Team Canada

[moon]

Winning teams and successful players bring it every game.Today, the Americans were by far the better team.The wide ice surface was meant for their speed and skill.I also liked the fact that they had size on their defence.I wonder why there wasnt a prominent NHL coach on the coaching staff.It may have helped.Hockey USA has a darn good idea about having a national training program in Michigan,The majority of the Americans have played together for years.Team Canada will have to dig deep and find some character .Winning bronze against the Russians will be no easy task .I believe in my country and know the boys will give it 100 per cent effort .

If they have such a damn good idea about a winning tradition why have they been so awful at the tournament in recent years? Was that winning tradition helping them to a 7th place finish last year or did they forget about it then? How about their awesome 5 medals in the last 10 years. Sure a great winning tradition there.

Full marks for winning the right game at the right time yesterday but that American team loses to that Canadian team more often than not if they play 10 times.

[patsdude114]

Canada barely beat USA in the round robin won 2-1 & then lost 5-1 so USA still outscores us 6-3 in 2 games due to more speed & skill. Canada was a big slow team that thought just cuz they had Hopkins it would be a walk in the park. At least in this years loss in the semi final it can't be blamed on goaltending cuz Subban played great all tournament long, not his fault he can't stop what he can't see when team canada collapses all 5 skaters to act as a screen.

Canada is not the only powerhouse anymore & they need to develop more if they hope to once again be above the rest. Sweden will hopefully win back to back golds.

As for ur comment about USA finishing 7th last year ya they did it happens canada finished 6th about 8yrs ago or so which brought in there excellence program. The USA have never been stronger in this tournament like they have been in the last 5 to 7 yrs & kudos for them for improving there program.

[mjw22]

We need to get rid of the inter- league politics. Send the best coaches and players .Who cares what league their from we want gold. Send coaches like Hay Sutter etc who have coached and won at this level. Have coaches commit to a 2-3 year program so the systems the same.This youre next up system for coaches sucks.

[moon]

Canada barely beat USA in the round robin won 2-1 & then lost 5-1 so USA still outscores us 6-3 in 2 games due to more speed & skill. Canada was a big slow team that thought just cuz they had Hopkins it would be a walk in the park. At least in this years loss in the semi final it can't be blamed on goaltending cuz Subban played great all tournament long, not his fault he can't stop what he can't see when team canada collapses all 5 skaters to act as a screen.

Canada is not the only powerhouse anymore & they need to develop more if they hope to once again be above the rest. Sweden will hopefully win back to back golds.

As for ur comment about USA finishing 7th last year ya they did it happens canada finished 6th about 8yrs ago or so which brought in there excellence program. The USA have never been stronger in this tournament like they have been in the last 5 to 7 yrs & kudos for them for improving there program.

Canada has finished top 3 in each of the last 15 tournaments. 8 years ago Canada won gold.

As for "it happens" it happens a lot for the US (and other countries other than Canada).

[mjw22]

No medal. This has to be the worst defensive team ever for Canada. The forwards cant back check and the d men were soft .Not the first time I've seen Rielly beat like that.

[patsdude114]

Canada has finished top 3 in each of the last 15 tournaments. 8 years ago Canada won gold.

As for "it happens" it happens a lot for the US (and other countries other than Canada).

I can't recall what year it was I was just throwing it random year out there cuz I could give 2 rats asses about looking back to find out but it was when canada introduced the program of excellence when canada finished like 6th in the WJs

Canada is NOT the world dominance aanymore when it comes to junior hockey, we have a great league in the CHL to watch our junior hockey but how the teams r selected is a huge joke. After watching Shinkaruk last nite I have no clue how McNeil got the invite back onto team canada over shinkaruk, McNeil has never been that noticable on the ice ever in all the yrs the Raiders have came to regina with McNeil but oh ya McNeil is a 1st rd pick so canada better bring him on board instead of a pure offensive talent like shinkaruk who hasn't been drafted yet.

Canada wants too many players to play a stupid role compared to other countries who go with 4 scoring lines, we want a shutdown line, a energy line & 2 scoring lines lmao canada forgets were not building a team to play a 72 game season we r playing a short tournament where offense is EVERY!

