Olympics: Could Team Canada win Olympics with Ontario players only?

[Damisoph]

Nope. We'd be missing Toews, Crosby, Bergeron, Weber, both our goalies. That's just off the top of my head.

 

[Stephen]

Does the rest of Canada get to form a team? Because that team would be much better than the Ontario team.

A Nontarian Team would have this pool to draw from:

Crosby, Getzlaf, Toews, Sharp, Benn, Bergeron, Marleau, St. Louis, Nugent-Hopkins, Eberle, Iginla, Lucic, Johansen, Turris, Ladd, Kane, Mackinnon, Marchand, Lecavalier, Perron, Lupul, Kunitz

Weber, Keith, Bouwmeester, Letang, Phaneuf, Green, Schultz, Seabrook, Beauchemin, Demers, Vlasic, Hamonic

Price, Luongo, Crawford, Bernier, Fleury

Would make for a fun head to head game. I think there was a Quebec vs Ontario vs Western Canada tournament back during the 1995 lockout. That would be fun to have again, although the Quebec team would have to merge with the Atlantic region these days.

 

[Tutu to]

kunitz-crosby-bergeron
marleau-toews-st-louis
benn-getzlaf-ladd
hall-kane-marchand
eberle,lucic

keith-webber
vlassic-seabrooke
bouwmeester-letang
phaneuf garrison

price
luongo
bernier

 

[Nanabijou]

Stamkos-Tavares-Giroux
Neal-Thornton-Carter
Perry-Duchene-Staal
Richards-Hall-Skinner

Doughty-Pietrangelo
Giordano-Subban
Girardi-Boyle

Smith
Mason


This line-up >>>Sweden, Russia, USA, Finland

Think about it, this lineup is more well rounded than any of those teams.

Poor Nash. Makes Team Canada and then gets cut from Team Ontario. Guess he'll be joining MSL in the trade request line.

 

[shakermaker]

Can Team Canada cure cancer?

Can Team Canada win the war on Drugs?

Can Team Canada give us World Peace?

Can Team Canada develop a renewable energy source available to all that costs nothing?

If they didn't have to go back to the NHL I think all these things are plausable.

 

[llwyd]

Hmm, could Canada win with only lefthanded players? What about green eyed players - could someone make a team of only them? Could Canada win with players born in October? I think it could. Could Canada win with only players who prefer cats to dogs?

 

[Diatomic]

ofcourse

 

[here come the]

A Nontarian Team would have this pool to draw from:

Crosby, Getzlaf, Toews, Sharp, Benn, Bergeron, Marleau, St. Louis, Nugent-Hopkins, Eberle, Iginla, Lucic, Johansen, Turris, Ladd, Kane, Mackinnon, Marchand, Lecavalier, Perron, Lupul, Kunitz

Weber, Keith, Bouwmeester, Letang, Phaneuf, Green, Schultz, Seabrook, Beauchemin, Demers, Vlasic, Hamonic

Price, Luongo, Crawford, Bernier, Fleury

Would make for a fun head to head game. I think there was a Quebec vs Ontario vs Western Canada tournament back during the 1995 lockout. That would be fun to have again, although the Quebec team would have to merge with the Atlantic region these days.

Plus Hamhuis. Team would be awesome, Nontarian is a cool phrase.

Kunitz-Crosby-St. Louis
Marleau-Toews-Sharp
Benn-Getzlaf-Ladd
Lucic-Bergeron-Kane

Keith-Weber
Vlasic-Seabrook
Hamhuis-Letang
Bouwmeester

Price
Lou
Bernier.

 

[here come the]

Hmm, could Canada win with only lefthanded players? What about green eyed players - could someone make a team of only them? Could Canada win with players born in October? I think it could. Could Canada win with only players who prefer cats to dogs?

Challenge accepted.

Kunitz-Crosby-St. Louis
Hall-Tavares-Duchene
Benn-Toews-Marleau
Staal-Thornton-Neal

Kieth-Vlasic
Bouwemeester-Phaneuf
Giordano-Hamhuis

 

[ShooterMikgaven]

Challenge accepted.

Kunitz-Crosby-St. Louis
Hall-Tavares-Duchene
Benn-Toews-Marleau
Staal-Thornton-Neal

Kieth-Vlasic
Bouwemeester-Phaneuf
Giordano-Hamhuis

And the verdict: Very plausible

 

[Toffu]

Yes.. they still have big chances to win olympics.

Thats Canada.. player base is not big.. its ****in big!

 

[FuriousSenator]

Nope.

Canada can't even win at the World Championships with top players (maybe not THE best but still pretty good) from across the country, much less a single province...

