Hitmen v Rockets for the League Championship

[The Wheatiemaniac]

It's not a case of teams not wanting American players. The problem is those American players either not wanting to play in the WHL or only wanting to play for certain teams.

If more American players were willing to play anywhere in the WHL, like many Canadian players are, every team in the league would have them. And there surely are some American kids who just want to play in the WHL and don't care where, but there's also a lot of them who will only play in certain places, and the Prince Alberts and Moose Jaws of the league aren't among them.

I can tell you for a fact that 21 of the 22 teams in the WHL have at least one American on their protected lists (only Brandon doesn't) and 15 of those teams have 5 or more Americans - in other words, at least 10% of their protected lists. There are tons of American players out there being wooed by the WHL....most of them just don't report except to a few teams. Why do you think that is?

Bottom line, most WHL teams are not ignoring American talent. American talent is ignoring the WHL.

I couldn't agree more. I would love to see Mr. McCrimmon draft some of the great US talent available. But we(Brandon) have the longest travel schedule in the league, being the Eastern most team. It seems they do like to pick their own destiny. The other issue might be an issue of their education. I'm not sure what high school credits policy is when you leave the country. But teams like Tri City, Seattle and Spokane seem to have no problem convincing these kids to report to camp. They also have the option of the USHL if they get drafted by a CHL team they don't want to play for.

They hold all the cards...whether we like it or not.

[dondo]

don't agree in the least -- sure there's some untapped talent from the States, but to say that the teams won because of their American players is just short-sighted and wrong. Look at the quality Canadian kids and you will see they far out-weigh the 'Mercs.

The Rockets won because of a certain Swede and monster Canadian player. Americans didn't enter into it.. I have never heard such a ridiculous theory in my life and I have lived a long(ish) time. The Bloodoff boys had a lot to do with that victory as well -- stop idolising players from down south who are the cream of their particular crop... the players coming from Cali or Colorado are top of their game, top .05% of the players down there-- lots of Canadian kids out play them being not the very top of their respective bantam leagues.

Your theory holds no water whatsoever, nice try, but really try again. I'm not saying ignore the States for prospects, but don't even think that more American players means better hockey, because it simply is not true.

The 'mercs have badly(really badly) lost the past the two world juniors, even with one of my favourite players Jonny Blum at the helm and in the line-up. American players tend to be show-boaters and in the end teams win championships not individuals -- Americans glorify the individual and don't recognize the contributions of team effort, Canadians do and that's why we win all the freaking time.

:skeptical

[LinkGaetzFan]

Americans glorify the individual and don't recognize the contributions of team effort, Canadians do and that's why we win all the freaking time.

:skeptical

Generalizations such as this don't exactly help you make your point. I know some Canadians are sensitive about Hockey but come on, that's like me generalizing that all Canadians are elitist socialists who boo the US anthem at any given chance.

Frankly I'm surprised it took this long before US kids started upping their collective skills. Hockey should have caught on long ago, it's a far superior sport than any other team sport IMHO.

'Mercs huh... is it OK if I call you Cans? Or 'Dians? Sounds rather derogatory to me considering the context, correct me if I'm wrong.

I don't think it matters where a kid is from, how he plays is the important thing.

[HURRICANE'S ROCK]

It was a crappy call since you can see Duval embellished the hook, so perhaps it should have been two for hooking to Plante, and two for diving to Duval.

But, and I'm a Hitmen fan here....who cares about the call. Kelowna kicked Calgary's butt up and down the ice for 68 minutes and there is absolutely no question they deserved to win the game. However they won it, they deserved to win it. Period....any beefing about the call by Hitmen fans is unfortunate sour grapes. By rights this game should have been 6-2 or 7-2 for the Rockets in regulation, not 3-2 in OT.

Good luck to the Rockets in Rimouski....if they play like they did in games 1, 2, 3, and 6 of this series, I can't see anyone beating them.

I agree with your analysis. The ref saw the play from behind the players and from there I think it would look like a hook. From the front of the play it was barely a hook and a bit of a dive. But I also agree that Calgary had no right to even be in O/T.

[dondo]

Generalizations such as this don't exactly help you make your point. I know some Canadians are sensitive about Hockey but come on, that's like me generalizing that all Canadians are elitist socialists who boo the US anthem at any given chance.

Frankly I'm surprised it took this long before US kids started upping their collective skills. Hockey should have caught on long ago, it's a far superior sport than any other team sport IMHO.

'Mercs huh... is it OK if I call you Cans? Or 'Dians? Sounds rather derogatory to me considering the context, correct me if I'm wrong.

I don't think it matters where a kid is from, how he plays is the important thing.

It wasn't meant to be derogatory - sorry if it sounded that way. You don't like 'Mercs? Kind of like mercury and mercenary all rolled up into one -- embrace it, you'll love it.

