WJC: Sporting News: How did Canada Lose?

[blindpass]

If you cant beat a team in both exhibition and tournament play, you should just admit you were bested by a better team.

Canadian hockey is #1. As such, you should be proud, but not arrogant.
It seems like whenever Canada loses you people refuse to give props to the opponent as being better rhan you. The rehash is always ‘we could have won, but.....”

Exhibition is exhibition. Means nothing.

Please read carefully because you seem to want to imagine I'm saying things I'm not saying:

1) the best team doesn't always win. Simple proof of this is that that regardless of who won that game, it was decided by crazy bounces, so it could have gone either way. They were pretty even. Even if Finland was better it didn't win because it was better, it won on bounces.
2) I not defending Team Canada, I'm just trying my best to be accurate. I acknowledged that the best team, Sweden, lost last year, for example.
3) This year nobody really stood out. The best case could be made for the US. But any of the big five could have won the whole thing, or not, given different bounces.
4) Zero reason for any of us to be "proud" of our teams unless we were directly involved. We are fans, we get enjoyment from it, it's fun but we have nothing to do with it.
5) Don't pin what some other Canadians say on me, I've been battling their absurdly entitled disappointment for days.

 

[HanSolo]

Not that more evidence was needed to prove that Hunter is a moron, but...

 

[koyvoo]

These narratives that certain teams are definitively better than others based on 1 goal wins or losses in matchups that occur once or twice a year are a simpleminded view.

 

[NyQuil]

These narratives that certain teams are definitively better than others based on 1 goal wins or losses in matchups that occur once or twice a year are a simpleminded view.

It’s certainly weak but there isn’t a lot of alternative evidence in a competitive environment.

I’m fine with annointing the winner of major championships as the world’s best until the next iteration of that tournament.

I dislike using alternative metrics like numbers of drafted players or on-paper comparisons.

 

[Draft2000]

Canada has to rethink how they play and teach hockey. They will still get the exceptional player like Crosby and McDavid on sheer numbers, although overall the basics (skating, skating, skating, ...) have to be taught more and forget about battle drills and dump & chase. The game has changed and it is now time that Hockey Canada does.

 

[AUAIOMRN]

How did the Tampa Bay Lightning lose 7-1 to Arizona on Oct 27?

Is it, maybe, perhaps, just maybe, that anything can happen in a single game?

 

[trick9]

U-18 WC Finals:
2015: USA over Finland
2016: Finland over Sweden (USA 3rd)
2017: USA over Finland
2018: Finland over USA

The current core of Canadian players just aren't up to their usual standards. Nothing more there. It'll get better soon.

 

[Rob]

Canada has to rethink how they play and teach hockey. They will still get the exceptional player like Crosby and McDavid on sheer numbers, although overall the basics (skating, skating, skating, ...) have to be taught more and forget about battle drills and dump & chase. The game has changed and it is now time that Hockey Canada does.

Agreed. The game to practice ratio is still too high. I also believe that the CHL is a detriment to the development of talent. It is all about systems and wins.

 

[Rob]

As for this tournament they just didn't have any high end scoring talent. That's why they failed.

A few years ago they had no problem scoring but the goaltending was poor.

 

[dm1371]

they were not good enough.

 

[PecnoTrunk]

How
Did Canada lose ?

Hunter

 

[belair]

As for this tournament they just didn't have any high end scoring talent. That's why they failed.

A few years ago they had no problem scoring but the goaltending was poor.

We'll look back on this team in a few years and see how lacking this team was in terms of naturally gifted scorers up front. It was a very lacklustre forward group in comparison to past teams.

 

[Gnashville]

Finland scored two goals and Canada scored one

 

[AlternateSideParking]

This was a marginal overall performance by Canada and one of their worst WJC's of all time, so pointing to the Finland loss is too easy. Their shot generation was way down from a year ago, as it was in the CHL-Russia series, which was the CHL's lowest GF total in tournament history. In fact, they averaged less than 30 shots a game over the final four matches for their lowest total in six years. Canada generated a full seven less shots on goal compared to last year's team. That's a huge drop.

The good news for Hockey Canada is the outstanding 2001 year group (to include goalies), plus the addition of Lafreniere, Barron and Byfield should give them a solid two-year run beginning either next year or the year after.

 

[SabresSharks]

The days of numerous consecutive golds for Canada in this tourney is over. Forever.

 

[jj cale]

The days of numerous consecutive golds for Canada in this tourney is over. Forever.

One thing that should never be done by fans is count Canada out, it's been done many times before and those people have ALWAYS lost money each and every single time.

It happened when they went on a bad run of failure to win gold at the W.J.C after their first big run of consecutive golds , it happened after the U.S won the World cup in 96, it happened after Nagano, it happened after Turin,it happened during the summit series..................it's happened quite a few times.

