Would you switch country allegiance if you could?

[Philadelphia Ducks]

I love Canada, but my whole life I've been obsessed with Finland and Finnish hockey, I imagine I'd switch if I could.

 

[Juggernaut27]

I WOULD NEVER!!! I'd rather die than play for another country. I've always said that when it comes to America and it's athletes, I'm the biggest patriot in the world. It goes George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Mel Gibson in The Patriot, me. USA could be participating in Women's Duck, Duck, Goose and I will be watching and I will be into it.

It's different for someone like Anze Kopitar who plays for an underwhelming team like Slovenia and would probably make any other team in the world.

But I would still rather sit out than play for another country. The Olympics are a great event, but it's not what is going to define these players' careers. It will be NHL success.

The incredible irony of Mel Gibson playing that part is proof to me that there is a god.

And they sure ran good in 1812

 

[TheStatican]

What do you mean if?

Normally root for Canada but my favorite player is from Russia. I don't care for russia winning anything but I loved seeing #71 be on the winning side of things. So regardless of who would of won I'm happy.
It's like dating two girls at the same time

 

[Phil Parent]

France routinely scouts the Q for guys who won't be turning pro but still have some skills. They bring them over there with scholarships/jobs and spots on teams in their national league and when they've fulfiled the requirements, they can play on the national team, too.

That's why you see France improve. The Quebec guys improve level of play, and the French guys have better competition.

 

[CanadienShark]

If I could for example play for team Denmark (although I'm Canadian, with a Danish last name and some Scandinavian background), I'd do it. If you stick to your heritage, I have no issue. But if you're totally Canadian (generations back) or whatever country decades back, it seems a little bit like a slap in the face. I'm wholly Canadian, but I have a very diverse background, and it's not as though my family has been in North America for hundreds of years. Hopefully this makes some sense.

 

[LittleKev6D9]

What about France? You'll wear the same colors and a bird.

Come on man. USA is all about The Stars and Stripes. Betsy Ross had the sense to do more than slap 3 rectangles next to each other and call it a flag.

Even Canada had the frame of mind to at least throw a leaf on there.

 

[Club]

No way!

Canadian born and bred!

 

[CanadienShark]

To add onto my original post...

If I weren't Canadian, and didn't have any sort of Scandinavian background, and had to pick a country to play for... then it'd be Russia AINEC. I have some sort of infatuation with Russia, and it's been ongoing for about 4 years now. I'm fascinated by the history, love the players, and think their culture is intriguing. St. Petersburg and Moscow are hands down the two cities I want to see the most (NYC was #2 until last year when I first went there).

 

[ChrisKreider20]

I'd need to have some sort of tie to the country. My background is Italian (100%) so I'd play for Italy if I wasn't good enough got Canada. I wouldn't go and play for a random nation though though... I can't stand when I see that.

We see that in soccer too much. There are a number of players who artificially go and play for another nation because Canada isn't good. I understand Owen Hargreaves because his parents were actually from the UK. Similar Asmir Begovic emigrated from Bosnia so it makes complete sense that he'd play there...When someone has no ties, I find it much more troubling because for Canadian soccer to develop, its best players need to not abandon its team.

-Jonathan De Guzman went and played for the Netherlands where he had no ties to the country. -Junior Hoilett won't declare because he may be looking for an alternative..

 

[Rob83]

Never ever under any circumstances, to answer the question!

 

[jekoh]

France routinely scouts the Q for guys who won't be turning pro but still have some skills. They bring them over there with scholarships/jobs and spots on teams in their national league and when they've fulfiled the requirements, they can play on the national team, too.

That's why you see France improve. The Quebec guys improve level of play, and the French guys have better competition.

What a load of bullsh*t.

There's only 1 Quebec guy in the French national team, and he's been in the team for 10 years.

If anything there were more of them in the past, so France improves thanks to having fewer Quebec guys.

 

[jekoh]

I'd need to have some sort of tie to the country. My background is Italian (100%) so I'd play for Italy if I wasn't good enough got Canada. I wouldn't go and play for a random nation though though... I can't stand when I see that.

We see that in soccer too much. There are a number of players who artificially go and play for another nation because Canada isn't good. I understand Owen Hargreaves because his parents were actually from the UK. Similar Asmir Begovic emigrated from Bosnia so it makes complete sense that he'd play there...When someone has no ties, I find it much more troubling because for Canadian soccer to develop, its best players need to not abandon its team.

-Jonathan De Guzman went and played for the Netherlands where he had no ties to the country.

He lived in the Netherlands for 10 years, that's certainly a lot more of a tie than your grandparents being from Italy.

 

[EbencoyE]

France routinely scouts the Q for guys who won't be turning pro but still have some skills. They bring them over there with scholarships/jobs and spots on teams in their national league and when they've fulfiled the requirements, they can play on the national team, too.

That's why you see France improve. The Quebec guys improve level of play, and the French guys have better competition.

Um, no... France has improved because their young talent started going to North America to develop not the other way around. Roussel, Da Costa, Bozon, etc all moved to NA for junior hockey.

And the older guys that have been valuable to the French national team like Bellemare developed in other European leagues like Sweden in his case. The French League has very little to do with the development of the national team and Quebec has even less to do with it, not sure where you got that idea from.

 

[Man Rocket]

considering I've only been outside the US once for 4 hours (canada), no.