WJC: Whats wrong with Canada?

[RiverbottomChuck]

Hockey isn't really their thing anymore.

 

[Boonk]

Watching TSN broadcast continue to carry water for Hockey Canada hints at another part of the problem.

In the post game, they spent more time blaming the officials and the players than management.



It's a total echo chamber, and I imagine Hockey Canada brass likely surrounds themselves with sycophants like Bob McKenzie who will look to blame anyone else but HC. Until that stops, don't expect something to change.

Cant wait for the same excuses from the TSN panel next year and for Gord and Ray to tell us the same hockey trivia and facts that weve been hearing for like 10+ years now.

 

[Chainshot]

Player pool is as good as ever. Let down by coaching and team management, which is usually an American hallmark.

Yeah, some of the selection commentary reminds me of the USA Hockey politics over the years.

Instead of picking the best players, they seem to want to pick a team handicapped by a salary cap, if that makes any sense.

They try to get grinders for grinding positions without realizing that superstar talent is better at grinding in a short tournament like this.

The top players can play a 4th line role better than a 4th liner for a 5 game tournament.

Should always be picking BPA and then make your lineup from those players.

You're better off having an Iginla or stone on your 4th line than a Maltby or Draper on your 4th line even if stone or Iginla would never play a grinder roll in the NHL is that makes sense.

At the end of the day, player selection and coaching were big factors. They didn't have clearly talented players and then struggled to score. They didn't practice and had penalty issues and an anemic PP. It was as if every choice this leadership group made was wrong. The first path forward is making sure the selection folks are expunged and Cameron does not return as head coach.

 

[AtomicJets]

I saw very little chemistry between our top players. Canada never maintained possession in the offensive end and moved the puck around. It was constantly "gain the zone, take a low percentage shot from the outside." Everyone seemed to think that they were such a good shooter than they could score from anywhere. Which was clearly not the case.

There were a few players that probably shouldn't have been there, I thought Ethan Gauthier, Cole Beaudoin, and Mathieu Cataford all could have been replaced by better scorers. I don't mind having an energy line - I actually thought Howe, Yager, and Nadeau were pretty effective together. But that should have been the only line that played that way. Misa and Sennecke would have been good additions to this team.

On the bright side, I did like our defence for the most part. The Schaefer injury was very unfortunate. Caden Price displayed some high-end skill - I think he'll be an excellent pro. Molendyk also impressed me.

At the end of the day, they just have to find a way to make sure this team is more prepared next year. Better game plan and more time together on the ice may have helped. I hope we shake up the leadership team. Dave Cameron's definitely gotta go, at the very least. He's had enough opportunity.

 

[NVious]

Arguably the craziest thing about the selections is how undisciplined they were.

You would think these group of players would be more "humble" than the "hotshot" BPAs who are used to getting whatever they want whenever they want.

As bad as this team was, if they had discipline they could've medaled if they just had a bit of discipline which goes to show you how bad everything was from top to bottom:

The selections
The coaching
The players themselves not even doing what it is supposed to be their main strength (hard work/discipline)

 

[Saga of the Elk]

Scoring goals is better than preventing goals. It's not only more likely to lead to wins, it's more fun to watch. Joyless, politically-motivated hockey roster construction led to this. It's too bad, maybe Canada can return to its former greatness someday but it is good for other nations to win.

 

[madmike77]

This year it falls on management. They left a lot of highly skilled players off the final roster and went with two-way players instead. Their whole focus was on building a defensive powerhouse. They sort of succeeded in that - but they couldn’t score when they needed to.

 

[NyQuil]

Really? Maybe the McKenna hype got me.

He showed flashes of his skill level but was ultimately not a difference maker.

Our competition did a good job of negating him by keeping him to the outside, and those passes and plays that he did make were not capitalized on by his teammates well.

Watching TSN broadcast continue to carry water for Hockey Canada hints at another part of the problem.

In the post game, they spent more time blaming the officials and the players than management.



It's a total echo chamber, and I imagine Hockey Canada brass likely surrounds themselves with sycophants like Bob McKenzie who will look to blame anyone else but HC. Until that stops, don't expect something to change.

Believe me, a lot of Canadians are just as astounded by TSN’s response as they are to Dave Cameron’s.

Can anyone explain how Team Canada was apparently tired the entire tournament?

