Big Phil
Registered User
- Nov 2, 2003
- 31,703
- 4,146
As a Canadian I am very pleased to see Canada winning the gold medal for the thrid year in a row. But even before the semi final game I noticed some alarming trends in the team. First off, I'm not sold on Hartsburg as the coach. I dont like the theory that if he wins he should be invited back. Hartsburg and the coaching staff were lucky. Dont get me wrong the team deserved to win but they made some woeful decisions in teh training camp.
I'm not expecting this team to be like the 2005 team, there may never be one like that, but how do you explain cutting Esposito and Tavares? They didnt even invite Couture. This team dodged a bullet and it showed in the semi finals. We didnt score goals the way we should have. In a tight game against the US we didnt have that go-to guy to get the tying goal.
We relied too heavy on defense and on Carey Price. Dont you think the speed of Esposito would have helped? Even Tavares is lighting up the lamp at a near pace that Crosby did at the same age. Canada has to learn from this team. I know that Crosby, Staal, Brule, Latrendesse were all in the NHL but offense wins games too and we just lacked that intagible. Toews in a great player but even he doesnt have the explosive offensive talent to break a game open. We'll need that next year
We cant get too comfortable just because we've won three in a row. Gretzky and co. made that mistake in the '06 Olympics when we took the same team from 2004 and expected it to translate the same on the big ice. Guess who was sitting at home? A guy who is currently the best player in the NHL right now (Crosby). SO I'd hate to see the juniors make the same mistake. The coaches need to throw in an offensive guy or two next year that have that game breaking talent
I'm not expecting this team to be like the 2005 team, there may never be one like that, but how do you explain cutting Esposito and Tavares? They didnt even invite Couture. This team dodged a bullet and it showed in the semi finals. We didnt score goals the way we should have. In a tight game against the US we didnt have that go-to guy to get the tying goal.
We relied too heavy on defense and on Carey Price. Dont you think the speed of Esposito would have helped? Even Tavares is lighting up the lamp at a near pace that Crosby did at the same age. Canada has to learn from this team. I know that Crosby, Staal, Brule, Latrendesse were all in the NHL but offense wins games too and we just lacked that intagible. Toews in a great player but even he doesnt have the explosive offensive talent to break a game open. We'll need that next year
We cant get too comfortable just because we've won three in a row. Gretzky and co. made that mistake in the '06 Olympics when we took the same team from 2004 and expected it to translate the same on the big ice. Guess who was sitting at home? A guy who is currently the best player in the NHL right now (Crosby). SO I'd hate to see the juniors make the same mistake. The coaches need to throw in an offensive guy or two next year that have that game breaking talent