WJC: Do you think Canada would have won gold if....

[BlackAces*]

I think Schenn was the biggest disappointment for me.

 

[BlackAces*]

Or Olivier Roy

Or both

 

[God Bless Canada]

Hall, Cowen, DeHaan, Ellis and Schenn. What a terrible group of returning players. Especially if Hall's playing in the NHL.

I would expect that the three defencemen are the only players we'll get back. Hall will most certainly be in The Show. I'd be surprised if Schenn isn't in LA next year. He's just so smart out there.

Canada's crop of 1991-born talent is deep. This upcoming draft is strong, so we'll have talent to select from that draft. Hall and Seguin probably won't be options.

It means guys like Scott Glennie, Zach Kassian, Stefan Elliott, Peter Holland, Louis LeBlanc, Dylan Olsen, Carter Ashton and Landon Ferraro - good 1991-born talent who missed out on this year's team because we loaded up on 1990's - have to take the next step forward in their development. And it means that maybe we need to select a few more 18-year-olds.

 

[Bob Barker]

Hall, Cowen, DeHaan, Ellis and Schenn. What a terrible group of returning players. Especially if Hall's playing in the NHL.

Remember a year can make a huge difference. See: Pietrangelo, Alex.

 

[Kiefer]

The question that the OP is asking is hard to answer. What if....

What if Hedman and Karlsson had been on the team...
What if Urbom had been on the team...

We can beat ourself against a brick wall and not get these answers.

We play the cards we are dealt.

 

[Nedved]

lol. we sent our best team, no ifs buts. we werent good enough, U.S. played some great hockey.

 

[Big Phil]

Well for the ones that saw a healthy Hodgson last year dominate on all parts of the ice the answer to the OP is...........yes we would have won with Hodgson. But that's hypothetical. Canada has the entire Canadian Hockey league to pluck talent from and as much as we love to use the excuse that Stamkos, Del Zotto, Tavares, Duchene, Kane etc were in the NHL we can't. There were mistakes that I saw with this team from day one even being an armchair critic like everyone else here. Desjardins made some mistakes picking this team. USA was faster, much, much faster on the sheet of ice. Is Tyler Seguin another version of Mike Comrie? In other words a glaring omission on the team? You make the call

 

[Canuck21t]

Already sounding like 2004.

You guys had a great tournament.

I don't see a reason to think about hypotheticals like this...

2004 was extremely hard to swallow because I thought we were better. One bad bounce and it was over. This year USA had a better team and it was so freaking fast. No, I'm not nearly as disappointed as in 2004.

 

[CanadaBacon]

I doubt the still would have won the gold. The American shot blocking was fantastic.

Even with the two penalty calls that shouldnt have been and the 2 and 10 that should have been called on McMillan, the Americans prob still would have won it. Just one of those games.

 

[BLAME CANADA*]

The question that the OP is asking is hard to answer. What if....

What if Hedman and Karlsson had been on the team...
What if Urbom had been on the team...

We can beat ourself against a brick wall and not get these answers.

We play the cards we are dealt.

Still no other Country lost as many guys as Canada lost the list is huge of talent that we lost.

 

[ronnyweed]

I didnt read one post, all I have to say is who cares, they won and they were the faster team, and it made a huge difference.

congrads, im on my 3rd crow as we speak

 

[Levizk]

Well for the ones that saw a healthy Hodgson last year dominate on all parts of the ice the answer to the OP is...........yes we would have won with Hodgson. But that's hypothetical. Canada has the entire Canadian Hockey league to pluck talent from and as much as we love to use the excuse that Stamkos, Del Zotto, Tavares, Duchene, Kane etc were in the NHL we can't. There were mistakes that I saw with this team from day one even being an armchair critic like everyone else here. Desjardins made some mistakes picking this team. USA was faster, much, much faster on the sheet of ice. Is Tyler Seguin another version of Mike Comrie? In other words a glaring omission on the team? You make the call

Would've won with Hodgson, we were told you guys were going to win hands down with what you had when this tournament started. I would've figured people would understand that teams on paper don't win championships already.

 

[Kiefer]

Still no other Country lost as many guys as Canada lost the list is huge of talent that we lost.

