As a Canadian hockey fan, I hate losing on the international stage. I can come up with any excuse you want as to why we didn't perform up to expectations, or rather, Canadian hockey expectations although one word can sum it up ... parity.
The top hockey nations assemble teams, that on any given day, can win championships. The talent around the world is equal to the talent in Canada. We invented the sport so we think it's our birthright, and it probably is, but until Canadians come to realize that the rest of the world is just as good, we will continue to be disillusioned by bad performances and may fall behind, skill-wise. Our teams need to have more skill and speed and prepare for big-ice hockey. I don't think the Russians or Czechs bring players who are defensive specialists. Offence wins now, not defence.
I have no idea how coaches prepare their practices but I don't think we teach enough skill. Sure there are pylons on the ice and we can skate fast but can we do all that with the puck. Enough of the dump and chase. You can tell when a European has control of the puck. It's a lot smoother than most Canadians. Most, not all. The puck doesn't seem as heavy on their stick. We need to change the way we play hockey from all levels of the game. Management to coaches to players. If not, I feel we will begin to lag behind. Imagine that!
Apologies to Don Cherry but Canada can't win every tournament because of our heart and determination. Other countries have this trait and it's not the deciding factor that separates us as champions anymore. Grit is not solely a Canadian gene.
The only thing that truly separates us as being the strongest hockey nation is our depth. Canada can ice two, three, perhaps four teams and all of them can win medals. I don't think other nations have this luxury. We are deeper in talent but the elite players of all top hockey countries are now pretty much equal.
Excuses are for the unprepared. I don't think that the Gretzky gambling fiasco or the Bertuzzi selection has anything to do with our poor showing in these Olympic games. These guys want to play hockey to take their minds off the "dirt" of everyday life. It's not something they ponder while they're playing so let's not go there.
Canada just didn't perform as well as the other countries in this tournament ... plain and simple. That said, we don't need an inquiry into why Canadian hockey stinks, we just need to accept that the rest of the world has caught up to us in skill and heart and we need to prepare our teams with this in mind. Any country can be hockey champs on any given day.
3 comments:
Um, yeah, what he said.
Excellent post.
Looch, I agree totally. I didn't mean that we were less skilled, I meant that we need to enhance our skill during practice and that lies with coaching. We seem to have this old guard that needs to be changed. The skill level between all the countries is pretty even now. It's how you adapt it to different situations and games.
We certainly shouldn't expect to win every tournament simply because "hockey is our game". I agree that many other countries now have very skilled players and any country can win in a single elimination game, but this loss wasn't about parity. Team Canada had enough talent, but played like crap. You can argue that maybe we should have taken players like Staal or Crosby or whoever, but I don't think that would have made a difference. This team didn't compete, something was missing. Was it poor coaching, an inability to adapt, as Looch says? Perhaps. But whatever the reason, this team, as assembled, should have played far better than they did, win or lose.
The only consolation for me is that at least McCabe and Bertuzzi are coming home empty-handed.
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