Hockey Canada summit September 2023

[LadyStanley]

Here's hoping they can formulate a good plan to improve culture

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[MeHateHe]

Here's hoping they can formulate a good plan to improve culture

Success will depend on who they allow to attend. If it's a lot of insiders and frequent fliers, then they'll mostly be tinkering on the edges of the problems. If it's mostly the harshest critics, then it runs the risk of devolving into a bitch session which, while it may be cathartic, will not accomplish anything.

The sweet spot is a mix of people who can look unblinkered at the things that Hockey Canada has done well while not overlooking some of the underlying challenges the game faces. Finding a way to diversify the game - so that it's not just played by mostly privileged, mostly white, kids - will go a long way.

I honestly don't envy the task. One of the reasons Canada is successful at the sport is that we cater to the elite. There are resources for the non-elite, but the high-performance program is the federation's signature piece. There's a real danger in throwing the baby out with the bath water,

 

[BadgerBruce]

Success will depend on who they allow to attend. If it's a lot of insiders and frequent fliers, then they'll mostly be tinkering on the edges of the problems. If it's mostly the harshest critics, then it runs the risk of devolving into a bitch session which, while it may be cathartic, will not accomplish anything.

The sweet spot is a mix of people who can look unblinkered at the things that Hockey Canada has done well while not overlooking some of the underlying challenges the game faces. Finding a way to diversify the game - so that it's not just played by mostly privileged, mostly white, kids - will go a long way.

I honestly don't envy the task. One of the reasons Canada is successful at the sport is that we cater to the elite. There are resources for the non-elite, but the high-performance program is the federation's signature piece. There's a real danger in throwing the baby out with the bath water,

Agreed.



I attended the 1999 Summit and knew within 10-15 minutes that there was no way all of the deeply entrenched political interests representing provincial governing bodies from coast-to-coast would ever agree on so much as a lunch menu. Best participant back them was Dave King — he had so many excellent and doable ideas — but alas, very few of them ever became reality.

Will this Summit be different? History says no, but perhaps the new Hockey Canada leadership (Hugh Fraser, in particular) can take advantage of a brief honeymoon period and implement a few long overdue changes. Not holding my breath, though.

 

[jigglysquishy]

Agreed.



I attended the 1999 Summit and knew within 10-15 minutes that there was no way all of the deeply entrenched political interests representing provincial governing bodies from coast-to-coast would ever agree on so much as a lunch menu.

This is such a Canadian problem. It defined Meech Lake and Charlottetown. It's a problem in any professional body or cultural group.

We are already seeing some major cracks in Hockey Canada with groups like BC going their own way.

I fear the whole organization implodes and it hurts player development for a generation.

 

[BadgerBruce]

This is such a Canadian problem. It defined Meech Lake and Charlottetown. It's a problem in any professional body or cultural group.

We are already seeing some major cracks in Hockey Canada with groups like BC going their own way.

I fear the whole organization implodes and it hurts player development for a generation.

You could very well be right. I suspect that you are.

But another way of looking at it is that all a nation really needs to be successful in a sport is a) kids who want to play, b) adults with the acumen to teach/coach them, and c) the physical infrastructure (rinks) to make it all possible.

This will not happen, but if I had the magic wand to make a Hockey Canada change, I’d split the organization up so that youth/grassroots hockey is totally separate from national team activities. Sort of like when the CAHA and the old Hockey Canada existed as two entities with two distinct missions, though I’d want both to perform much better now than they did back in the day. Today’s Hockey Canada tries to do way too much.

 

[MeHateHe]

I attended the 1999 Summit and knew within 10-15 minutes that there was no way all of the deeply entrenched political interests representing provincial governing bodies from coast-to-coast would ever agree on so much as a lunch menu. Best participant back them was Dave King — he had so many excellent and doable ideas — but alas, very few of them ever became reality.

Well, and 1999 was motivated by the failure to win a medal in Nagano. We believed that the win in Salt Lake City was a vindication that the summit was a success, but I'd argue that Canadian hockey didn't start on its current skills trajectory until after they implemented the rules crackdown in 2005-06. We've backslid a bit on that score, but Canada continues to generate high end talent.

The questions this time are little different, although the overall goal may be the same. Hockey in Canada still has (is dominated by? is an argument) an old-school mindset, which leads to 'don't change anything anywhere.'

And again, you can accept that the stories we've heard over the past couple of years are the impetus for change without thinking you have to blow up the entire organization. Hockey Canada does some things right; we can support and improve on those things while still acknowledging that there were fundamental failures that have persisted for years and only came to light recently.

 

[MeHateHe]

This will not happen, but if I had the magic wand to make a Hockey Canada change, I’d split the organization up so that youth/grassroots hockey is totally separate from national team activities. Sort of like when the CAHA and the old Hockey Canada existed as two entities with two distinct missions, though I’d want both to perform much better now than they did back in the day. Today’s Hockey Canada tries to do way too much.

That's an interesting suggestion. Given the relative lack of success in international tournaments under that Hockey Canada model, you might have a hard time convincing people that it's the 21st century way to go.

 

[Rob]

Well, and 1999 was motivated by the failure to win a medal in Nagano. We believed that the win in Salt Lake City was a vindication that the summit was a success, but I'd argue that Canadian hockey didn't start on its current skills trajectory until after they implemented the rules crackdown in 2005-06. We've backslid a bit on that score, but Canada continues to generate high end talent.

The questions this time are little different, although the overall goal may be the same. Hockey in Canada still has (is dominated by? is an argument) an old-school mindset, which leads to 'don't change anything anywhere.'

And again, you can accept that the stories we've heard over the past couple of years are the impetus for change without thinking you have to blow up the entire organization. Hockey Canada does some things right; we can support and improve on those things while still acknowledging that there were fundamental failures that have persisted for years and only came to light recently.

I know a big issue at the time was the ratio of practices to games. Did that change at all?