 

[Urbanskog]

Sure, why not? Ontario alone has 13 million people.

 

[matsqq]

Sweden, Finland,Czechs and Russia have about 60 to 100 thousand registered players each. Canada has 600 thousand.
You probably need an area with at least 50 thousand registered players to compete for gold.

 

[xxxx]

Nope.

Canada can't even win at the World Championships with top players (maybe not THE best but still pretty good) from across the country, much less a single province...

Please.... the preparation of Hockey Canada for the olympics is much, much better than for some B tournament called World Championships.

I'm pretty sure that Team Ontario, with solid off ice preparation, and with solid management stuff, could definitely win the olympics.

The preparation and coaching stuff is something what can be really helpful. That's why I think Canada could theoretically send 4 teams and each one could win the gold. With such a coaching stuff (Julien, Quenneville, Babcock, Ruff, Roy, Sutters, Tippet, Hitchcock, Carlyle, Oates...) there wouldn't be a problem. We have enough great players to make 4 very very solid teams and enough great coaches, so, yes, I wouldn't be surprised if with 4 participating canadian teams, the final was Team Ontario - Team Canada West. Especially on NHL ice.

 

[hammerwielder]

Those who think a team of Ontario players alone could win the Olympics are drunk from the power of just having won the Olympics. Canada ices a pretty damn good team every year for the WC and has missed the podium the last four years in a row. There is a chasm between the quality of those teams and the quality of the team that Canada just iced for the Olympics. Without its best players, Canada would be in tough against an Olympic team from at least one of the other world hockey powers. Any other view is just plain delusional.

And another thing. All this talk about Canada's much-vaunted "depth". If we are so deep, why don't we win the WC every year against other countries that also don't field their best available players? I'm sorry, but once any top 4 country fails to field its absolutely best players, it's in tough against any other top 4 country team. Canada included. That's how good hockey is now among the top countries and how little there is to choose between them.

If Canada fields its best team, it's going to beat all the other best teams three times out of four. That's what the last four Olympics prove. Four out of five if you include the last World Cup. But with anything less than its best team, all bets are off.

 

[hammerwielder]

Nope.

Canada can't even win at the World Championships with top players (maybe not THE best but still pretty good) from across the country, much less a single province...

This.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Stamkos-Tavares-Giroux
Neal-Thornton-Carter
Perry-Duchene-Staal
Richards-Hall-Skinner

Doughty-Pietrangelo
Giordano-Subban
Girardi-Boyle

Smith
Mason


This line-up >>>Sweden, Russia, USA, Finland

Think about it, this lineup is more well rounded than any of those teams.

Not enough winning intangibles there.

 

[Hammer Time]

Stamkos-Tavares-Giroux
Neal-Thornton-Carter
Perry-Duchene-Staal
Richards-Hall-Skinner

Doughty-Pietrangelo
Giordano-Subban
Girardi-Boyle

Smith
Mason


This line-up >>>Sweden, Russia, USA, Finland

Think about it, this lineup is more well rounded than any of those teams.

That dismantles the defence, which was the biggest reason they won gold in the real universe. Goaltending is also weaker than any of the other contending countries. USA probably beats that team more often than not, as well as a healthy Sweden.

 

[hudson bay rules]

Does the rest of Canada get to form a team? Because that team would be much better than the Ontario team.

this

 

[xxxx]

Team Ontario


Nash - Tavares - Stamkos
Duchene - J.Thornton - Carter
Skinner - Giroux - Perry
E.Staal - Couture - M.Richards
Seguin
Neal

Pietrangelo - Doughty
Giordano - Subban
M.Staal - Boyle
B.Campbell
Bieksa / Burns

Smith, S.Mason, Elliott




So it's laughable and crazy for this team to win the gold. Ok.

Then it's even more laughable and crazy to say that US or Russia are gold-medal contenders, because this Ontario team is even better at many positions than those teams.

 

[An Argument For]

Those who think a team of Ontario players alone could win the Olympics are drunk from the power of just having won the Olympics. Canada ices a pretty damn good team every year for the WC and has missed the podium the last four years in a row. There is a chasm between the quality of those teams and the quality of the team that Canada just iced for the Olympics. Without its best players, Canada would be in tough against an Olympic team from at least one of the other world hockey powers. Any other view is just plain delusional.

And another thing. All this talk about Canada's much-vaunted "depth". If we are so deep, why don't we win the WC every year against other countries that also don't field their best available players? I'm sorry, but once any top 4 country fails to field its absolutely best players, it's in tough against any other top 4 country team. Canada included. That's how good hockey is now among the top countries and how little there is to choose between them.

