Congrats to the Russians & essay on Canucks' demise...
I was very impressed with the Russians resolve and unity as a team in this game. Welcome back to the top 3 of World hockey!
Canada, sadly, never adapted or geled.
Let's see, where to begin?
1) Wrong mix of players. Defensemen 1st: they really missed Neidemeyer & Jovonoski as their movement with the puck was sorely missing from this team. The defense whether on powerplay or even-strength was too slow to transition through out the tournament. Also, players like Foote and Blake while competent, showed no contribution in initiating play out of their own end or contributing in the opposition's end - they had trouble moving from side to side and the constant challenges of pivoting with the extra ice surface. Pronger overall was selfish, 1st for not bowing out like Neidermeyer did with his injury, then with his poor penalties time after time. The defense would have been better served with more mobile, offensively dynamic players such as Dan Boyle, Andrew Ference, Dion Phaneuf or even Brad Stuart. Pair each of these guys with mobile, but defensively responsible players such as Redden, Regehr & Bouwmeester and you would have had a more capable group for this Olympics.
Forwards: You have to select those that are performing up to an elite level - not old favorites or buddies. Bertuzzi, Draper, St. Louis & Lecavialer have not really performed well or consistently in their own league this year - how can you expect them to just elevate their game just like that. Iginla sat out last year and has lost a step - he was always just behind a bit on the play. Too many play makers, not enough pure goal scorers/game breakers - again, why have Bertuzzi, Lecavalier, St. Louis, Ignila when they all don't show up in the top 40 in scoring. Where are the present performers? Staal, Tanguay, Crosby, Marleau, Spezza, Kariya and even Jarrett Stoll (his face off & forechecking could have been used as well) are all missing. Some would argue experience would win the day; look at the Russians, their best players were their young players: Ovechkin, Kovolchuck, Sushinsky, Malkin, Tyutin etc. Russian management had the guts to go with those performing - Canada didn't and paid the price with only 3 goals in the final 4 games; ugh!
Goaltending was fine in my opinion for Canada.
2) Coaching/Adjustments/Strategy was just plain bad. This team did not evolve tactically, nor strategically - individually the effort went up, but I saw no coaching evolvement/impact. How can you explain cycling the puck endlessly on the international surface behind the goal line game after game? It takes you three huge strides once pivoted to get to the goal line from the boards in Europe- how can a dynamic play evolve? In North America this is crucial, over there, a great way to break a sweat. The European teams did not waste their time with a cycle game a la North America on offense. The Euros fished the puck out from the boards, committing only one man, working post to post with high slot & d'man cycle moving their feet for position (heck Italy understood this better than Canada as evidence by their game with the Swiss). The coaches didn't have the guts to shake things up; Pronger, Nash were undisciplined & selfish, others horribly under performing - bring in the alternates.
Players that played well overall and deserved to be there: Brodeur, Luongo, Redden, Doan (defensive/special teams great), Gagne, Heatly, Richards, Smyth and Sakic (truely a Captain, excellent).
I'm looking forward to the World Cup because I am sure youth will be served for Canada.
Who would've thought??? It happens like once every 100 years, and it happened today!!!
