The problem was having a Leaf prospect as the captain. He learned early playoff exits from the best!
TSN: WJC ~ Team Canada @ the World Junior Championships
- Thread starter Back in Black
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They did dominate the 2nd and 3rd period. But the first is where Czechia took a 2-0 lead that ultimately made the difference.
JimmySpaetzle
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- May 16, 2014
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Weak team this year, not surprised they lost this early. Good motivation for them next year in Ottawa!
Do Make Say Think
& Yet & Yet
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I don't think that is the case.
This roster was pointed out as one of the weakest in living memory and they essentially performed as expected. Hopeful for more, but achieved as expected.
Do Make Say Think
& Yet & Yet
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I meant the poster I was replying to, not the team.
Although we have plenty of overconfident young players who think they are better than they are due to the attention they get.
I also love to laugh at the Canadian "fake niceness" mask falling off when we lose at hockey.
jbeck5
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Yeah. I guess I don't understand how a team with a much more deeper and higher end talent can get dominated so easily in the first.
Do you not remember if you played the last place team in your league or for some reason played a lower level team? Everyone was licking their chops and it was an easy 6-2 win or something.
I understand the higher level you go, the less of a difference there is, but I feel like there should be much more of a difference in talent between a Canada world Junior team and a czechia world Junior team. Wouldn't it be much more than between the first and last place NHL team?
Sure, in the NHL, the last place team can beat the first place team on any given night...but generally speaking usually the top team has an easy enough time with the bottom feeders...and now the difference here in the two teams should be significantly more than in the NHL. Am I wrong?
Nac Mac Feegle
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I thought this Canadian team played kinda sot all tournament (from the games I saw). They weren't grinding much or being all that physical or doing the dirty work to win. They spent so much of this game trying to score from nearly the blueline...not going to the net, not using their size.
Seems to be a trend with a lot of young players the past few years. Makes you wonder if the trend of high level hockey being only for rich kids these days has changed the dynamic. Gone are the days where half the roster are missing a few teeth.
BondraTime
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It is a very weak team, just looking down the roster the only players who would be seen as core players on any good Team Canada roster are Celebrini (who was very young) and Luneau (who never even got to play). Even Portrais and Lamoureux aren't guys who you want to rely on as a go to guy at a World Juniors.
When you're leaning on secondary guys like Wood, Yager, Rehkopf, you're not in serious contention. They normally aren't making the team.
The Czech's aren't Latvia, they were capable of beating any team at the tournament.
They are a worse team, but not leagues different. They had the best player on the ice, the best goalie, all their players are guys who could be playing and starring in the CHL.
Canada lost to a worse team, that's about it. Nothing egregious about losing to the Czech's. I mean, they were tied with Germany with 10 minutes to go 2 days ago, they were just a weak team.
When you're leaning on secondary guys like Wood, Yager, Rehkopf, you're not in serious contention. They normally aren't making the team.
The Czech's aren't Latvia, they were capable of beating any team at the tournament.
They are a worse team, but not leagues different. They had the best player on the ice, the best goalie, all their players are guys who could be playing and starring in the CHL.
Canada lost to a worse team, that's about it. Nothing egregious about losing to the Czech's. I mean, they were tied with Germany with 10 minutes to go 2 days ago, they were just a weak team.
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It's not like the Czech Republic does not produce NHL talent.
If Canada is sending a weak roster, things like being shut out by Sweden and knocked out by Czech can happen.
jbeck5
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This isnt a pro Canada thing. It's a logic thing.
Shouldn't our first and second liners be much better than theirs? And ditto to the bottom half of the roster?
Sure, they have some good players, but if you break down player for player, would you not say we had like atleast 15-16 of the top 20 players in the game...and still lost?
Imagine an NHL team where their fourth line is better than the other teams second line, and yet we still lose. That's not an arrogance thing. It's a what the heck happened - thing
I would say the same thing if it was Americans vs Germany or something.
I know they do, but look at their rosters.
If you took both rosters and ordered the players from 1-40 or whatever. How many of the top 20 would be Canadian?
I just find it hard to believe that a team with like 80-90% of the better players can't dominate the game and get the win.
Is it that the individual players underachieved or was it a systems thing?
jbeck5
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I couldn't agree more.
What happened to Canadas grit and toughness in combination with skill.
I rarely saw Canada drop the boom or go in with a heavy forecheck and put guys in their butts, then retrieve the puck and drive the net.
It was all soft perimeter players. Even our big guys looked timid.
jbeck5
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So why is Canada getting so weak?
Or do you think it's a fluke or a perfect storm?
I keep hearing of how other programs have made leaps and bounds in the last several years. Why not Canada?
Why can't Canada improve at the same rate as other countries keeping their edge over other countries consistent?