Apparently the other teams who had to travel and experience jet lag got to sleep on the plane or something?

 

[Jumptheshark]

Team was built wrong
Wrong coach
Canadian fans think we will everything because we are Canada and no one can touch us on the ice

 

[NyQuil]

Team was built wrong
Wrong coach
Canadian fans think we will everything because we are Canada and no one can touch us on the ice

I don’t think that’s true at all.

Canada loses all the time.

Canada rarely underwhelms through an entire tournament. Thats what people are talking about.

 

[madmike77]

I don’t think that’s true at all.

Canada loses all the time.

Canada rarely underwhelms through an entire tournament. Thats what people are talking about.

Yeah this year it wasn’t a one-game surprise, which is how they usually fail. They finished 2-3. The team was consistently bad.

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

Watching TSN broadcast continue to carry water for Hockey Canada hints at another part of the problem.

In the post game, they spent more time blaming the officials and the players than management.



It's a total echo chamber, and I imagine Hockey Canada brass likely surrounds themselves with sycophants like Bob McKenzie who will look to blame anyone else but HC. Until that stops, don't expect something to change.

Broadcasting has gone to absolute hell the past decade or so. The corporate media always dictated what we heard but there was always a sense of objectivity. Now? Media does it's best to force a narrative. Objectively, this was an awfully constructed team with a shit coach that achieved a crappy result. TSN: "Officiating."

I used to think English media (Sky/BBC) were insufferable after England's football failures but our sports broadcasters are god awful now. At least they go after coaches and players with pitchforks overseas....

 

[qc14]

They could've actually brought the guy having the best junior season in the world instead of leaving him off because of bullshit concerns about "compete" for starters

Fundamentally, Canada's advantage over the field this year was always going to be their depth and not their stars. I think even taking into account eligible players that weren't selected, you can make a strong argument that in a u20 all-star team there are no Canadians this year. That shouldn't matter though, because Canada had the ability to roll four lines of very good offensive players and overwhelm the comparatively weak depth of the US and Sweden.

Unfortunately (or fortunately for Americans like myself!) HC leadership decided to just completely forfeit that advantage by taking a bunch of scrubs. Guys like Cristall, Sennecke, Misa, Yakemchuk would've been key players for the US or Sweden. Akey, Gibson, Mynio, Price, Beaudoin, Cataford, Gauthier, Howe, and Pinelli though would've probably not made either team. When you combine that with the "top" guys on this Canada team predictably struggling to impact the games, it's a pretty easy way to go out early and look like dogshit while doing so.

I also concur with other posters on the gap shrinking. Talent-wise certainly but I think more important is athletically. Everyone everywhere with any shred of desire to play sports at a high level is in the gym all the time and eating correctly and not partying and being a professional from such a young age.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

the simply didn't bring their best players, poor roster construction....simple as that

add to the fact Cameron is a dinosaur and make brutal decisions with the roster he had, I fail to see how he was the best coach available other than the fact he's an Old Boys Club member

hopefully this embarrassing tournament on home-ice changes how Hockey Canada operates...this arrogant organization needs some humility

 

[RedHawkDown]

The B-team would beat the A-team, because they left all the best players off the team.

Sennecke. Misa. Cristall. Lardis. Hage. Wood. Greentree. Parekh. Yakemchuk. Every single one of these guys should have been on the team. It wasn't just one or two or three bad omissions, it was terrible across the board.

Sennecke-Misa-Nadeau
Cristall-Ritchie-Catton
Lardis-Hage-McKenna
Wood-Yager-Greentree
Luchanko/Martone

Molendyk-Parekh
Dickinson-Yakemchuk
Price-Gibson
Bonk

This team would easily have won gold.

HC management is absolutely pathetic.

 

[Mrfenn92]

Bad roster construction it seems

 

[arglebargle]

No disrespect to the team they constructed as they had their moments and were unlucky. After seeing that last period of hockey I believe a little more on ice chemistry earlier in the tourney would have done more damage. We know the talent levels of Ritchie, Catton, McKenna, (Sennecke), etc.