Fans from other countries love to announce the end of Canadian hockey as soon as they think it's a good time to do so, but Canada has always proved them wrong.



If fans from teams of other countries should know one thing about international hockey and one thing only is that it is not a wise decision to think Canada is down for the count in Hockey, and especially not based on a certain rather small time frame in a junior tournament.

Fans who did this in the past and do this now do so at their own peril sabresharks.

Counting chickens before they are hatched with Canada in hockey has historically been proven not to be the most wise thing to do.

 

[Corso]

This is all about development development development and more development!!!!!!! The U.S. and Canada have close to ONE MILLION registered youth hockey players compared to what 250k for the rest of the ENTIRE WORLD. Let that sink in for a moment. Now I am happy that the U.S. has made great great strides over the past 25 years in international play but let's be honest, this tournament should be all U.S. vs Canada every frigging year with the odd hiccup along the way. The fact that Finland and Sweden are on par with producing elite level talent with the U.S. and Canada shows a entirely inefficient if not outright broken model of development in North America. Both USA Hockey and Hockey Canada need to both look in the mirror AND look toward the European developmental system in order to make the overall game of hockey better by fully developing and utilizing the large number of youth hockey players at their disposal.

 

[Joe Hallenback]

U-18 WC Finals:
2015: USA over Finland
2016: Finland over Sweden (USA 3rd)
2017: USA over Finland
2018: Finland over USA

The current core of Canadian players just aren't up to their usual standards. Nothing more there. It'll get better soon.

So what about the u18s we don't generally send the best possible team We usually win the Ivan Hlinka every year

2008	Canada	Russia	Sweden	Hodonín / Piešťany
2009	Canada	Russia	Sweden	Břeclav / Hodonín / Piešťany
2010	Canada	United States	Sweden	Břeclav / Piešťany
2011	Canada	Sweden	Russia	Břeclav / Piešťany
2012	Canada	Finland	Sweden	Břeclav / Piešťany
2013	Canada	United States	Czech Republic	Břeclav / Piešťany
2014	Canada	Czech Republic	United States	Břeclav / Piešťany
2015	Canada	Sweden	Russia	Břeclav / Bratislava
2016	Czech Republic	United States	Russia	Břeclav / Bratislava
2017	Canada	Czech Republic	Sweden	Břeclav / Bratislava
2018	Canada	Sweden	Russia	Edmonton / Red Deer

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

We couldn't score this Tourney, we didn't score a PP goal. That was our downfall. Blame it on the coaches or the players or whoever but if you don't score you generally don't win

 

[Newfoundland]

No reason we shouldn't win every years /thread

 

[crazyhawk]

How
Did Canada lose ?

Hunter

This.
Finland got the bounce. It's all good. Hockey Gods if you will.
Hunter should not be coaching next year though.
Personally I can't fathom how Entwistle and the 4th line didn't play much in the 3rd when they were pretty much the only line that was having success in creating chances.

 

[VanJack]

So Comptois played the entire tournament with separated shoulder, yet Hunter tabs him to take the shootout in sudden death OT? ...what gives?...was he trying to lose?

 

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaa]

I thought Canada was in trouble about five minutes into the game against the Czechs. Aside from one easy win, this was a team that never had a sense of urgency. Very lackadaisical. We occasionally see teams like that. It blows our minds, because we think the tournament is so important to these kids. The truth is, sometimes it isn't. Sometimes you get a group that lacks that character and leadership. Coaching? Maybe. But I sure didn't see much will to win out there.

 

[blindpass]

Bob Mackenzie making sense on the subject in the first minutes of his podcast:
https://www.tsn.ca/radio/toronto-1050/tsn-hockey-bobcast-season-3-episode-8-1.1236113

 

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaa]

This is all about development development development and more development!!!!!!! The U.S. and Canada have close to ONE MILLION registered youth hockey players compared to what 250k for the rest of the ENTIRE WORLD. Let that sink in for a moment. Now I am happy that the U.S. has made great great strides over the past 25 years in international play but let's be honest, this tournament should be all U.S. vs Canada every frigging year with the odd hiccup along the way. The fact that Finland and Sweden are on par with producing elite level talent with the U.S. and Canada shows a entirely inefficient if not outright broken model of development in North America. Both USA Hockey and Hockey Canada need to both look in the mirror AND look toward the European developmental system in order to make the overall game of hockey better by fully developing and utilizing the large number of youth hockey players at their disposal.

I don't know about that. Canada could have ten million kids playing, it still comes down to the top 20. Everyone's top 20 is close, at all levels. We still develop some of not most of the best players in the world, and easily the greatest depth. Our G team would beat Finland's by 25 goals. But on any given day, all of the A teams are close.

 

[Mehar]

Poor Coaching, Poor Production from key players in the final two games, Poor Powerplay, and Poor Offense overall= Poor Tournament.