World Cup: Best on Best: Canada is too good (solution?)

[Syek]

After watching the World Cup and hearing countless statistics about how good this group of Canadian players have been since 2010 (and even earlier for some), it has gotten to the point where watching Team Canada isn't as exuberant as before because there is no equal level of competition.

A simple and yet controversial solution that crossed my mind would be for a next World Cup tournament remove the under 23 North America team and split Canada into two teams. Take a breath and now hear me out.

With the USA struggling in this tournament they could use all of the help they can get, and with Matthews etc... still eligible to play for team North America next go around, US hockey would definitely prefer to have the young guns on their team (same with Canada i.e. McDavid).
To keep the tournament interesting, Canada should be split into two teams. Team West and Team East.

Players born in Manitoba, Sask, Alberta, and B.C. will consist of Team West.
Players born in Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland / Labrador, and the Maritimes will consist of Team East.

Team West will be on Group A and Team East will be in Group B, which may increase the odds for other countries to pull an "upset" over a newer looking Canadian team. Plus, It will bring out the friendly rivalry among Canadian residents who will be happy to have a potential Crosby + McDavid vs Price + Toews match up in the finals. (Marketing 101).

*Note this will only apply to World Cup tournaments, not the Olympics*


TEAM WEST

G Carey Price, Anahim Lake, BC
G Braden Holtby, Lloydminster, SK
*G Martin Jones, North Vancouver, BC

D Shea Weber, Sicamous, BC
D Duncan Keith, Winnipeg, MB
D Brent Seabrook, Richmond, BC
D Jay Bouwmeester, Edmonton, AB
D Colton Parayko, St. Albert, AB
D Morgan Rielly, West Vancouver, BC
*D Ryan Murray, White City, SK

F Jonathan Toews, Winnipeg, MB
F Ryan Getzlaf, Regina, SK
F Jamie Benn, Victoria, BC
F Brendan Gallagher, Edmonton, AB
F Taylor Hall, Calgary, AB
F Milan Lucic, Vancouver, BC
F Jaden Schwartz, Wilcox, SK
F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Burnaby, BC
F Patrick Sharp, Winnipeg, MB
F Mark Stone, Winnipeg, MB
F Ryan Johansen, Port Moody, BC
F Tyler Ennis, Edmonton, AB
*F Bryan Little, Edmonton, AB

++ Coach: Mike Babcock, Manitouwadge, ONT (Grew up in SK)


TEAM EAST

G Corey Crawford, Montreal, QC
G Marc-Andre Fleury, Sorel-Tracy, QC
*G Brian Elliott, Newmarket, ONT

D Drew Doughty, London, ONT
D Brent Burns, Barrie, ONT
D Alex Pietrangelo, King, ONT
D Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Montreal, QC
D Kris Letang, Montreal, QC
D P.K. Subban, Toronto, ONT
*D Mark Giordano, Toronto, ONT

F Sidney Crosby, Cole Harbour, NS
F Connor McDavid, Newmarket, ONT
F John Tavares, Mississauga, ONT
F Steven Stamkos, Markham, ONT
F Patrice Bergeron, L'Ancienne-Lorette, QC
F Tyler Seguin, Brampton ,ONT
F Nathan MacKinnon, Cole Harbour, NS
F Brad Marchand, Halifax, NS
F Joe Thornton, St. Thomas, ONT
F Ryan O'Reilly, Clinton, ONT
F Claude Giroux, Hearst, ONT
F Jeff Carter, London, ONT
*F Jonathan Drouin, Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, QC

Coach: Joel Quenneville, Windsor, ONT


++ To make it more interesting I included Babcock to Team West

(*Feel free to create your own lineups + coaching staff*)


Plus, unsure where to post this thread. Created a poll for this in the Polls - (hockey-related only) section.

Lastly, good idea or bad idea? Let me know below.

Click to read more...

 

[CanadienShark]

I really don't hate the idea personally, but prepare to take a lot of abuse. It does take away from the whole "best on best" idea, but it provides two very competitive teams. And it's not the Olympics, so it's really not as much about national pride for me.

 

[Binary Code]

Team East will steam roll everyone

 

[lidstromiscool]

Pretty sure Team North America won’t happen again? It was just a team because there wasn’t enough time to do the proper qualifications

 

[Spawn]

The solution is for other nations to get better. Get better coaches, develop better players. Neutering the best team in the world just to create artificial competition for other nations? No thanks.

