WJC: Whats wrong with Canada?

[yessir29292]

lol

In 2017 the US was missing

Matthews
Tkachuk
Werenski
Hanifin

mcdavid was the best player in the world

 

[yessir29292]

This is one of the lamest post I’ve seen in a while. Grow up, dude.

2014 - Canada gold if MacKinnon, Pouliot, Rielly

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

The deepest issue at the Canadian junior level is the goalie development pipeline, and ironically, that wasn’t the issue at this tournament.

Are you serious the first 2 goals against were f***ing terrible n the winner was a gargantuan blunder

 

[north21]

I suspect the problem with canada is you expect perfection and that might be somewhat unreasonable.

 

[Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk]

Hubris

This.
When I hear Brent Seabrook pumping the team's tires, you know the team has jumped the shark.
Management thought other teams seeing the Maple Leaf would just crumble in their wake, but newsflash no one gives a rat's opinion about Canada hockey. They'll just attack us and win or lose.

Hockey Canada management needs a massive shakeup. Bring in some 25-35s in charge, get the team hungry and fast and quick and get back on the win column. Or just keep going back to fossilized brains like Cameron and suffer more humiliation.

 

[NyQuil]

There was some poster who lashed out in the USA game aftermath who said something like the only thing “fat, couch ridden” Americans are good at is video games like there wasn’t just an Olympic summer games where the medal count was pretty darn good for the US athletes as usual.

You have to take your medicine and look at things root and branch after failures like this. The Germans did it and do it after early exits in international football competition and usually come back stronger. But it takes humility.

Exactly.

The same thing happened with the US when they started getting consistently embarrassed in international basketball.

Americans just assumed they could win with whoever they sent and they were given a rude awakening when they were sent packing far earlier than expected.

The USA basketball brain trust clearly needed a giant dose of humility for their apparent arrogance.

 

[Bixby Snyder]

mcdavid was the best player in the world

So what, has he won the Stanley cup every year since he started playing in the NHL?

 

[brentashton]

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

Bingo.

And ultimately those decisions come down to the management team, led by Scott “I gotta protect my phony baloney job” Salmond.

It was time to purge HC after the last junior debacle. Instead they kept most of the organizational trash. It’s never to late to right a wrong.

 

[Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk]

Players tuned out Cameron and coach gave up. I think Cameron's comments and the players body language align fairly well with my theory. Not excusing the management or the players, but no one showed an ability to be a leader and be an example.

I see this a little differently.
Game v. Czechia showed players knew their coach was a vacuous puffball and just coached themselves, basically, tell themselves where to go and what to do. Scary enough, it almost worked!

 

[mackinnon29]

Simple answer is take BPA for a short tournament, you ignore what junior team they play for. Multiple high first round picks left home. You win with your bed you lose with your best. Nothing against the players on the team they all wanted to win but hockey Canada and the coaching staff have to take most of the punches here they pick the players and pick the plays/play style. Did the players play to there expectations? No and they took way to many penalties but little to no practice and no in game changes sealed the deal on this team along with that terrible challenge on the disallowed third goal which killed some momentum and 2:00 off the clock. They need to take BPA and hire an appropriate coaching staff for these tournaments the rest of the hockey countries are catching up so there’s no free rides here anymore

 

[brentashton]

I see this a little differently.
Game v. Czechia showed players knew their coach was a vacuous puffball and just coached themselves, basically, tell themselves where to go and what to do. Scary enough, it almost worked!

Yup.

Yesterday there was a d-zone faceoff where chechia stacked their shooters behind their centerman. Canada’s wingers and center kept frantically switching sides and yapping at each other as they attempted to set for the draw. Clearly the on ice players did not know how to align themselves for this draw arrangement.

Chechia had used that formation in earlier games. Wut the f*** is the role of a coach if he can’t even get pre scouting info and how to address it into his players heads?

The Webster definition of failure has Dave Cameron’s picture beside it.

 

[Forgot About Drai]

Nothing. this an overreaction.

Bedard, and Celebrini were still eligible for the tournament and they left 3 100 point scorers at home.

The team they send was picked poorly due to hubris from hockey canada. Theres nothing wrong with the talent levels of Canadian hockey.

I dont think anyone is overreacting in regards to if we have the talent or not. We know we have the talent in the NHL and this year, at home.

The reaction is 100% towards roster construction and classic Hockey Canada politics/ego. The reaction is spot on as its been an issue for years and its getting worse.

 

[bobber]

Stop ignoring college players would be a start. Michael Hage is right there with Hagens and Leonard for points but never even got a camp invite as it’s all predetermined - also only 6 PIMS…

Hage was the leading the NCAA in points as a rookie couple weeks back I believe. Saw him in the Rangers rookie camp. Heads and tails better than every player on the ice. Made something happen every time he touched the puck.

