GDT: Quarter Finals: Canada vs Czechia; Jan. 2, 2025; 19:30 EST

[Cloned]

If you’re gonna bring a whole bunch of grinders and checkers over skill, you better damn well be lights out defensively.

It’s a bad look to select this type of roster and lose on a penalty kill.

 

[New User Name]

As a Canadian living in Europe--I am always amazed at how entitled my fellow Canadians can act when Team Canada loses. Many just refuse to admit that other countries can ice teams that are better then us.

When it comes to the juniors, we have been spoiled. Many now just expect it.

Agreeing with horrible, godawful takes is how and why we have cults fam. Food for thought.

and then you go and post a pic of whatshisname.

 

[Jumptheshark]

USA hockey did something 20 years ago that I don't think hockey Canada has to the stones to do....I don't think they have the ability to humble themselves and take a step back, then look at how these other countries with smaller populations/interest can compete year in and year out at the highest levels.....US did it has been bearing fruit for years now, and is in full motion to continue to improve....I truly don't think Canadians would allow a lot of those changes to happen with the kids game, but it is why the US has continued to improve (have had some stumbles along the way) and why Finland and sweden are always competitive.....Canada was always able to get by because it was almost a right of passage for a Canadian kid to play hockey....will they humble themselves?

Point of order here

The step back was because their funding was changing and they are now getting more money in funding. So there answer was to toss more money at the problem

 

[DuklaNation]

As a Canadian living in Europe--I am always amazed at how entitled my fellow Canadians can act when Team Canada loses. Many just refuse to admit that other countries can ice teams that are better then us.

As a Canadian, I'm always amazed at these responses. If they got slaughtered, fine. When they lose to refs blowing whistles constantly, that's somehow because these countries are that much better? Smh these 17-19 yr olds just weren't disciplined enough. Wow, what a shocker.

 

[lancepitlick]

Players like Gordie Howe would not have been a hockey player in this day and age. All they had were skates, sticks, and a frozen cow patty to play with. Rolled-up Eatons' catalogs for shin guards, if you were good.

Even in my day, skates, sticks and very minimal equipment was all we had. Mostly helmets, shin guards, and maybe half the players had hockey gloves. Most of us just played in our woolen mitts.

The talent pool was practically every boy who had a pulse, and the very cream of the crop made it to the sponsored teams like the Junior Wheat Kings. Those players were few and far between.

Then, the main thing was how well you could skate, pass and shoot.

Now, it's how much money do you have.

You need athletes first, then elite training. Canada has it ass backwards where the starting point is paying for elite training, then you pick players from that pool.

People like Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, Theo Fleury, Ovechkin, Lindros, Chara, Pronger, Marty St. Louis, Mcdavid etc. are athletic freaks. If you prevent them from playing hockey or competitive hockey then you are killing yourself. I'd rather take a house league Lindros who plays 3x/week and shinny, at age 12, then coach him up, than invest $15k/year in 7 year olds who can afford that.

The NFL/NBA have the best athletes and there's basically zero barrier to entry for all kids/people. LeBron was dirt poor. Imagine he never played basketball because it was $15k?

I saw the same idiocy in rugby and it is why Canada has dropped from 10th in the world to like 30th.

A BIG part of the problem are grifter coaches, administrators etc. that directly profit from "elite training" for 10 year olds and $20,000/year costs. Or whose lives depend on winning a AAA tournament for 11 year olds. When you make that cost mandatory you now have money for a full time coach that gets paid $40k. Then that coach becomes a league admin, Jr coach, hockey canads etc. He does not want to say "hey, maybe it'd be better overall if we had unpaid coaches and lower the costs to attract more athletes." These ppl will always push for more barriers to entry, as more barriers = more $ and prestige for them.

They sell this by saying that it's just the cost of competitive hockey. It doesn't have to be.

 

[MXD]

As a Canadian living in Europe--I am always amazed at how entitled my fellow Canadians can act when Team Canada loses. Many just refuse to admit that other countries can ice teams that are better then us.

Czechs didn't ice a better team than Canada today. But they did ice a team that was able to beat Canada, which is exactly what happened.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Czechs didn't ice a better team than Canada today. But they did ice a team that was able to beat Canada, which is exactly what happened.

You like paradox's, don't you?

