Line Combos: World Junior Talk

OD99

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Oct 13, 2012
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One of the most boring world juniors I can remember.

Lots of D schemes with little in the way of dynamic offensive plays.

It's the way teams can win with lesser talent, but it seems like it was missing all over.
 

Sens of Anarchy

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Jul 9, 2013
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It may have turned out better for Parekh, Yakemchuk, Sennecke, Misa, Cristall, Parascak, Iginla et al to have missed this shit show

True if they all played it may be a totally different out come.. but it would still take a coach willing to adapt and to let the horses run.

Hockey Canada all double down on making the right choices says something.

The players were too exhausted to practice ; and we were not making changes to the way we play so .. they don't need to.
 

Sens of Anarchy

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Jul 9, 2013
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I like the idea of using pairs of players that have shown proven chemistry.

The big brain coach has to take advantage and not dress one guy and sit the other

The USNTDP team has an advantage when they can have pairs and even entire lines that play together through the seasonl

Cameron clearly had a vision of how to assemble the lines and who would play more defensive roles but largely it did not work. The brass picking the team left too much talent at home for a vision that was not close to good enough. I'd have much rather seen Chris Lazery or Dale Hunter coach this team and I am sure there are other names that would have been more progressive in their approach to winning hockey games at this level.

Dave Cameron showed a lot of inflexibility in how he worked this team
 

stats1

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Jul 22, 2022
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For two kids drafted in the first round and one of them almost in the top 10 I thought Dickenson and Bonk were atrocious. They’re kids… I get that but super underwhelming by both of them. Bonk looked slow, unsure on where to go with the puck, not poised. Dickenson similar thing, not tough, looked slow. I mean damn you see these guys being drafted high in the first round and watch them out there and I don’t see it lol Bonk can’t skate worth a shit for a kid so highly touted as he is in Philly
 
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Tnuoc Alucard

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Golden_Jet

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Sep 21, 2005
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For two kids drafted in the first round and one of them almost in the top 10 I thought Dickenson and Bonk were atrocious. They’re kids… I get that but super underwhelming by both of them. Bonk looked slow, unsure on where to go with the puck, not poised. Dickenson similar thing, not tough, looked slow. I mean damn you see these guys being drafted high in the first round and watch them out there and I don’t see it lol Bonk can’t skate worth a shit for a kid so highly touted as he is in Philly
How Cowan doesn’t pass to Bonk on a tap in goal is definitely odd. Their even teammates in London.


“We were too tired to practice”

-🤡
No idea how 18/19 year olds are tired, with no travel.
 
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OD99

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Oct 13, 2012
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How Cowan doesn’t pass to Bonk on a tap in goal is definitely odd. Their even teammates in London.



No idea how 18/19 year olds are tired, with no travel.

That was crazy to see live. And Bonk's reaction said it all.

Too tired to practice is bonkers. These guys regularly play 3 games in 3 nights!

None of our games were taxing either as we controlled the puck for most of them and they weren't very physical. Total sh!t show from start to finish.
 

IpsoPostFacto

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Dec 17, 2017
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For two kids drafted in the first round and one of them almost in the top 10 I thought Dickenson and Bonk were atrocious. They’re kids… I get that but super underwhelming by both of them. Bonk looked slow, unsure on where to go with the puck, not poised. Dickenson similar thing, not tough, looked slow. I mean damn you see these guys being drafted high in the first round and watch them out there and I don’t see it lol Bonk can’t skate worth a shit for a kid so highly touted as he is in Philly

I'm not sure how to judge individual players in this tournament. I saw the games live and sometimes you get a different feel from watching on T.V, so perhaps I'm out to lunch, but my overall feeling is that the none of the players seems to be confident as to where other players were going to be, or who was going to bring the puck up etc. I'm pointing a few fingers at coaching.
 
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Sens of Anarchy

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Jul 9, 2013
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How Cowan doesn’t pass to Bonk on a tap in goal is definitely odd. Their even teammates in London.



No idea how 18/19 year olds are tired, with no travel.

I found Cowan was pretty selfish at several times. That was a beauty feed from Dickinson and would have been awesome if Cowan slid that to Bonk.
On one play in isolation its hard to be too hard on him if he saw a hole he thought he'd score on.
 
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BigRig4

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Feb 22, 2014
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I found Cowan was pretty selfish at several times. That was a beauty feed from Dickinson and would have been awesome if Cowan slid that to Bonk.
On one play in isolation its hard to be too hard on him if he saw a hole he thought he'd score on.
Reminded me of Marner when he was in the tournament
 

Knave

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Mar 6, 2007
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Cowan was okay but you can tell he's not a great decision maker. He would hold it and tunnel vision when he should pass and you could tell it was frustrating his teammates like Bonk being the most obvious and most recent referenced in that tweet. But then there would be times he would pass it and you would wonder why because it looked like the wrong decision. I don't think he's selfish but he does have issues seeing and predicting the play. If Gretzky passes it to where the player is going to be, Cowan doesn't even see the player to pass to half the time.

Maybe that skillset works out better at the NHL level but I think it's a legitimate worry to have if you're a Leafs fan. He lacked the ability to consistently keep his head up and see his teammates and even when he did there were questionable passes and questionable decisions to not pass.

I don't think scratching him or playing him less minutes would have solved anything. The entire team was disjointed. It's just that Cowan in particular looked like he didn't have great vision.

That would be what he needs to work on. Keeping his head up, looking around, getting better at listening for his teammates shouting. And then second step would be identifying who has the best opportunity at a shot and whether that's him or one of the other guys.
 
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Wondercarrot

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Jul 2, 2002
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“We were too tired to practice”

-🤡

They looked too tired to play as well.
Bonk looked exhausted from the opening shift of the tournament.

So many generic players, so little grit & physicality, so little creativity. Zero identity.
Must have been the least talented “top line” Canada has ever iced, and aside from Shaefer the least talented blueline we’ve ever iced.
 
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Cosmix

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Jul 24, 2011
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I like the idea of using pairs of players that have shown proven chemistry.

The big brain coach has to take advantage and not dress one guy and sit the other

The USNTDP team has an advantage when they can have pairs and even entire lines that play together through the seasonl

Cameron clearly had a vision of how to assemble the lines and who would play more defensive roles but largely it did not work. The brass picking the team left too much talent at home for a vision that was not close to good enough. I'd have much rather seen Chris Lazery or Dale Hunter coach this team and I am sure there are other names that would have been more progressive in their approach to winning hockey games at this level.

Dave Cameron showed a lot of inflexibility in how he worked this team
Dave Cameron was a failure as an NHL coach. He should not have been chosen for the Canadian Junior coach.
 
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