[Bighat]

Just finished watching the game here's my breakdown of team Canada and the process:
Defence- weak and slow Murphy brutal defensively gave the puck up way too much.
Hamilton glad the leafs traded the pick slow and gives the puck up.
Reinhardt wasn't ready to be there slow and indecisive.
The rest played well enough
Forwards- Jenner should have been sent home, not a team player.
Lipton- shouldn't have been there either, should have only taken 1 17 year old
Drouin. It's time to take the best players not the typical canadian team. On the big ice we need to take a fast team with 4 scoring lines and the extra forward can be a grinder.

[Some_Arrogant_Jerk]

The best way for them to make money is to win. The best way to win is to bring the best players to the tournament.

Its always funny that politics only affects "your" guy (whether that is a Flames fan whinning about their guy being cut, WHL guys whinning about not enough westerners or Quebecer whining about their guys) it never seems that "your" guy makes it thanks to politics.

This year I can't think of a single guy that made it who should or a single guy who was cut that shouldn't have been. Corrado had a good Super Series and Camp but was weaker for the time between the last tournament and the selection camp. Subban was so much better than everyone else over that time it would have been stupid to ignore that and have him there because of a short stretch of 4 days in camp.

The problem is this is such a competitive and difficult team to make that people, instead of realizing this and saying hey great to see my guy make the camp, go to the BS it was politics to try and rationalize why someone didn't make it.

Team Canada hasn't been by far the best team, even without its top players, at this tournament by ignoring skill and making selections based on politics.

As much as I really want to agree, its just a naive way of looking at things. When it comes to making money, the best way is to appeal to people who arent hockey fans and dont care who wins. In order to do that, you have to sensationalize things and add elements that are normally not apart of hockey experiences. It can be 'diversifying' the team to accomodate groups that are normally apathetic, or selecting more media friendly/popular/interesting players for those who enjoy dramatics, and most notable...selecting a team that is overall the most market-friendly to the casual viewer; in this case a collective of powerplay units opposed to checking line types and defensive specialists.

Frankly, winning it all is just a bonus when you consider that the hardcores are going to continue coming back if they win or not...and since canada is always good anyways, why not dress it up and appeal to the untapped market...even at the expense of the loyal regulars and frankly the game itself(accept it in common with the NHL and Canada + its hockey fans). Their main goal is to make money hand over fist, and since non hockey fans prefer mindless amounts of goals over games with substance, grit and defence that theyll call boring, the people who choose the team crafts it to match these interests. If they win while doing it, all the power to them...meaning selecting guys that play like Huberdeau and players like Ryan Murphy over Mark Mcneill and maybe Matt Dumba. And of course Subban over Broissant.

As for politics, my point is that it affects all facets. Its not me whining about 'my side'(a side that has benefitted largely due to politics. The pats have more WJR graduates than any other team)...but its only logical that people will be vocal about the things that bother them directly rather than for other people. You can think what you want, but its hard to ignore many parallels between this year and others that people bring. Many people feel outside elements come first, at least in the important decisions to make, and for good reason. Its not out of desperation that people come to this conclusion.

[moon]

I would love to hear about all these guys left off the team because of politics, even this year.

Dumba was cut because he hasn't been good enough in the last year and a half since the tournament and Canada had better defencemen than him. Brossoit cut for the same reason.

They select guys like Hubredeau over Macneil because he is a much better player than him and will do more to help the team win.

Non-hockey (or any sport) prefer to cheer for teams that win. Teams that are good do a lot better job at scoring than some BS team made up of politics.

[patsdude114]

I didnt see no problem selecting Subban as the go to guy for Team Canada he was not the reason at all that Canada wasnt playing for gold, i didnt bother watching the Bronze medal game cuz it just didnt interest me to get up at 3am to watch a meaningless game as a fan. Also no point in watching the replay when i had already found out who won the game.

But i agree with SAJ fully with Team Canada selecting a team thats more marketable for the casual fans then for the true players that deserved to be there for pure offensive skills like Shinkaruk.