Dude what I am saying is there is a HUGe gap here between the haves and have nots. That is all.
A game vs Latvia and one against Zanzibar would have the same outcome as long as the Zanzibars know how to skate that is
I mean Canada won't have enough time or drive to score more than 18-19 goals in that game no matter which of the 2. I suspect the laughter and or the traffic of players falling all over the ice would slow Canada passing game down more..no?
Enjoy the WJC
The amusing thing is Zanzibar no longer exists as a country. It became Tanzania in 1964. However, Tanzania has produced a NHL player, Chris Nielsen who played 52 games with Columbus, this is more than can be said for many of the teams in the IIHF.
But comparing Latvia to Tanzania is ridiculous. It would be like comparing the USA to Swaziland in rugby. Considering the Latvians actually qualify for the Olympics in hockey and have produced many, many NHL players, this comparison is crazy.
I will concede that the Latvians generally are overmatched at the WJCs. But you do have to remember that to even be here last year they had to
win the Division I tournament to get in. They scored 21 goals and gave up 3 in 5 games, outclassing Belarus, Ukraine, Italy, Japan and Great Britain. I seem to recall Belarus finishing fourth at the 2002 Olympics and Italy and Japan being consistently in the World Championship. The Ukraine generally had a few players on the great Soviet teams of the 80s. In fact, even Great Britain won Olympic medals in the 1930s (however, it really was a Canada II). So all those countries do have hockey pedigrees.