IIHF World ChampionshipDiscuss International Tournaments like the WJC, Olympics, and World Cup, as they take place, or discuss past tournaments. performances.
wasn't Sean Couturier technically eligible to play in this tournament? you'd think they would have liked to have him there, unless the flyers wanted him to stay with the phantoms...
Do they now? Do you really think NHL would been where it is today without Europeans. Retard thread!
Dosn't change the fact that for the most part Canada is still turning out the best players in both quality and quantity, I see no reason why this would change in the next 15 years.
wasn't Sean Couturier technically eligible to play in this tournament? you'd think they would have liked to have him there, unless the flyers wanted him to stay with the phantoms...
It would have been worse, as this team without Nugent-Hopkins, Huberdeau, and possibly Scheifele and Strome would be the weakest forward group Canada has ever sent. Hamilton clearly would not be greatly missed on the back end. Their mentality may have been improved by facing some scrutiny heading in, but with Spott I doubt they succeed.
Worst case is they lose the Slovakian game and the American and Russian games and face relegation. If they still beat Slovakia, they would play the Czechs in the quarters and it would likely be a tough game.
2006:
David Bolland
Dustin Boyd
Daniel Bertram
Michael Blunden
Kyle Chipchura
Andrew Cogliano
Blake Comeau
Steve Downie
Guillaume Latendresse
Ryan O'Marra
Benoit Pouliot
Tom Pyatt
Jonathan Toews
Other than Toews, I sure don't see a lot to get excited about there. And that team won gold. A lot depends on the goaltender and the coach.
Unless other countries dramatically go up in player participation we are always going to be the best. One loss in the U-20 tournament isn't going to change that.
Personally, my belief is, with a lockout we at least would have played in the gold medal game.
This team had no heart and played like individuals. Remove these "NHL ready" players (after watching their performance I find that statement laughable) and replace them with kids who are truly proud to wear the maple leaf and play with heart, and I think we have a better outcome.
I'll take a Jordan Tootoo over a Huberdeau at this tourney anyday
If there was no lockout Machinnon would have played a bigger role and Monahan would have made the team. Also Droin could have played with Machinnon for instant chemistry and maybe Graovec could have made the team to have the chemistry with Monahan. There were players available to fill the holes left by potential NHLers. Who knows, maybe they would have been more hungry. This year Canada did not have an over achiever like they do in most years.
Canada has won gold with worse rosters than this one. In tournaments in this format a hot goalie and solid defense is better than anything. USA had both of those things.
David Bolland
Dustin Boyd
Daniel Bertram
Michael Blunden
Kyle Chipchura
Andrew Cogliano
Blake Comeau
Steve Downie
Guillaume Latendresse
Ryan O'Marra
Benoit Pouliot
Tom Pyatt
Jonathan Toews
Other than Toews, I sure don't see a lot to get excited about there. And that team won gold. A lot depends on the goaltender and the coach.
True, the quality of the forwards would have been comparable to 2006 (my favourite WJC team ever) without the NHL players. Many of those forwards were at least better defensively than who Canada would have had leftover without the lockout. I agree that coaching was a massive issue. The team this year could have won gold without the lockout players with proper coaching. Increasing the level of defensive play n the ice would have helped the goaltending considerably in my opinion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 67sfan
Personally, my belief is, with a lockout we at least would have played in the gold medal game.
This team had no heart and played like individuals. Remove these "NHL ready" players (after watching their performance I find that statement laughable) and replace them with kids who are truly proud to wear the maple leaf and play with heart, and I think we have a better outcome.
I'll take a Jordan Tootoo over a Huberdeau at this tourney anyday
The coaching stays the same? No way they come any closer.
With Spott as the head coach and Ryan Murphy making the team, you knew we were in trouble. I thought the talent could overcome those two, but it couldn't.
Luckily, Murphy will never play for Canada again at any level and Spott will never again coach the WJC.
A team with as much talent (look at some of the arrogance from before the tournament) as Canada shouldn't have to rely on perfect goaltending. Subban wasn't great and shouldn't be immune to criticism, but he was better than Visentin was previously.
Except for Gibson, any of the goalies of this tournament would have looked average behind such a mediocre Canadian team.
In all seriousness, every year it seems that every other big hockey nation gets closer and closer to Canada.
Its easy to say that after they lose, but at all levels now, I expect Canada, Russia, Sweden, and USA to be on par with one another. Finland, Slovakia, and the Czechs are all hit or miss.
Canada will still have the highest proportion of NHLers to national population. US hockey awareness is gaining and its demographic advantage is too large. Eventually the US will likely have the most NHLers and likely the best national team at some point, whether that is 2030 or 2050 I have no idea. I don't think that's a knock on Canada at all; just a numbers game imo.
Next year's world junior tournament will be held in Malmo, Sweden. The Canadian junior team will have quite a bit of turnover. Only six players are eligible to return and two of this group, Charles Hudon (back injury) and Paterson, did not play in this year's event.
The other possible returnees include defencemen Griffin Reinhart and Morgan Rielly as well as forwards Jonathan Drouin and MacKinnon. There is a strong possibility that MacKinnon, Drouin and Rielly may find themselves in the NHL next season. Reinhart will be suspended for three more games after a four-game ban he received for a high stick in the game against the U.S.
By the way, Sweden could have as many as 11 returning junior players next year. The defending champs from the U.S. could have seven players back.
although, maybe it won't matter...we had a bunch of returnees this year and the us only had 3 guys back...and look what happened.