 

[Firsov99]

The solution would be NOT to turn the World Cup into a complete circus with Canada A and B or Canada Northwest and Southeast.

It's up to other nations to catch up with Canada. Canada won't dominate forever.

 

[Xokkeu]

Yeah this ignores the basic premise of why people get excited about international competition. It's USA hockey vs hockey Canada. If we lose we lose so be it. Beating Canada east is pointless. Let alone losing is even worse.

 

[Hanji]

Canada isn't too good. Domination like this is cyclical. Most of their current players are from the WJC generations that won 5 straight WJC in the mid/late 00s. But imo the world has caught up with them regarding recently produced players.....and I think this will be evident in upcoming international competitions, much like it has with recent WJC performances.

 

[JackSlater]

The solution is for other countries to get better. Why should international competition be ruined for the sake of parity? Anyone who wants to see parity can fortunately tune into the NHL and watch over 1000 games at relative parity every year.

Also, this talk of Canada being too good is way too much. People were saying the same thing after the 2009 WJC. A few bounces the other way in a single elimination game and Canada can lose to pretty much any team.

 

[Drij]

From now on Canada gets to play short handed all the time.

 

[HuGo Sham]

in 2020 slovakia and switzerland will be back in the tourney

 

[aufheben]

But then there's two instead of one?

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Canada isn't too good. Domination like this is cyclical. Most of their current players are from the WJC generations that won 5 straight WJC in the mid/late 00s. But imo the world has caught up with them regarding recently produced players.....and I think this will be evident in upcoming international competitions, much like it has with recent WJC performances.

Exactly what I thought, speaking as a Canadian.

This is the generation of Canadians that completely dominated the WJC's too. Look at the WJC's of the last 5-6 years that include the stars of tomorrow.

2011- Russia gold
2012- Sweden gold
2013- USA gold
2014- Finland gold
2015- Canada gold
2016- Finland gold

Canada has been in the finals of the WJC, TWICE since 2011... This current crop has always dominated in international competition. I'm sure the next generation lead by McDavid will be great too, but I don't think they'll be heads and shoulders above the Yanks, Russians, Swedes, and Finns, like they currently are.

 

[umwoz]

As stated above... If Canada's recent WJHC performances are any indication, competition is coming.

 

[IceDogsandLeafs]

Canada isn't too good. Domination like this is cyclical. Most of their current players are from the WJC generations that won 5 straight WJC in the mid/late 00s. But imo the world has caught up with them regarding recently produced players.....and I think this will be evident in upcoming international competitions, much like it has with recent WJC performances.

There wasn't a single period in hockey history where the world had caught up more than the 90's. The Cazechs were great and had their best ever player and one of the best goalies ever. Russia was still absolutely loaded with skill despite not being as dominant as the old soviets were. USA was at their best and possibly the best you'll ever see. As good as these youngsters are, are they honestly going to be better than Chelios, Lafontaine, Hull, Leetch, Housley, Modano, Mullen, Weight, Tkachuk, LeClair, Amonte, Richter, and The Beezer? Look at the Slovaks: Bondra, Palffy, Demitra, Satan, Zednik...

Finland had Selanne, Kurri, Kapanen, Koivu, Lehtonen, and Numminen, and Kipper.
M

 

[source]

Exactly what I thought, speaking as a Canadian.

This is the generation of Canadians that completely dominated the WJC's too. Look at the WJC's of the last 5-6 years that include the stars of tomorrow.

2011- Russia gold
2012- Sweden gold
2013- USA gold
2014- Finland gold
2015- Canada gold
2016- Finland gold

Canada has been in the finals of the WJC, TWICE since 2011... This current crop has always dominated in international competition. I'm sure the next generation lead by McDavid will be great too, but I don't think they'll be heads and shoulders above the Yanks, Russians, Swedes, and Finns, like they currently are.

A lot of notable U-20 players were missing for Canada in those years.

 

[pigpen65]

Solution is simple. Get refs to call the game that aren't biasing the outcome towards the Canadians.

 

[ck26]

Stupid.

Canadian Men's Hockey is nowhere near as dominant as USA Men's Basketball, and nobody talks about splitting them up. Don't flatter yourself, Canada.

 

[aufheben]

Stupid.

Canadian Men's Hockey is nowhere near as dominant as USA Men's Basketball, and nobody talks about splitting them up. Don't flatter yourself, Canada.