I was just getting into the "What if ..." question..

It's really hard to answer and no one can really tell how it would end.
We can only dream.

 

[Randal Graves]

Seriously? It's a tournament, anything can happen. 1 goal in OT goes the other way and then everyone is talking about how great this Canadian team was and how they persevered and came back twice from 2 goals down late against the US to win it all.

Congrats to the US on a well deserved gold. Fantastic games between these two.

 

[oilsands]

The US played a better team game. They wanted it more, they were faster, played a disciplined game in their own zone, and had lights out goaltending. They made the best of their opportunities despite not having a star, and they outcoached us.

The better team won. My hat is off to the US team.

 

[CanadaBacon]

The US played a better team game. They wanted it more, they were faster, played a disciplined game in their own zone, and had lights out goaltending. They made the best of their opportunities despite not having a star, and they outcoached us.

The better team won. My hat is off to the US team.

I would consider Fowler a "star"

 

[OrrNumber4]

I don't think one player, unless that is one GREAT player, can solve a team's issues.

The bottom-line issue for both teams was goaltending. USA solved it by getting their guy out of there; Canada waited too long to do so.

It was kind of a let down that the goaltending was that bad. Both goalies let the pressure get to them

 

[Zil]

In no universe does Canada have Del Zotto on its team. He wasn't even invited to camp in August. You can only count 'em if you're smart enough to take 'em in the first place.

 

[tp71]

I didnt have a good feeling about this tournament when the coach started making some of his decisions. He played Hall with his linemates from Windsor almost the entire selection camp, instead of seeing what they could do alone. He cut Seguin way too early in my mind and should have given him a little longer(he isnt a leading scoring in the O for nothing) and cutting Hackett. Hackett and Seguin put that Whalers team on their backs and carry them. I feel he took Jones over hackett because hes a W goalie instead of actually picking the better one. I had a bad feeling for this tournament, and I felt the goaltending was gonna let Canada down. That and the coach's questionable decisions did just that.

 

[CanadaBacon]

Seguins at home probably laughing right now. All the people who said guys like Nemisz, Henrique and Bourque, would be better suited to the WJC are eating their words.

Assuming of course IF Seguin would have played better at the tourny then he did in camp.

 

[CanadaBacon]

I didnt have a good feeling about this tournament when the coach started making some of his decisions. He played Hall with his linemates from Windsor almost the entire selection camp, instead of seeing what they could do alone. He cut Seguin way too early in my mind and should have given him a little longer(he isnt a leading scoring in the O for nothing) and cutting Hackett. Hackett and Seguin put that Whalers team on their backs and carry them. I feel he took Jones over hackett because hes a W goalie instead of actually picking the better one. I had a bad feeling for this tournament, and I felt the goaltending was gonna let Canada down. That and the coach's questionable decisions did just that.

He got cut 1 day before the last 9.

He had a garbage camp.

 

[tp71]

He got cut 1 day before the last 9.

He had a garbage camp.

He did have a garbage camp, but to me it was much easier for Hall to succeed in the camp with his entire line there with him. Don't need to learn new tendancies or anything. I would have given him that extra day, or given him some different linemates. Unfortunately he tried too hard, and unfortunately he got cut. I still would have given him that extra day though.

 

[CanadaBacon]

He did have a garbage camp, but to me it was much easier for Hall to succeed in the camp with his entire line there with him. Don't need to learn new tendancies or anything. I would have given him that extra day, or given him some different linemates. Unfortunately he tried too hard, and unfortunately he got cut. I still would have given him that extra day though.

He had a few line changes, he just couldnt get it together. One day really wouldnt have changed anything.

 

[tp71]

He had a few line changes, he just couldnt get it together. One day really wouldnt have changed anything.

Probably not...did they move halls linemates around a bit...or did they stick with that one the entire camp?

 

[CanadaBacon]

Probably not...did they move halls linemates around a bit...or did they stick with that one the entire camp?

I think Hall played once or twice on a different line. The vast majority of camp was on the same line though.

Dont get me wrong, Seguin is top notch, he just wasnt when he needed to be.