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

[An Argument For]

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.

Too be fair Ontario has a larger population than Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland.. And Canada produces over 7 times as many Junior players than Russia so it's a safe bet that Ontario alone produces at least twice as many.

If the Ontario team had a month to play together, undergo a training camp and play a half dozen exhibition games before they went to the World Championships like Sweden does, I think they'd be quite formidable. It's a bit of a better setup and than calling 23 guys after an 82 game season and ask them to be on a plane next week to start playing a tournament with some other guys they may have never really spoken to before.

 

[getwiththeprogram*]

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.

and, yet, with all that talent, we often underperform internationally. Poor training methods? Poor Psychological preparation? Poor coaching? We need to find the answer because, on paper, we're always strong (usually the best team) but we don't win as we should.

 

[CherryToke]

no.. all the leaders are from the west, especially on defense.

 

[getwiththeprogram*]

Too be fair Ontario has a larger population than Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland.. And Canada produces over 7 times as many Junior players than Russia so it's a safe bet that Ontario alone produces at least twice as many.

If the Ontario team had a month to play together, undergo a training camp and play a half dozen exhibition games before they went to the World Championships like Sweden does, I think they'd be quite formidable. It's a bit of a better setup and than calling 23 guys after an 82 game season and ask them to be on a plane next week to start playing a tournament with some other guys they may have never really spoken to before.

Okay, that's a fair point. You're absolutely right about the haphazard way we assemble teams for international competition. Man, I wish we could have our own Canadian pro league.

 

[Exarz]

No, I don't think so. 3rd place is my guess!

 

[octopi]

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

Which would still match up with a lot of Olympic teams.In a one game knockout tournament.

The answer is yes, they could win but their chances diminish.

 

[leafsfuture]

Team Ontario is still good enough that many top 6 forwards would be passed over.


James Neal – John Tavares – Steven Stamkos
Taylor Hall – Claude Giroux – Corey Perry
Rick Nash – Mike Richards – Jeff Carter
Matt Duchene – Eric Staal – Patrick Sharp
Tyler Seguin

Drew Doughty – Alex Pietrangelo
Marc Giordano – PK Subban
Marc Methot – Dan Girardi
Dan Boyle

Mike Smith
Brian Elliot
Steve Mason

Tyler Seguin would be the 13th forward. Think about that for a second.

 

[tony d]

They'd do pretty good IMO but I think they have ? marks in net. Other than that though they'd probably contend for anywhere from 2nd to 5th or 6th.

 

[Mike8]

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.

I remember that tournament. How did it come about, anyway? Was it just because of the lockout? I've tried to find more info online with little success.

Just for fun:

Team Quebec
Tanguay-Lecavalier-St-Louis
Perron-Ribeiro-Huberdeau
Parenteau-Bergeron-Burrows
Dupuis-Vermette-Talbot
Chiasson

Vlasic-Letang
Beauchemin-Despres
Scandella-Robidas
Savard
Demers

Luongo
Fleury
Brodeur



Team Quebec + Atlantic:

Burrows-Crosby-St-Louis
Tanguay-MacKinnon-Huberdeau
Ribeiro-B.Richards-Lecavalier
Marchand-Bergeron-Ott
Perron
Vermette

Vlasic-Letang
Beauchemin-MacDonald
McQuaid-Robidas
Scandella
Despres

Luongo
Fleury
Brodeur



Western Canada


Lucic-Getzlaf-Eberle
Hall-Toews-Sharp
Marleau-Nugent Hopkins-Ladd
Kunitz-Benn-Kane
Iginla
Zajac

Keith-Weber
Phaneuf-Alzner
Hamhuis-Bouwmeester
Seabrook
Hamonic

Price

 

[ToewsGretzky*]

A large chunk Canada's 2014 olympic team hails from Ontario, it has the largest population of Canada, naturally there will be more hockey players from this province, Ontario has amazing depth at forward with guys like Stamkos, Tavares, Duchene, Couture, Thornton, Staals, Seguin, Perry, Carter, Richards, Giroux, Neal etc and decent depth on D with guys like Doughty, Pietrangelo, Subban, Staal, Giordano, Girardi etc but its the goaltending for Ontario that is poor. Smith, Mason and Elliott would be our top three guys.