Actually I do stand by that generalization (and yes I do recognize it as a generalization, but none-the-less more true than not.) Tell me that the American fan does not glorify the individual more than the game or the team. Its all about superstars to most of the folks down south that I have encountered.

Hockey as you know is a team game, that oh so famous lack of (get ready for more generalizations) ego (read: politeness) that Canadians are purported to have -- lend itself to playing well as a team player.

You have to admit LGF that the past two US World Junior squads, lived and died by their individual stars and their lack of a complete team game kept what was supposed to be a highly skilled squad out of the medals two years running.

That's all I was talking about -- and although it was generalizing, its "generally" true.

you mean were aren't elitist socialists? vci34 who knew

actually the whole thing comes from the fact that more American players on those squads does not translate to better teams, considering the bulk of players on that team are from Canada (being a Canadian league) and in the case of the Rockets Backlund and Myers were the two that shone -- they're definitely the two that beat the Giants, along with Cody Almond.

I agree that where a kid is from is immaterial and its the skill that matters, but there are also cultural tendencies and a lot of Canadian kids grow up on skates so they have an edge in some ways, if only through sheer numbers of players to choose from.

I've proudly worn Jonny Blum's jersey since his 16th year.. there was something about that kid right off, that I needed to embrace. really nice kid, great person and very good player. The full package, but that's not because he's from California, it's cause he's a dedicated hard worker.

[AlanC]

actually the whole thing comes from the fact that more American players on those squads does not translate to better teams, considering the bulk of players on that team are from Canada (being a Canadian league) and in the case of the Rockets Backlund and Myers were the two that shone -- they're definitely the two that beat the Giants, along with Cody Almond.

FWIW, Tyler Myers was born in Texas and lived there until he was 10, when the family moved to Alberta.

He has dual citizenship and had the option to play for either USA or Canada internationally; he chose Canada but could have just as easily chosen the USA. Would being an "American" player instead of a "Canadian" player make any difference at all in his game or whether he's a "team player"? No.

There's plenty of good & bad, cocky & humble players on both sides of the border.

[The Wheatiemaniac]

Generalizations such as this don't exactly help you make your point. I know some Canadians are sensitive about Hockey but come on, that's like me generalizing that all Canadians are elitist socialists who boo the US anthem at any given chance.

Frankly I'm surprised it took this long before US kids started upping their collective skills. Hockey should have caught on long ago, it's a far superior sport than any other team sport IMHO.

'Mercs huh... is it OK if I call you Cans? Or 'Dians? Sounds rather derogatory to me considering the context, correct me if I'm wrong.

I don't think it matters where a kid is from, how he plays is the important thing.

I believe the "Mercs" reference is referring to a short form of the Tri City Americans.

Both our countries have produced some exceptional hockey players. US has put forth the likes of Phil Kessel, Mike Modano, the Hatcher boys, Roenick and so on....

Canada has produced guys you might have heard of on the news named Gretzky, Lemieux, Crosby, Messier, Phaneuf.......we could go back and forth forever.

Frankly I totally agree with Dondo in saying yes the US have some fine young talent that could do well in this league and help some teams with depth. But by no means are we gonna go out of business without them.

With all due respect to my Southern neighbours, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic and the USA all say they caught up to us.

Fact is, you had to catch us cuz we've always been and always will be the leaders of the pack!!!

P.S. We're not 'Dians.....WE'RE CANUCKS, BABY!!!

[WHEATMAN]

And I know I may get some flake for this... I always figured the CHL should consider American players imports. Frankly, I don't see why Hockey Canada allows an American (who outside of Russia is our greatest hockey rival) to be a non-import. Surely Hockey Canada's number one priority should be to produce the greatest number of Canadian players, should it not? In my opinion, Americans should be considered imports in the same way Russians, Finns, Swedes or any other non-Canadian hockey player is.

[Rockets1231]

And I know I may get some flake for this... I always figured the CHL should consider American players imports. Frankly, I don't see why Hockey Canada allows an American (who outside of Russia is our greatest hockey rival) to be a non-import. Surely Hockey Canada's number one priority should be to produce the greatest number of Canadian players, should it not? In my opinion, Americans should be considered imports in the same way Russians, Finns, Swedes or any other non-Canadian hockey player is.

I've always thought the same thing, but considering that there are American teams in the CHL it's really hard to impose such a rule, because I really don't think it would be fair to the American teams, after all they wouldn't be imports to them. They would also have to change the import rules to allow more than one import, although that wouldn't be much of a problem I suppose.

[hitmanfan]

I've always thought the same thing, but considering that there are American teams in the CHL it's really hard to impose such a rule, because I really don't think it would be fair to the American teams, after all they wouldn't be imports to them. They would also have to change the import rules to allow more than one import, although that wouldn't be much of a problem I suppose.

You are presently allowed 2 imports