That wasn't better chemistry, it was the the strategy changing to a heavy forecheck due to the team desperately needing goals. They started sending 2-3 forecheckers at the Czech defence late in the 2nd, and the Czechs struggled to deal with it. Until they went down 3-1, they spent the entire tournament dropping into a left wing lock with a weak forecheck. It was hard for teams to score on them 5v5 but they were too slow and ponderous with the puck to create much offense in transition, and did not have the guile and creativity to create scoring chances against set up defences.

Cameron should have figured out sometime during the Germany game that this team needed to create turnovers deeper in the opponent's end to score goals. If they wanted to sit in their left wing lock and create chances from turnovers around their own blue line they needed defencemen who can move the puck much more quickly and decisively.

They picked Schaefer but they needed to bring enough defencemen with that skillset to have 2-3 in the lineup each game, not just one on the roster for the whole tournament. The rest of the defenders did not look comfortable moving the puck through the neutral zone.

The indiscipline was a problem but they're always like that in this tournament. When they win it's because they've got such a skill and talent advantage that it doesn't matter.

 

[DJJones]

The picked a team that would shut down the other team 5 on 5. They were successful at that.

Too bad they forgot about scoring and having depth so that you can sit undisciplined players without sacrificing offense.

 

[yessir29292]

Obvious issue is best players in the NHL. Add Bedard, Wright, Fantilli, Benson and Korchinski last year and they walk to gold. Add Bedard, Celebrini and Benson this year they walk to gold again.

They still should be able to win this tournament most years. They had to most talent even with the guys they left home… 0 structure

 

[BLNY]

Institutional failures of management and coaches.

From the outset, they looked like a team without an identity. Too many instances of 1-on-3 attempts at zone entries, disjointed play in the offensive zone, lack of communication, lack of discipline, etc.

When the tv crew are lauding 5-on-5 play and defense it's because there's zero offensive threat.

An interview with one of the assistant coaches that aired during last night's game indicated they didn't practice on NY day. They just hung out, 'like a bunch of dudes'. That was a group that couldn't afford to skip a practice.

I'm not going to throw shade at the players. I think they were criminally under served. It's easy to play armchair gm and question roster choices, but there were some glaring omissions imo.

 

[Jets4Life]

This is what ex-Jets prospect had to say about Dave Cameron



Perhaps Canada should do a better job vetting coaches.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

The stupid f***in dumb asses in charge pulled a 2006 again. Wdym Crosby and Staal aren't on the team????

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Watching TSN broadcast continue to carry water for Hockey Canada hints at another part of the problem.

In the post game, they spent more time blaming the officials and the players than management.



It's a total echo chamber, and I imagine Hockey Canada brass likely surrounds themselves with sycophants like Bob McKenzie who will look to blame anyone else but HC. Until that stops, don't expect something to change.

I expect good analysis from these guys but this was a bunch of nonsense. Are they not allowed to criticize hockey canada or the head coach? And the call was borderline, hardly brutal. If they can't kill a penalty they don't deserve to move on anyway.

 

[Jordan Belfort]

That wasn't better chemistry, it was the the strategy changing to a heavy forecheck due to the team desperately needing goals. They started sending 2-3 forecheckers at the Czech defence late in the 2nd, and the Czechs struggled to deal with it. Until they went down 3-1, they spent the entire tournament dropping into a left wing lock with a weak forecheck. It was hard for teams to score on them 5v5 but they were too slow and ponderous with the puck to create much offense in transition, and did not have the guile and creativity to create scoring chances against set up defences.

Cameron should have figured out sometime during the Germany game that this team needed to create turnovers deeper in the opponent's end to score goals. If they wanted to sit in their left wing lock and create chances from turnovers around their own blue line they needed defencemen who can move the puck much more quickly and decisively.

They picked Schaefer but they needed to bring enough defencemen with that skillset to have 2-3 in the lineup each game, not just one on the roster for the whole tournament. The rest of the defenders did not look comfortable moving the puck through the neutral zone.

The indiscipline was a problem but they're always like that in this tournament. When they win it's because they've got such a skill and talent advantage that it doesn't matter.

Exactly, not until the third period of a knock game being down did they actually play aggressive and hard forechecking hockey. It was comical

 

[GettingYourMoms]

Neirther did Canada. They win easily with the players that are in the NHL.

If Czechs got players from NHL like Pastrnak, Necas, Chytil etc they would also easily win, see how stupid your argument is? This thread is getting really annoying, you behave like sore losers.