Well the talent isn't there for the other teams. I don't know alot about them but if their "A" team is getting a good fight from 1/3 of Canada then it's pretty obvious that a 2nd team would not be good.And you know this how?
Wouldn't you want to see a best on best at the U-17 level then? We don't get to see it at U-18 because, as you pointed out, the CHL playoffs, so why not make the U-17 event a true best-on-best while you can? You're going to give the core group a chance to better familiarize themselves, while not watering it down with the 3 teams.
If's and but's. Bottom line is all 3 lost. They need to get their egos in check and make one makeshift U-17 National team. As I mentioned earlier, if they're so worried about getting the players familiar with each other, one team is the best bet. Sure, you'll have the odd player that won't be there at the U-18 or U-20, but 80-90% of the players will be the same.
They'd be all the better equipped for U-18's and U-20 if they picked one team for the reason I previously stated.
"Think". I bet you thought there'd be at least one Canadian team in the semi-final. The multiple teams per country is silly. By this age, for the most part you know who's who, and while there will be some movement with players, the bulk of the team will stay the same. Here's hoping Hockey Canada sees this and goes to one team sooner rather than later at this event. At the very least it will give as a chance to see a best-on-best Canada vs USA at the U-17 level, because as it stands now the multiple Canadian teams are no longer competitive with the USA. Outscoring the 3 by the tune 17-4 proves this.
It's a development stage for Canada, they aren't winning but they are exposing 66 talented players to international hockey and are evaluating them for future teams in the U18s or the WJC. Also, they're many really good players under 17 for Canada, it only starts to become clearer who are the top players after the tournament and a season in their leagues.
You sure got a hate on HC it seems. Again, if they can get 3 teams who can compete against Sweden's best, Russia's best, Finland's best (this year they were missing some of their top guys though), USA's best then I would say they belong in this tournament. It's a development step for the kids, talent level is close at 16 for Canada so they're trying to find the best out of the group while trying to stay competitive.
No they wouldn't, USA has a U-17 team and it works well but really they don't have alot of depth in their country for hockey right now. Canada has depth, they have a league, 3 regional ones all watched by HC and is quite successful. I see no need to switch to a U-17 team, who would they compete against? Other CHL teams? The U-17 all-star team would win quite a bit.
I wouldn't mind a U-17 team of Canada vs USA in a 5 or 7 game series where the best play the best, that will be alot of fun to watch. I thought a Canadian team would be in the semi-final, Canada has beat Russia, Sweden, Finland once before with the 3 teams.
The national U-17 team in Canada won't work. Canada is fine as it is, until they lose the #1 crown for producing alot of the top NHL players and lose at the Olympics regularly then I'll start questioning the way HC develops their players.