Olympics: Team Canada 2022, Part III

[Eye of Ra]

Separating weakened the Czechs and Slovaks for sure, there were other factors that were bigger but losing the combined forces hurts to this very day.

Man, when I was growing up Czechoslovakia was something to be feared, great players and great system, just an all around tough friggin out.

Correct me if im wrong, but 99 % players in Czechslovakia NT was czechs.

 

[jj cale]

All true but it wasn't the seperation it was communism leaving. Obviously, neither country wants communism but the money was gone. Really curious if either of us become a regular contender again... really hoping they are asking Finland (admittedly a richer country) what they did to become so good because it's a model we should follow. Belarus is following the NDTP model (to my knowledge) and that seems to be showing up nicely in U18 results as well.

I think the biggest factor behind Finlands rise is the passion factor, that's a hockey crazed country, they love the game. Sure, I have no doubt their system is top notch too, but no way that happens without the populace being in love with the sport.

It took awhile for it to develop into a top notch program with that small of a population but they got there, and that's why they got there with their limited manpower resources.

 

[jj cale]

Correct me if im wrong, but 99 % players in Czechslovakia NT was czechs.

It could have been, pretty sure they had some key guys always that were Slovaks though.

I mean, the Stastny brothers were about as key for them as you could get in one time period, and they were Slovak.

I believe guys like Druzilla were Slovak too but I might be wrong about that.

 

[SoundAndFury]

We will see, i think you underestimating these teams, same way you did at the world championships this past year.

By "these teams" you mean what exactly?

 

[Czechboy]

Slovakia also had a centralized junior team a few years ago right?

Yeah, that didn't work. Oranje! Although I think it got them a bronze at one World Junior. Maybe I shouldn't say it didn't work since it's not my national team. From my fan perspective it didn't work.

 

[Czechboy]

Correct me if im wrong, but 99 % players in Czechslovakia NT was czechs.

No.. Slovaks were amazing on the team. Stastny's for instance. Some really good Slovaks for sure... Dzurilla is another that comes to mind right away. I'm guessing (happy to be correct by a Slovak fan) but I'm guessing 70 to 30 ratio similar to the population ratio. After the split I'd say they had better goal scorers and D as well. We had Hejduk and they had Gaborik, Hossa, Palffy and Bondra scoring by bucket loads. All those guys came out of the former Czechoslovakia.

 

[Lauro]

Don't know many of these players, but definitely will watch and root for Canada and Germany , as always

 

[Elias40]

Correct me if im wrong, but 99 % players in Czechslovakia NT was czechs.

The Czechs always had more players when it came to the joint representation of Czechs and Slovaks.
Because there are 11 million Czechs and only 5.5 million Slovaks, the selection was larger in the Czech Republic. The only exception, in my opinion, is the year 1976 and the European Football Championship, I think there were eight Slovaks and only three Czechs in the basic line-up. In hockey, I always thought the opposite, 5-6 Slovaks and 15 Czechs. And there were also many more coaches on the bench from the Czech Republic. Czech hockey was better, it had more top teams with a long tradition. I don't know if you know teams like Kladno, Litvínov, Pardubice, Dukla Jihlava, Brno ... Slovaks only had Slovan Bratislava, Trenčín and Košice. Jihlava and Trenčín were army teams, which in practice meant that if he was a very talented junior and had to retire for two years, then the two teams had the primary choice. Army teams had the best facilities in all of Czechoslovakia, similar to CSKA Moscow during the Soviet Union.

The Stastny brothers, Darius Rusnak, Jozef Golonka, Vladimir Dzurilla, Vincent Lukac, Jan Starsi ... were the most famous and best Slovak players in the Czechoslovak era. Maybe I didn't forget anyone.

 

[mattihp]

This could be Ho Sangs chance to earn a 2way deal with Toronto. He will probably be relied up heavy to generate offence in China. Him and McTavish may look good together

Don't get your hopes up for Josh. If he isn't an extra, Canada is in trouble.

 

[izzy]

I think this will result in Tambellini in the nhl soon

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Its a disgrace that players of that caliber are playing for Olympic Gold in what should be best on best hockey. It takes away the power that winning a gold medal should give you. Nobody will care about this tournament after it happens.

Did you not watch the Olympics prior to 1998?

 

[peconcan]

Don't get your hopes up for Josh. If he isn't an extra, Canada is in trouble.

I think we may be in trouble regardless. Not sure how Kent Johnson is on our taxi squad rather than in the lineup

 

[lawrence]

In surprised Ho sang made the team give history of being having personality issues.

 

[Mainiac]

Exactly. In a short tournament you can't have someone sulking because they're not getting PP time (or whatever).

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

I think we might win Silver considering Owen Power is there.

Wondering why Kent Johnson didn't make it though.

Eric Staal I think becomes captain and has a good tournament. But I don't think we go farther than Silver. I see Russia winning it, if not maybe Sweden or Finland.

 

[Marioesque]

I think we might win Silver considering Owen Power is there.

Wondering why Kent Johnson didn't make it though.

Eric Staal I think becomes captain and has a good tournament. But I don't think we go farther than Silver. I see Russia winning it, if not maybe Sweden or Finland.