Thing is even if you split them, the Eastern team is for all intents and purposes just as good as a complete Team Canada, and the Western team would be Top-5 as well. So all this does is increase Canada's chances by a lot.

 

[CpatainCanuck]

Exactly what I thought, speaking as a Canadian.

This is the generation of Canadians that completely dominated the WJC's too. Look at the WJC's of the last 5-6 years that include the stars of tomorrow.

2011- Russia gold
2012- Sweden gold
2013- USA gold
2014- Finland gold
2015- Canada gold
2016- Finland gold

Canada has been in the finals of the WJC, TWICE since 2011... This current crop has always dominated in international competition. I'm sure the next generation lead by McDavid will be great too, but I don't think they'll be heads and shoulders above the Yanks, Russians, Swedes, and Finns, like they currently are.

I agree: I think the Canadian dominance has peaked with the 2014 olymics and this WCOH. While the Canadians should remain the favourites for the foreseeable future, there will be increased competition perhaps as soon as the next Olympic tournament with the Finnish and American young guns coming into their own, among others. The vast majority of the Canadian roster is at peak age right now: there is not enough coming through the pipe to replace their inevitable decline due to age.

 

[Rob]

Yes, we are the clear number one right now. But lets not be so arrogant to think the next best on best tournament will be a cake walk. Look at the young talent the US has. Same with Sweden and Finland. Perhaps Russia will finally develop some great D-men.

So lets just enjoy being number 1 until the next major tournament rolls around.

 

[5 14 6 1]

Yes, we are the clear number one right now. But lets not be so arrogant to think the next best on best tournament will be a cake walk. Look at the young talent the US has. Same with Sweden and Finland. Perhaps Russia will finally develop some great D-men.

So lets just enjoy being number 1 until the next major tournament rolls around.

If Provrov and Sergachev turn out that would be huge for Russian hockey

 

[pbgoalie]

The solution is for other nations to get better. Get better coaches, develop better players. Neutering the best team in the world just to create artificial competition for other nations? No thanks.

+1
As an American,mi was going to post this

I believe American hockey development is growing incredibly, and we (as well as other countries) will close the obvious gap, but it seems there is a lot of hand wringing over the fact that the Canadian team is just better. I think it's pretty cool when anyone, or any team, can separate themselves from the field.

 

[Jon Riley]

If the extreme parity and competition is what you want, I have the solution: remove Canada from the international tournaments all together.
If I have to believe what I read here, a lot of Canadians don't care about international tournaments anyway, everything would be so exciting then!
Instead of being creative in finding new ways of crippling team Canada for "parity sake" let's remove them completely, let's pretend that Canada is not a hockey country and does not have a national team.
I am pretty sure that using the great marketing skills the the Bettman's gang displayed and repeating it enough times, people would just believe it: Canada does not exist.

...no seriously, everything goes down to one simple point: people that like and enjoy real international tournament do not care if Canada wins everytime because it is too strong.
Fans in Switzerland, or Slovakia, or any other "smaller hockey country" could not care less about the fact that they will never have a reasonable shot at winning something meaningful. If for some wonderful set of events it happens, great, but most likely it won't and it's perfectly fine.
Canada is by far the strongest team, they will always be the favourite, this is a fact and has to be accepted if what people want is a meaningful tournament.
Trying to slow them down has only one effect: the loss of meaning of the whole thing.

 

[snipes]

If the extreme parity and competition is what you want, I have the solution: remove Canada from the international tournaments all together.
If I have to believe what I read here, a lot of Canadians don't care about international tournaments anyway, everything would be so exciting then!
Instead of being creative in finding new ways of crippling team Canada for "parity sake" let's remove them completely, let's pretend that Canada is not a hockey country and does not have a national team.
I am pretty sure that using the great marketing skills the the Bettman's gang displayed and repeating it enough times, people would just believe it: Canada does not exist.

...no seriously, everything goes down to one simple point: people that like and enjoy real international tournament do not care if Canada wins everytime because it is too strong.
Fans in Switzerland, or Slovakia, or any other "smaller hockey country" could not care less about the fact that they will never have a reasonable shot at winning something meaningful. If for some wonderful set of events it happens, great, but most likely it won't and it's perfectly fine.
Canada is by far the strongest team, they will always be the favourite, this is a fact and has to be accepted if what people want is a meaningful tournament.
Trying to slow them down has only one effect: the loss of meaning of the whole thing.

Excellent post. Completely agree with the bolded.