 

[Reality Czech]

I don't know about the EU, but the US has much, much better support for scholastic athletics in almost every sport. You have a better chance of playing for a competitive high-school team with lower participation costs in the US than in Canada, where it is pretty much pay-as-you-play.

Plus the US has ten times the population, and hockey has become a popular niche sport for rich white kids in numbers that Canada can't match in the long term.

The tide has turned. Canada is competitive, but nothing more than just one of many competitive hockey nations.

Sure the sheer numbers are higher due to population but I think it's becoming a money sport everywhere. I've heard many ex Czech NHLers say something along those lines about Czech hockey. In the past there was a lot more state support and almost anyone could get into sports as a kid, including hockey, but nowadays parents have to foot the bill.

 

[Jumptheshark]

As a Canadian, I'm always amazed at these responses. If they got slaughtered, fine. When they lose to refs blowing whistles constantly, that's somehow because these countries are that much better? Smh these 17-19 yr olds just weren't disciplined enough. Wow, what a shocker.

Canada did not play a disciplined game. Teams get up against Team Canada like teams get up for games when they play the reigning cup champions

 

[lawrence]

the only team more hated than this team might be the 2024 world juniors Canada team, un f in believable. I don't understand how Cowan gets 18 minutes 45 seconds of ice time, Catton has 13 minutes of ice time, no wonder we lost.

This reminds me of the time when we kept on playing hands of stones Mr. Nat Danielson. I have no f in clue our coaching staffs with their love for grinding hands of stone players. Well deserved lost. Team Canada you got yourselves to blame.

 

[lancepitlick]

You said that Hockey Canada isn’t humble enough to re-examine player development in this country when that’s exactly what they did after Canada failed to medal in the 1998 Olympics.

Read the article if you’re interested.



Maybe it’s time for another summit, but it’s a bit weird to call them too arrogant to do so when they’ve already done it.

I mean, that was 27 years ago and entirely different people. The landscape is also totally different than 1998. That's like saying the ppl in charge in 1997 aren't arrogant because some other ppl did a review after the Summit Series. Dryden and King are 77.

 

[Sens With Benefits]

You need athletes first, then elite training. Canada has it ass backwards where the starting point is paying for elite training, then you pick players from that pool.

People like Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, Theo Fleury, Ovechkin, Lindros, Chara, Pronger, Marty St. Louis, Mcdavid etc. are athletic freaks. If you prevent them from playing hockey or competitive hockey then you are killing yourself. I'd rather take a house league Lindros who plays 3x/week and shinny, at age 12, then coach him up, than invest $15k/year in 7 year olds who can afford that.

The NFL/NBA have the best athletes and there's basically zero barrier to entry for all kids/people. LeBron was dirt poor. Imagine he never played basketball because it was $15k?

I saw the same idiocy in rugby and it is why Canada has dropped from 10th in the world to like 30th.

A BIG part of the problem are grifter coaches, administrators etc. that directly profit from "elite training" for 10 year olds and $20,000/year costs. Or whose lives depend on winning a AAA tournament for 11 year olds. When you make that cost mandatory you now have money for a full time coach that gets paid $40k. Then that coach becomes a league admin, Jr coach, hockey canads etc. He does not want to say "hey, maybe it'd be better overall if we had unpaid coaches and lower the costs to attract more athletes." These ppl will always push for more barriers to entry, as more barriers = more $ and prestige for them.

They sell this by saying that it's just the cost of competitive hockey. It doesn't have to be.

That’s exactly why Canadians are thriving in the NBA/NFL. No barriers to the sport. Canada’s best athletes are not playing hockey anymore. Every kid is now from an upper middle class to well off family it’s sad to see.

 

[garbageteam]

Same thing that I think. Even with the high cost of youth hockey, there is still passion and dedication to the game in Canada. One good thing that can (but not guaranteed) come out of this year's WJC outcome is some accountability at the high level where the high paid people make the decisions and shape the program.
As I like to say, if you're not improving, what are you doing?

Last time Canada had a 5 year gold drought resulted in some improvements so I seriously doubt we’d repeat the same mistakes next year

 

[NyQuil]

I mean, that was 27 years ago and entirely different people. The landscape is also totally different than 1998. That's like saying the ppl in charge in 1997 aren't arrogant because some other ppl did a review after the Summit Series. Dryden and King are 77.