Johnson is in the taxi squad I believe. He's not physically ready for the opponents in this tournament where as McTavish is much closer to man size even though he's young. That would be my guess for the reasons he's not straight in the roster.

 

[bert]

Not me,it's still hockey and there is a team with a Maple Leaf on it's chest representing Canadian Hockey and all of us, I have no choice but to watch and root for them, and enjoy.

I expect them to play balls out and compete for Gold, nothing less, it's a responsibility.

Damn right.

Let me know how it goes.

Like wise. Ill watch the best non NHL men play any day of the week over Midget AAA non contact championships.

 

[Tutu to]

How do you guys think this team would do if they played in the NHL?

Worse than my beloved Habs?

 

[Tutu to]

Would be cool to see John Gilmour play for personal reasons.

 

[bert]

How do you guys think this team would do if they played in the NHL?

Worse than my beloved Habs?

They're probably better than any KHL team so probably pretty close to the Habs. Canada's 4th line is pretty similar to a second line on a top KHL team. Dynamo for example.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

How do you guys think this team would do if they played in the NHL?

Worse than my beloved Habs?

Much worse, yes.

 

[lawrence]

I think we might win Silver considering Owen Power is there.

a silver medal means we were one win away from gold, which is possible we can win gold.

 

[Antiillafire]

The Czechs always had more players when it came to the joint representation of Czechs and Slovaks.
Because there are 11 million Czechs and only 5.5 million Slovaks, the selection was larger in the Czech Republic. The only exception, in my opinion, is the year 1976 and the European Football Championship, I think there were eight Slovaks and only three Czechs in the basic line-up. In hockey, I always thought the opposite, 5-6 Slovaks and 15 Czechs. And there were also many more coaches on the bench from the Czech Republic. Czech hockey was better, it had more top teams with a long tradition. I don't know if you know teams like Kladno, Litvínov, Pardubice, Dukla Jihlava, Brno ... Slovaks only had Slovan Bratislava, Trenčín and Košice. Jihlava and Trenčín were army teams, which in practice meant that if he was a very talented junior and had to retire for two years, then the two teams had the primary choice. Army teams had the best facilities in all of Czechoslovakia, similar to CSKA Moscow during the Soviet Union.

The Stastny brothers, Darius Rusnak, Jozef Golonka, Vladimir Dzurilla, Vincent Lukac, Jan Starsi ... were the most famous and best Slovak players in the Czechoslovak era. Maybe I didn't forget anyone.

It’s a joke that we aren’t given the credit for the 1976 Euro win. Both goal scorers in the final were Slovak and 3/5 of PK takers were Slovak. And manager of course was Slovak as well. Than in 1980, Jurkemik scores the only goal against Italy and than Barmoš penalty wins it to get us third place. Yet history records only count these results as Czech wins. In football, we were always significantly better represented, even outnumbering the Czechs at various points. In fact, an argument could be made that Slovaks carried the football team for stretches. In 1972 Euro Qualifying, 9 of 11 goalscorers were Slovak. Maybe if more Slovan players were included we would have actually beaten romania and qualified and had a good chance at winning the final .However hockey was more representative of the population, Czech dominant, no debate there. Its important to remember the actual demographics of Slovakia though. Hungarian minority does not really play hockey, and the Romani population is not really represented as well. So the ethnic slovak populace is smaller than it shows usually. There is more like 4.2 million Slovaks, not 5.5

 

[Elias40]

It’s a joke that we aren’t given the credit for the 1976 Euro win. Both goal scorers in the final were Slovak and 3/5 of PK takers were Slovak. And manager of course was Slovak as well. Than in 1980, Jurkemik scores the only goal against Italy and than Barmoš penalty wins it to get us third place. Yet history records only count these results as Czech wins. In football, we were always significantly better represented, even outnumbering the Czechs at various points. In fact, an argument could be made that Slovaks carried the football team for stretches. In 1972 Euro Qualifying, 9 of 11 goalscorers were Slovak. Maybe if more Slovan players were included we would have actually beaten romania and qualified and had a good chance at winning the final .However hockey was more representative of the population, Czech dominant, no debate there. Its important to remember the actual demographics of Slovakia though. Hungarian minority does not really play hockey, and the Romani population is not really represented as well. So the ethnic slovak populace is smaller than it shows usually. There is more like 4.2 million Slovaks, not 5.5

Yes, football was better in Slovakia during the time of Czechoslovakia. The victory of Slovan Bratislava in the European trophy in 1969 over Barcelona is, I think, the only one in the history of Czechoslovak club football. I also don't quite understand why the Czechs win the euro in 1976 as their win. But some sports media have at least so much decency that they add to the win that it was achieved as Czechoslovakia. I can't understand why in the beginning of Slovak hockey the Slovaks had to play in a lower category and the Czechs automatically started in it after the disintegration of Czechoslovakia. This was a big scam in Slovakia and significantly slowed down the development of hockey in Slovakia. And it is not at all possible to compare the situation with the Soviet Union and Russia as a successor state. Because Balderis played for the Soviets as much as possible, which was an exception and the Slovaks had a much larger representation in the Czechoslovak team.

 

[Czechboy]

In surprised Ho sang made the team give history of being having personality issues.

I thought his issue was being a prick? I don't think he's had any legal troubles or suspensions? This is meant as a question...