If Canada fields its best team, it's going to beat all the other best teams three times out of four. That's what the last four Olympics prove. Four out of five if you include the last World Cup. But with anything less than its best team, all bets are off.

Team Ontario is just as good a team on paper as Sweden, Russia, USA, Finland etc.

Do you think Canada can only win if the talent on paper is legitmately twice as good as everyone elses? That anything less than a perfect team Canada is not good enough to beat other teams with less talent?

It's not like Canada doesn't win the World Championships, it's basically a revolving door where every team wins a few of all three medals. No one has truly dominated the tournament in the past 20 years.

But if that team Ontario were intially brought together a few months in advance, given a great coaching staff, and were focused on creating a team do you think they wouldn't have a chance?

With regards to other countries at the world championships I don't know why Canada doesn't win more often. They other countries have a majority of their players coming from the European leagues that are finished by the time the tournament starts. Can anyone answer these questions for me?

What is the consistency among these national teams in terms of rosters? Does half of the same roster come back year after year? Are there guys on those team who play every world championships? Also when do they start training and skating together after their season ends. Do these guys have weeks or month to start to work together and train as a team? All of these things may be factors or they may not be. I know if you took a team of all the guys who missed the playoffs and gave them one week to get ready and sent them to play NHL playoff teams they'd be better on paper but I doubt they'd win every game. It takes a while for a team to form.

 

[sourdough]

Canada would be a top contender with players from only Ontario. They would be top contenders if they sent a team without any Ontario players. There B team would be a top contender. Noone comes close at all to the Canadas depth.

 

[getwiththeprogram*]

If "Team Ontario" were to win, it would be an upset. I am always happy when the good guys win, but it's foolish for people to say that a team of all-stars from one province could beat elite national sides from other leading hockey nations. Our international record between the 2010 and 2014 Olympics was very poor. Ergo, to say a provincial team would win at the highest level is really the height of comedy. I think they'd be competitive, and they could even win, but a lot of things would probably have to go right for them and wrong for other teams. And, they'd need the sort of goaltending that Canadian goaltenders generally do not provide.

 

[getwiththeprogram*]

Team Ontario is just as good a team on paper as Sweden, Russia, USA, Finland etc.

Do you think Canada can only win if the talent on paper is legitmately twice as good as everyone elses? That anything less than a perfect team Canada is not good enough to beat other teams with less talent?

It's not like Canada doesn't win the World Championships, it's basically a revolving door where every team wins a few of all three medals. No one has truly dominated the tournament in the past 20 years.

But if that team Ontario were intially brought together a few months in advance, given a great coaching staff, and were focused on creating a team do you think they wouldn't have a chance?

With regards to other countries at the world championships I don't know why Canada doesn't win more often. They other countries have a majority of their players coming from the European leagues that are finished by the time the tournament starts. Can anyone answer these questions for me?

What is the consistency among these national teams in terms of rosters? Does half of the same roster come back year after year? Are there guys on those team who play every world championships? Also when do they start training and skating together after their season ends. Do these guys have weeks or month to start to work together and train as a team? All of these things may be factors or they may not be. I know if you took a team of all the guys who missed the playoffs and gave them one week to get ready and sent them to play NHL playoff teams they'd be better on paper but I doubt they'd win every game. It takes a while for a team to form.

Canada really should win more internationally. I tip my hat to the other countries, but this nation really should be better. I think a lot of it is sheer incompetence at Hockey Canada. What qualifications do Brad Pascall and Scott Salmond have? I don't see NHL teams knocking down the door to get them to sign a contract to join their front office. Nicholson is an amiable dunce and his likeability (well, I don't like him) overshadows his mediocrity as an administrator. If Canada wins at all, it is because of the depth of talent in this country and because of our passion for the sport. Hockey Canada mostly gets in the way and is a bunch of bureaucrats more interested in free trips and generous stipends than winning internationally.

Why they don't look at the Scandinavian model for player development and couple that with the hot-housing of the US is beyond me. They could do it - it's not impossible - but that would require brains and courage. No one at hockey Canada has both or even 1 of the 2.

Someone like Ralph Krueger should be overseeing coaching development and preparation (the reality is that we have to play on someone else's ice in these competitions) and Hockey Canada should bring in high-level people from outside the fold to develop fundamental hockey skills. If that means hiring someone from Scandinavia, then do that (though it would be better to find someone within Canada who has a stronger grasp of the game's technicalities than Salmond, Pascall, Nicholson et al).

These guys at Hockey Canada aren't serious about winning, just about making excuses when they fail.