 

[Golden_Jet]

So what, has he won the Stanley cup every year since he started playing in the NHL?

No, but he’s still the best player in the world.

 

[Il Stugotz]

This stuff about not practicing and needing rest is as baffling as the roster construction.

 

[Fjorden]

Canada had zero players among the top 30 scoring leaders (goals and assists) in this WJC tournament.

Sweden have 9, USA:7: Czechia:7.

Surprisingly. Would have expected at least one player stepped up.

IIHF - Statistics 2025 IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP

 

[BurnabyJoe7]

Nothing is wrong with TC, other nations are just narrowing the talent gap and anything can happen in single game tournaments. Finland is a great example as they are typically weaker on paper but always place well.

The amount of politics in picking the team is real but they can just as easily lose in quarters with a roster full of top 10 picks. It's easy to point fingers after the outcome this year but George didn't allow a single even strength goal before yesterday and the team looked great defensively in their last 2 games at 5v5. Seemed like they were built to win tight games and not give up many chances, but they couldnt stay out of the box which was their downfall this year. It's fair to point the finger at coaching on that one considering it was a theme throughout the tournament, but at the same time and as players, how the f*** do you not figure that out?

I don't agee that picking two way players over higher offensive players is the way to go in these tournaments (In fact I completely disagree), but HC has been using that template for a while now and they've been successful with it. They handled Finland well in the first game and they were the better team at 5v5 against both the USA and Czechia.

The reality is everyone is results focused in these tournaments (and fairly so), but unless you have a powerhouse of a team, any of the top nations can win it in any given year.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Hage was the leading the NCAA in points as a rookie couple weeks back I believe. Saw him in the Rangers rookie camp. Heads and tails better than every player on the ice. Made something happen every time he touched the puck.

Isn't he a Habs prospect?

 

[bobber]

Isn't he a Habs prospect?

Yes

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Yes

Oh i gotcha, was a rookie tournament

 

[lokomotiv15]

Copy pasting my thoughts on Team Canada from the Pens boards;

Pundits and Canadian media will fall back on the same old "It's a different team with Bedard, Celebrini, and Benson out there!" schtick. It's valid, but Canada has always had their truly best U20 players unavailable and been able to consistently compete for gold with the "rest".

Always was so curious about what Sid would have done in the 07 WJC when he was putting up 120 pts as a sophomore (and still eligible for the WJC) in the NHL.

Either way, Hockey Canada clearly has a goaltending pipeline issue, a lack of decent coaches and questionable management to put it mildly. The volume of high end forwards and defensemen coming up through Hockey Canada's ranks is some of the worst I can remember since maybe the early 2010s and looking back historically, the late 90s.

Also didn't like the whiney attitude of the Canadian players. Visibly complaining and showing up the referees, awful body language, taking awful penalties. Then we all act surprised that the refs seemed to have it out for us after 4-5 games of bonehead plays and non-stop yapping. That's on Dave Cameron; Good look at what happens when you stick 25 cocky, skilled teenagers together and shove a spineless twit like Dave Cameron in front of them to lead and teach them how to be a team.

 

[novisor]

I suspect the problem with canada is you expect perfection and that might be somewhat unreasonable.

No. I’ve watched every tournament since 2004, 22 in a row now. Canada has lost before but usually it’s in the final. If they lose in the quarters it’s because they’ve run into a great team (Finland 2016 for example) for the eventual Gold medal winner (Finland 2019).

I’ve never watched a Canada like this. Couldn’t score. No chemistry. They beat themselves every game.

 

[wetcoast]

Management and team selection is the biggest problem including cameron who should not be coaching.

I found this gem in the aftermath though.

The team also opted not to practise on several occasions during the tournament. When asked why, Cameron said Thursday the team was "exhausted."

Peter Anholt, who heads up the junior team's management group, defended the move Friday.

"That's a situation where you're always thinking about the fatigue of the players and the energy level, and the emotional level of the team," he said, per Scott Wheeler of The Athletic. "Those are decisions that we make as a group, whether the team skates."

Pressed if practising more could have helped team chemistry, Anholt said: "That's not really how it works."

Hockey Canada exec Scott Salmond blames himself for world juniors disappointment

The senior vice-president of hockey operations for Hockey Canada is taking responsibility for the country's second straight quarterfinal loss to Czechia at the world junior championship.

www.sportsnet.ca

 

[Golden_Jet]

Isn't he a Habs prospect?

He is, the post is a bit confusing.
All I can think of is the Kitchener Rangers drafted him, but he wasn’t going there, went to Chicago Steel.
Assume poster meant went to a Kitchener camp, as it definitely wasn’t New York.

 

[bobber]

Oh i gotcha, was a rookie tournament

Rangers originally draft Hage but he never signed. They traded his rights to Barrie I believe.