American-born Team Captains - Who was the best?
- Thread starter Goose
- Start date
Do you know how many registered players Russia have or how many rinks they have? Probably not as many as you think. Russia is a big country, but they have less rinks than, small Finland have and it's not even close.
Nalyd Psycho
Registered User
But they have a tremendous amount of talent. A bronze and Silver is hardly impressive.
Sweden-2 Gold
Canada-1 gold 1 silver
Czech-1 gold 1 bronze
Finland-1 silver 2 bronze
Russia is supposed to be the #2 hockey power in the world, and yet, they come up in 5th place.
Why? They have less registered players, than Czechs. Hockey is number 3 sports in Russia? Have you checked how pathetic RSL average attendance is? They have less rinks, than in Finland.
Big reason why Soviet Union was good at hockey was their training. They had good program and they trained much much more than any other country. They also probably used doping.
They don't have the program anymore, they don't train like animals anymore and russian ice hockey federation/government probably doesn't fund doping use anymore.
Because Soviet Union was so good at hockey, people still think that Russia should be almost as good as Soviet Union was. Things change.
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I don't care about how many rinks Russia has. The top-end talent they have is undeniably some of the best the world has to offer. The Russians could have done better than a bronze and a fourth placed finish.
I'm done with this. The thread has been side tracked enough.
Fish on The Sand
Untouchable
Modano is a terrible captain. He has had 2 stints of captaincy in Dallas and neither went well. Hatcher, a fellow American, captained Dallas to their cup run in 99.
Fish on The Sand
Untouchable
what does that say about Canada who has been a total disapointment in the olympics since 98? Even in 02 when they won it was a total fluke.
Fish on The Sand
Untouchable
I'm going to nominate Doug Weight. He oozes leadership and the mark he made on the Oilers is still being felt today. guys like Jason Smith and Ryan Smyth have both clearly benefitted from playin with Weight.
Yeah, some leadership: blowing out Roenick's knee on purpose, hitting Crosby in the mouth with his stick cause he can't skate, etc.
Hatcher is an embarrassment to the Stars' organization's legacy. He was a average defenseman who was large. Woopie!
Chelios is the logical choice. He was a captain in Chicago, would have been in Montreal had he stayed there longer, and could have been in Detroit if not for Stevie Y.
xeric716x
Born To Expire
I can't believe nobody has touched this one yet. A fluke? No. Watch that gold medal game vs. the U.S. It is the ultimate example of a team peaking at exactly the right time. I've never seen Team Canada play like that as a team at the World Championships, the World Cup or the Olympics. They executed the game plan to perfection. They knew that the American defence would be vulnerable to a heavy forecheck, and Canada took advantage. They had an excellent collection of leaders, guys like Yzerman, Sakic, Lemieux, Shanahan, MacInnis, Peca and Nieuwendyk.
Just think about it: Canada ran into a hot goaltender in that gold medal final. Richter was terrific, making numerous spectacular saves to keep the Americans in the game. And Canada still won by three goals. Definitely not a fluke.
Fish on The Sand
Untouchable
The US was missing their best player and was both physically and emotionally exhausted after playing one of the best Russian olympic teams in history. Canada played like crap and lucked out to get Belarus. Canada would not only have lost to Sweden, but probably to the US if they had to go through anybody but Belarus.
Definitely my favourite American born player. Great player, and total class act. I thought he captained Buffalo, but wasn't 100% sure. I'll trust impressingagent.
