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Is hockey still Canada's game?

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Papa Smurf

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Jun 9, 2004
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Oshawa, Ontario
OK, I dont want this to turn into a big lash out over which country is better, but I have been noticing that alot of fans and media have really been bashing Canadian hockey, especially since the recent Stanley Cup finals. Alot of people believe its no longer Canada's game and that it "rightfully" belongs to the USA, Russia, ect. I honostly do not know who to believe. I was far too young to experience the Canadian hockey dominance of the 1980's so I don't know how "real" Canadian hockey is suppose to be like. Is hockey still our game???

And if you want to bash me for starting this thread, go ahead, I dont care.
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Lundmark17

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Mar 3, 2004
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Whomever is writing those pieces are doing it because it is an easy story to do. People get angry over it so it creates a buzz and also how many people want to read an article about how hockey is Canada's game? WE ALREADY KNOW THAT.
 

Fleet*

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It will always be Canada's game because Canadians invented it. Just like baseball is America's game because Americans invented it. No matter what people say.
 
Jason MacIsaac

Jason MacIsaac

Registered User
Jan 13, 2004
22,241
5,967
Halifax, NS
Canadian_man said:
OK, I dont want this to turn into a big lash out over which country is better, but I have been noticing that alot of fans and media have really been bashing Canadian hockey, especially since the recent Stanley Cup finals. Alot of people believe its no longer Canada's game and that it "rightfully" belongs to the USA, Russia, ect. I honostly do not know who to believe. I was far too young to experience the Canadian hockey dominance of the 1980's so I don't know how "real" Canadian hockey is suppose to be like. Is hockey still our game???

And if you want to bash me for starting this thread, go ahead, I dont care.
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A thread like this is looking for trouble because any person with an average IQ will answer the question right.
 

SpezNc2

Registered User
Mar 3, 2002
1,636
175
Fleet said:
It will always be Canada's game because Canadians invented it. Just like baseball is America's game because Americans invented it. No matter what people say.
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We invented BasketBall too lol ..

are we going to beat Carter, O'Neill, James with Nash and Magloire?

yep.. hockey is our sport...

canada vs world in a 4 on 7 can be pretty tie... 52 % of the NHL are Canadian... so...
 

TORRUS

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May 31, 2004
1,270
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Beli
Canadian_man said:
I was far too young to experience the Canadian hockey dominance of the 1980's

I was also too young at that time but if Canada ever dominated the game, it wasn't in the 80's!!! Sorry, but two 6-5 OT victories in 1987 aren't enough to call 80's as years of Canadian dominance! :lol
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TORRUS

Registered User
May 31, 2004
1,270
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Beli
Canadian_man said:
I was far too young to experience the Canadian hockey dominance of the 1980's

I was also too young at that time but if Canada ever dominated the game, it wasn't in the 80's!!! Sorry, but two 6-5 OT victories in 1987 aren't enough to call 80's as years of Canadian dominance! :lol

P.S. This thread is looking for trouble
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big_steve

Registered User
Dec 6, 2003
871
0
Newfoundland
TORRUS said:
Canadian_man said:
I was far too young to experience the Canadian hockey dominance of the 1980's

I was also too young at that time but if Canada ever dominated the game, it wasn't in the 80's!!! Sorry, but two 6-5 OT victories in 1987 aren't enough to call 80's as years of Canadian dominance! :lol

P.S. This thread is looking for trouble
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I think you're looking for trouble quite frankly. Edmonton won the cup 4 times(once more in 1990), Montreal and Calgary each won it once and met in the finals each time they won. Plus two Canada Cups. Doesn't sound like Canadian dominance to me. :shakehead

Anyway, of course hockey is still Canada's game. Plus CBC is looking into the future with Ice and only Canadians will be playing hockey then. Along with those damn robots. Joking.

I think we should be more sure now then we were before the past few years that this is Canada's game. Just look at the city of Calgary. Hockey has never been bigger there. Even when they won the cup in 1989. I can continue but I'd be taking stuff right off the tongue of Bob McKenzie. Just go to TSN.ca and check out Bob's columns. I believe it was his third most recent column. Check that out. Perfect case I think that hockey is still Canada's game.
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Vlad The Impaler

Vlad The Impaler

Registered User
Feb 27, 2002
12,315
644
Montreal
I'd have to know what exactly it means.

"Canada's game"?

It can mean so many things. To me it spells great domination and no, we're not doing that anymore. It's anybody's game.

We used to have a grip on all categories. Then at first some fans conceded that we weren't the only producers offensive forwards. But we still "owned" the game in every other aspects.

But since then a lot has changed:

-There are more and more countries producing a huge number of players

-We don't have a stranglehold on the top picks. This is something we have lost since the early 90s

-We don't have a stranglehold on the first round as much as we used to

-To my surprise, we have lost our stranglehold on goaaltending. I knew it would happen but it has been MUCH quicker than anticipated. Losers use to say you couldn't win SCs with Euro goalies. This is being put to pieces the last few years and will continue to be the case.

-The top scoring race often includes other than Canadians now. Predominantly.

-We used to pride ourselves on playoffs performance. But there are more and more Euros doing absolutely great there. A trend that will only increase.

-Then when lacking rational arguments, we used to pick Canadian players above others because they are such kickass leaders. But there are more and more Euro captains (Ironically, many located in Canadian franchise)

-We have lost two Canadian franchises

-Our playoff record for a decade has been abyssmal. It's a moral victory when one of our franchise makes the final. Wow.

-We've had a revival in international competitions. Keyword: revival. For a while, the Czech Republic owned everybody's ass at every level from juniors to Olympic

I believe we are still the number 1 hockey country in the world but not by a landslide and certainly not enough to call this game our own. Probably a good thing too because it means increased competition, which gives a good show, as well as increased production worldwide of top talents that we can witness live or on TV.

About the last thing remaining is probably the incredible number of Ds we are producing. Probably thanks a great deal to Western Canada. This too, will change like the rest eventually.

We have a lot to be proud of, except for the constant insecurities we have and this need of "owning" the game of hockey, something that CBC has gladly tried to capitalize on with their lame marketing aimed at the more mentally-challenged Canadians to try and boost their ratings.
 

ZombieMatt

Registered User
May 20, 2002
5,242
1
Personally, the way I look at it, is that Canada is undeniably the best hockey country in the world. In terms of top end talent most people would take Canada's best 20 over any other teams best 20. Goaltending we are at the top for pure numbers of elite goalies, and in terms of depth we are untouched.
Defence remains very much the best example of Canadian dominance.

Of course, these trends are all becoming less and less over time, and will continue to do so to a point, but I do think we are coming close to reaching that max. Canadians will always be among the best in hockey in the world, there is too much pride, funding, etc put into hockey to not produce high calibre athletes.

What has changed is the levels of all the other countries, and this is I think, improving Canadian hockey. Now Canada has to WORK very hard to continue to be #1. Hockey Canada is more aware than ever of a need to put a great deal of time and focus into ensuring production of top calibre players.

I'm not sure if it was the book or the movie or both that Forrest Gump says something along the lines of "Any idiot would run faster while being chased", and that's the same thing with competition. Everybody elevates their game when the competition is strong.
 
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