There’s more precedent for them actually doing it than not doing it.

Not to mention, there has been a very recent re-examination more focused on cultural issues than the product on the ice, which obviously couldn’t be ignored.

“Hockey Canada will never re-evaluate themselves, except for all of the times that they did” is basically what I’m hearing here.

All of the usual hand-wringing about player development is a bit forced when so many of our most highly skilled developed players were left off the roster for this singular tourney.

I’m not losing sleep over the state of Canadian hockey just because the current idiots in charge tried to big brain the WJCs.

 

[DuklaNation]

NFL athletes >>>>>>> NBA athletes. Don't lump them together.

 

[KAPOW]

don't blame it on the kids. blame it on HC and GM.

 

[22Brad Park]

Nah, it's quite basic...countries always have ebb and flow draft classes. This was a bad one, which was exacerbated on top of that with poor decisions. Every country goes through it, The USA has had bad teams, good teams, and great teams, likewise with Finland, Sweden, Czechia, Russia, etc. I am pretty sure McDavids' and Bedards' teams won Gold and I suspect that McKennas' team will be favourites as well.

Yea leaving Misa off with his size and 60 + pts 30 goals is ebbs and flows

 

[647Hockey]

As a Canadian living in Europe--I am always amazed at how entitled my fellow Canadians can act when Team Canada loses. Many just refuse to admit that other countries can ice teams that are better then us.

That's because a lot of Canadian homers think because the NHL has tons of local bred talent (though they never bring up the % is dropping every year) and historically all the best players and cups are Canadian teams and players, that it means Canada rules and every other country from the US, Russia, Czechs etc... are idiots who dont know anythng about hockey.

If Canada wins, it's all about heart and good ol Canadian boys. If they lose, a lot of people from fans to media blame the refs or say the other country got lucky.

I like watching any kind of country tournament (well except Spengler which I never know when it's on or care), but what also makes it tough to watch is how biased the media is. It's like TSN or Sportsnet are paid to overload on the cheering.

I just want to hear some balanced views good or bad during the game, intermission, or post game recap. Not Gord Miller or the TSN studio going ape shit biased for Team Canada.

I had the game on TV, but didnt see all the goals or highlights as I've been cleaning my house all night as I have friends and fam coming over for dinner. I saw some goals by luck but not all.

I watch the TSN replay on TV and it's like 80% Canada footage. I had to go online to watch recap videos to show all the action and goals by both teams because TSN barely showed anything Czechia.

 

[TheTotalPackage]

As a Canadian living in Europe--I am always amazed at how entitled my fellow Canadians can act when Team Canada loses. Many just refuse to admit that other countries can ice teams that are better then us.

I don't know if it is so much a sense of entitlement (although yes, there are some that think Canada has this given right to always win), as it is disappoint in Hockey Canada and the way the program is being run.

Forget about just this team and the players selected and those there weren't (which is an even worse look on them now). On a big picture level, there are some major fundamental flaws, and not only are other countries catching and passing Canada, but Canada is going to fall behind even further.

The program needs a good cleanse and revamp.

 

[trilobyte]

Last time Canada had a 5 year gold drought resulted in some improvements so I seriously doubt we’d repeat the same mistakes next year

I hope that you are correct, because making these mistakes repeatedly is getting tiresome. Bombing out at the WJC is of course bad in itself, but there is also the opportunity cost when the right players don't get an important development opportunity.
I'm probably not as confident as you that this will be fixed pronto.

 

[Gilmour1996]

This thread needs more congratulations to the victors and less "Canada could win every tournament if only (insert blame)!"

Well deserved victory for Czechia.

OK. Congrats to the refs. You got what you wanted. Spend it wisely.

 

[WORLDSTARHIPHOP]

lol can we got back and talk about how crazy that challenge was? Canada had crazy momentum before that, and it wasn't even a close call.

 

[chaser17]

The IIHF has successfully nerfed Canada, can't throw a big hit anymore without risking a 5 minute penalty.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

lol can we got back and talk about how crazy that challenge was? Canada had crazy momentum before that, and it wasn't even a close call.

It was close. But they were never going to overturn it.

 

[hullsy47]

I didn't even get the game turned on yet and we are already down 1 lmao maybe we should have had a practice

Or the goalie steal 1 this tender didn't steal a game mos5 other countries get 1 a tournament