Does hockey Canada need a complete overhaul? (Not talking about harrassment cases)
Like I keep hearing things like Quebec can't produce talent...or Canada can't produce goalies...the list goes on. What's happening? And why are other countries able to have major improvements while we seem to only be losing our hold?
How do we reverse the trend?
Canada did win the last 3 in a row. With junior's it is going to vary a lot year to year. This year the roster came up a bit short. I don't think it is cause to do a big soul searching.
Do Make Say Think
& Yet & Yet
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Hockey is an insanely expensive sport, it is slowly dying because kids have better, more convenient, and cheaper options.
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There is definitely an issue with player development in Quebec.
Used to be a goalie factory.
Provinces with half the population of Quebec are producing comparable levels of NHL players. Much to Quebec's chagrin, we'll probably see more players coming from Alberta (if we aren't already there).
BondraTime
Registered User
This is a weak year for Canada. The only 1st round picks from Canada who could play were Wright, Korchinski, Savoie, Mateychuk, Geekie, and Pickering. 2 were unavailable, and 1 wasn't good enough. They were a weak birthyear, and they were missing integral pieces of that birthyear.
Wright
Fantilli
Luneau
Bedard
Benson
Korchinski
Molendyk
All 7 of these guys would be the top players in the tournament for this age group.
They're the only country not playing with their top players, outside of Nemec, Slavkovsky, Carlsson and Cooley. This isn't the A squad for Canada. They are missing legitimately more than an entire all tournament roster of players.
Alberta has been the 2nd best province outside of Ontario over the past 15 years, only 4 times it's been lower than 2nd for number of players, and only 3 times did Quebec have more. They had a strong group of 97's and 95's, that's it in the past 15 years
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jbeck5
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I think it's only 2. They got silver in 2021.
I think it's just a trend.
From 1993-2012 (20 years), we only didn't metal once.
From 2013 to 2024, (12 years) we haven't metaled 5 times.
So almost every other year, we've been finishing outside the top 3 for a decade.
I can't be the only once noticing this trend.
jbeck5
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I wonder how much parents are effecting this.
Growing up, it was common that a family had a 10 year old minivan in the driveway while all kids played hockey. Their parents weren't buying toys for themselves so that their kid could play hockey.
Now, parents are crying that they can't afford hockey while driving a 2021 Audi A4, parents have the latest $1,200 iPhone, and they've got a 80 inch 4k tv in the living room.
I wonder how much is the cost of the sport vs the willingness/sacrifice of the parents.
Hockey has always been expensive and parents had no issues making personal sacrifices so their kids could play hockey. You don't see that as much.
Like I said, people would rather buy a 2021 Audi A4 and not put their kids in sports as opposed to buying a 2013 dodge caravan and taking the 20k you save there, and putting their kids in sports.
I worked at sportchek and we had a program to support kids so they can afford to play sports. Had a woman come in with a brand new BMW X5 to come claim the heavily discounted or free equipment. It's ridiculous.
jbeck5
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I still feel like their roster should be much superior to czechia. Like, Tomas hamara wouldn't come close to sniffing team Canada.
Why couldn't the superior Canada team capitalize on the weaker Czech players that wouldn't sniff Canada's roster?
BondraTime
Registered User
That's normal.
The States haven't medaled 4 times since 2013, Sweden hasn't 6, Finland 6, etc.
Birthyears aren't created equal, players available aren't created equal.
This was a weak birthyear from the start. They were also missing a very significant amount of players comparably.
This sounds very much like the "if you didn't spend so much on avocado toast you could buy a house" boomer argument. It's bunk.
The reality is, that the majority of parents do not drive luxury cars, and hockey is prohibitively expensive for most.
I have a friend in Sweden, where the club teams run their own minor hockey programs (similar to how soccer works in Europe). It costs ~$500 per year for his kids to play (each), and that includes all fees and equipment.
In Canada? It's a game for the rich. The cost is 4 or 5x per year.
*Also, in 2023, the average age of a car on the road in Canada was 11 years. So most people still have that 10-year-old vehicle in the driveway.
BondraTime
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They outplayed them, significantly.
They never buried their chances, the other teams (very good NHL pick) goalie kept them in the game, and they scored on a dribbler, on our non drafted goaltender.
That kind of stuff happens everywhere, at every level. You carry the play, they come down and score a weak one.
Hamara is not really any worse than Donovan, or Nelson, or Furlong, or Warren, or Bonk at this point in time. Canada isn't some juggernaut. 85% of this team Canada doesn't make Team Canada in any other year.
Losing in the Q's isn't surprising, they were a longshot to medal from the start. They had the 5th best odds prior to the tournament
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jbeck5
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I understand that,
But barring maybe the US the last couples years, Canada has generally always had the top ranks roster...and often not even close...yet for more than a decade they don't metal almost every other year.
Thats different than Finland having the 4th best roster and not metaling.
We seem to underachieve relative to roster strength more than other teams the last decade or more. I wonder why.
