what happened on the Latvia goal that tied it 2-2.

On the first Latvia goal, he was overcommitted to the shooter and slow to react to the pass across.

No, don't pin this loss on goaltending. Kid was good enough to win the game.

 

[scotian1]

I was amazed by Coach Cameron's post game analysis where he claimed it was more bad luck than anything that caused Canada to lose that game. Look in the mirror, Mr. Cameron. Latvia had an excellent game plan that his players executed almost flawlessly and you could not adapt your tactics to overcome it.

 

[Crosby2010]

I am not upset. Happy for Latvia as a fellow hockey nation. I am sure our soldiers over there are getting trolled a bit today.

Why are there Canadians happy for another country? Man, we are getting soft. At least back in the day Phil Esposito admits he could have killed one of the Soviets in 1972 just to win. No Canadian ought to be happy with what they saw. If anything I'd force them to watch the Latvians celebrate every day for the rest of the tournament to teach them a lesson. Not to be happy for them.

Just like last year, Canada left a ton of offense at home. Misa, Cristall, Sennecke, Parekh, Yakemchuk. No wonder they struggled to score against Latvia. Their management always hurts the team by getting cute like this. Why does the same group pick the team every year?

Who is Cameron related to with Hockey Canada? Why do we keep picking losers? He was not a good NHL player, he was not a good NHL coach. He authored the biggest choke job in WJC history. Why on earth was he invited to coach again? Did he save Bob Nicholson's child from drowning or something back in the day and he's being compensated for it? Old boys club.

 

[Dingo]

So which team was this Canada?
If it wasn’t your A team was it your B,C,D…..EFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ?

I was under the impression Canada never needed to ice it best to win these games?

A segment of Canadian thinking has annoyed me with this for decades -

"We could win with our C team, we are so good! We could field three teams and sweep the medals!!!"

also

"World Championships dont matter because our best are in the playoffs, we were missing too many guys!"

So much extra wrong with that second statement because other countries have players in the playoffs, and less depth to begin with. And there is also,

"We care more. We win because we want it more." but also "Well, we dont have Crosby because why would he want to go to the WCs anyways?"

In my experience, as a Canadian, we have mostly gotten away from this and have been way better sports for the last 15 years ish. Its a small group of loud, insecure men trying to feel manlier through other men's accomplishments.... at least by the guys i know personally who say these things.

 

[NyQuil]

Why are there Canadians happy for another country? Man, we are getting soft. At least back in the day Phil Esposito admits he could have killed one of the Soviets in 1972 just to win. No Canadian ought to be happy with what they saw. If anything I'd force them to watch the Latvians celebrate every day for the rest of the tournament to teach them a lesson. Not to be happy for them.

I lived a good portion of my life overseas and there are good people over there.

I’m not happy that Canada lost, but I am happy that a hockey country got a historic victory because I value the international game and it’s only getting stronger IMO.

There are probably three countries that value hockey above all other sports and those are Canada, Finland and Latvia.

You may like Canada steamrolling every team and never losing forever and ever but that’s not competition and that’s what leads to the death of a sport.

Winning (and losing) against worthy opponents is the highlight of sport.

Who is Cameron related to with Hockey Canada? Why do we keep picking losers? He was not a good NHL player, he was not a good NHL coach. He authored the biggest choke job in WJC history. Why on earth was he invited to coach again? Did he save Bob Nicholson's child from drowning or something back in the day and he's being compensated for it? Old boys club.

Obviously not a fan of this guy and I saw him first hand in Ottawa on numerous occasions both at the Junior level and the Senior level.

A segment of Canadian thinking has annoyed me with this for decades -

"We could win with our C team, we are so good! We could field three teams and sweep the medals!!!"

also

"World Championships dont matter because our best are in the playoffs, we were missing too many guys!"

So much extra wrong with that second statement because other countries have players in the playoffs, and less depth to begin with. And there is also,

"We care more. We win because we want it more." but also "Well, we dont have Crosby because why would he want to go to the WCs anyways?"

In my experience, as a Canadian, we have mostly gotten away from this and have been way better sports for the last 15 years ish. Its a small group of loud, insecure men trying to feel manlier through other men's accomplishments.... at least by the guys i know personally who say these things.

Meh, in the social media age, 99 people can say “Good Game Latvia” and the one guy saying bullshit will lead to “Canadians are insufferable assholes.”

 

[Rabid Ranger]

I have a strong feeling a guy like Sennecke would have dusted off a few of his chances. Where's the swagger on this team?

 

[Svedu]

That powerplay was clicking and looked extremely dangerous. Not a team to take ill advised penalties against.

Yep, they will punish Finland I promise you. Even if the US would demolish them first.

 

[WayTooCold]

It's just round robin games. Which mean nothing since everybody gets into QF. So these round robin games are just a waste of time. If I was on team Canada I wouldn't have bothered. Only when there's something on the line other than bragging rights.

 

[Crosby2010]

I lived a good portion of my life overseas and there are good people over there.

I’m not happy that Canada lost, but I am happy that a hockey country got a historic victory because I value the international game and it’s only getting stronger IMO.

There are probably three countries that value hockey above all other sports and those are Canada, Finland and Latvia.

You may like Canada steamrolling every team and never losing forever and ever but that’s not competition and that’s what leads to the death of a sport.

Winning (and losing) against worthy opponents is the highlight of sport.

There is plenty of competition. Finland can lose to them. Czechs can lose to them. Canada can't lose to this country. We have to be better than that. We want to be the best hockey nation on earth? Then don't lose to probably the worst team in this tournament. It is that simple. You get up for every game. And if it is 9-0 you keep trying and keep your good habits and if it ends up 14-0 then so be it. Never take your foot off the pedal. This is why Gretzky is the greatest player in NHL history and forever will be. He never took a game or a period off. He never said "Oh well, I had 4 points in the first two periods, I'll just relax now." No, he would have 6 by the end of the game. Canada got cocky.

This isn't about the fine people of Latvia. I am an advocate of Russia being in this tournament and think it is terrible they can't play. I am glad they love hockey like we do. But we shouldn't ever be happy to lose to a country like this. They are a relegation team and they literally are a team that can STILL get relegated. I hope Canada realizes this. They lost to a team that might not even be good enough to make this tournament next year. That is low levels of embarrassment that I have never seen before.

I have a strong feeling a guy like Sennecke would have dusted off a few of his chances. Where's the swagger on this team?

If anything the coaching made them too confident going into this game. I hate that. Latvia or not, you strive to score the most you can each game. Cameron had no urgency. It was 0-0 after 1 period and 0-0 well into the 2nd before we got a freak scoring chance short handed and scored. Cameron should have been pushing this team from the start. 0-0 in the 1st intermission is unacceptable and midway through the 1st period he should have been benching guys who weren't throwing their weight around. He's a bad coach. And they left a ton of talent at home because, well, you know, they are the smartest guys in the room right?