Renney being named president of Hockey Canada
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1Gold Standard
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Seriously? Well, at least he's not a bureaucrat from one of the provincial levels... But so long as he understands that firing Salmond within the next year will most likely become priority number 1, then really not much can be said at this point.
habsrule4eva3089
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Terrific decision. Hockey Canada is improving lately in their decision making, the collaboration with Bauer and growing the game to New Canadians and now having a President that will continue the terrific legacy Nicolson left behind in growing this game to levels that couldn't be imagined. Hopefully it keeps going uphill from here.
Youth, Youth, Youth, that's all sports is this day in age, get more and more playing the game and the success of the sport will continue.
Youth, Youth, Youth, that's all sports is this day in age, get more and more playing the game and the success of the sport will continue.
JackSlater
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I agree that a major focus has to be growing hockey in non-traditional circles. Affordability is a must. Renney is obviously more of a hockey guy than Nicholson, we'll see how he is as a business man. There are chances to HC staff that are required, as Mr. Writer is generally kind enough to point out.
1Gold Standard
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Hope your ready for the live streaming of that presser...should really soak up the bandwidth.
UsernameWasTaken
Let's Go Hawks!
We'll see. I question whether Renney's brand of experience is really what's necessary to run Hockey Canada. Being the President/CEO of HC isn't about scouting for various national teams. 'Growing the game' isn't about loving hockey and having a career in hockey...it's way more complicated than that.
Hockey Canada - as an organization - and in terms of the interests it represents - is facing significant challenges...and i don't mean winning at wjc or picking a gm for the next senior event.
JackSlater
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That's a very important point, and the reason that many people seem to have been surprised by the selection. I thought that this article from The Hockey News was surprisingly informative:
http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/tom-renney-faces-huge-challenges-at-hockey-canada/
1Gold Standard
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My advice to Hockey Canada, stop being a pimp for the CHL and a w*ore to their corporate sponsors. I have nothing against running a profitable enterprise, but Hockey Canada has been corrupted by their own corporate success.
JackSlater
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I have nothing against the success they have had monetarily. HC needs money to do what is required of them, and they makes loads of it. The biggest issue right now is that they were late to start trying to expand hockey beyond the traditional demographics in Canada, and did little seemingly to prevent people being priced out. It's hard at this point to judge their efforts in this area thus far. That is the primary issue, and solving it will basically fix any other issues. Another issue seems to be with hockey personnel, as Canada's success (largely due to overwhelming numbers) superficially makes it seem like everyone is doing a great job. Canada wins, but that should be a given. Comparing wins with other countries should not be the goal at HC, considering the advantages present.
They deserve some credit though, at least in terms of taking advantage of the WJC situation that TSN helped build and developing a more skills oriented development model after the hockey summit. I would hope that Renney tries to expand Canadian interest in other tournaments (uphill battle) and finds a way to continuously improve the development strategies (particularly in goaltending).
1Gold Standard
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Ya they make huge profits and good for them..I wouldn't say peep if 100% of the profits where funneled back into deserving programs, but from what I see, it goes mostly to the corporate side which include mega salaries and wasteful nonsense like this summer's 100 year anniversary cross country tour. Haven't we been celebrating in Canada 100 years of hockey since 2008? Instead of that ridiculous tour HC probably could have funded a full year's participation with subsidized equipment costs for 500 goalies from disadvantaged backgrounds.
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Hopefully can find a way to make competitive hockey available to everyone not just the rich. Our pool is getting smaller and smaller to draw from talent wise because only those that can afford it stay not the ones that were meant to play the game. You can see the talent drop with our Juniors and I don't see that changing soon...
I think Canada, overall, is still far ahead of all the other countries. Yes, I do think that goaltending is something that HC needs to focus on, and maybe even defence, but still.
Just look at this roster:
Hall - Tavares - Drouin
Skinner - Nugent-Hopkins - Eberle
Smith-Pelly - R. Johansen - O'Reilly
Duchene - Stamkos - MacKinnon
McDavid, S.Reinhart
and I'm missing Seguin, Strome, Couture, Toffoli, or Kadri to name a few.
JackSlater
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Canada has a large edge in hockey playing population compared to any country other than USA, and a large edge in hockey capital compared to everyone. Having the most talent should be a given. It's important to try to grow hockey in new areas of the Canadian population. Also, there is a lot that Canada can still learn, particularly in terms of defencemen and especially goaltenders, from other countries. I'm pretty satisfied with Canadian forwards. This is arguably (I know that many will disagree) the deepest that Canada has ever been at forward.
Completely agree with that. Canada is only getting better as a hockey nation in quality of players.
JackSlater
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Not in goaltending. These things go in cycles, but Canada's goaltending hasn't been nearly this weak in 30 years, and rarely in the decades prior to that.
Except that. Lately we've got some okay guys with Fucale, Subban, Comrie, MacDonald, Jarry. None of those goaltenders look like Olympic calibre goaltenders but then again we'll luck out with late round steals.
That is something Hockey Canada needs to address ASAP IMO because after Carey Price can we say who our future #1 will be in men tournaments?
1Gold Standard
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It's a combination of a lot of factors. As Jack pointed out, the cyclical nature of hockey development....and while I think we dropped the ball somewhat, other countries have really picked up their game in spitting out quality goaltenders. I put some of the blame on the Allaire brothers and their disciples who filtered down to pee-wee and bantam hockey... and a lot of blame I place on the shoulders of HC..
The biggest drop off in Canadian talent since Nicholson took over in 98 is not even on the ice...it's in the boardroom of Hockey Canada and the people he has hired.
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JackSlater
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Some "okay guys" isn't really acceptable. There are too many players available for Canada to only have one elite goaltender.
Yes, the problems with Canada's goaltending are made much more obvious by the successes in Finland, and to a lesser extent Sweden and USA. The dependence on the butterfly style seems to have stunted development in the position in Canada. It needs to be improved.
