Hockey has divided Canada - Canadians Cheering Against Team Canada...

[Colt.45Orr]

IMO the Q is getting overlooked badly.

Why how many game do you watch from the WHL?? I watch 2 a week and 1 QMJHL game per week... the WHL is significantly better.

Perhaps the Q should have beat the Russian Selects if they wanted to be taken seiously....
FACT:the WHL dominated both those games...
FACT:the Q got beat in both of those games...

I'm sorry...some guys in the Q may look better than they actually are because they don't have to play against blue-chip Dmen game-in and game out like many WHL players have to... I'd like to see some of the Q boys spend a month in the WHL trying some of their moves on on Phaneuf or Fistric...for starters... welcome to the IR list son...

 

[Free Edler]

If Ladd makes this team, my name is Roger. But still... with Sutter as the head coach, you never know.

What's wrong with Ladd? He's had a slow start offensively, but the guy was picked fourth overall for a reason. I'd certainly take him over a guy like Bolland, or Kyle Quincey.

 

[Roughneck]

He was the 4th Overall Pick you know. What's so unfair about him being on the team?

 

[letterH]

can't say I will be cheering for fully for team Canada. But I will have a huge smile on my face if Team Canada does lose.

Guys like this kill me, cant lose can ya? If Canada wins, all of a sudden you are a huge fan again but if they lose you are happy and smug. We lived with Q goalies for so long and there was no crying, even after they have all been average at best in recent years.

So hopefully Eastern Canada picks a new favorite team and stays with it, because the rest dont want ya. Most fans you would think just want a Canadian Gold medal regardless of where they are from. This is the stupidest reaction to something I have ever seen.

 

[Phanuthier*]

Do we still have that Hall of Fame forum?

This HAS to go up there. Now I've seen some pretty stupid stuff here (puck poise, comparing Chad Kilger to Gretzkey, TorTrader) but this has to take the cake.

Yeah, let's say to hell with Confederation and seperate the country, because the Team Canada selected for a U-20 tournament features more players from the West then the East. Wooo!!!

 

[dem]

Wow
Ive never seen such whining




Grow up

 

[WillardJFredricks]

I'm a Canadian and have been cheering against Canada for about 2 years now at the Jrs because of their idiotic selections. This year will be no different.

 

[cstu]

I'm a Canadian and have been cheering against Canada for about 2 years now at the Jrs because of their idiotic selections. This year will be no different.

Unbelievable. I don't agree with a lot of the players named to camp, but I for one would NEVER cheer against my country. Everyone who has their panties in a knot over the number of WHL selections needs to post their choices. Even WHL haters will have a lot of trouble getting equal representation from every league in the CHL.

 

[letterH]

The funny thing is when you go back a few pages and read all the predictions on who makes the team, its almost identical to what Sutter picked. Most people from all across the country knew the WHL would take up almost every spot on D, so that shouldnt be a surprise. It looks like Bernier is the biggest ommission from what was expected and maybe Brule (WHL).

Just who are all the players who got shafted and why didnt anyone mention them before Sutter made his picks?

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

...............................................................................................................................................


...............................................................................................................................................

I just read 160 posts and keep coming back to this one. There's ten minutes I will never have back.

 

[BCCHL inactive]

I'm just waiting for the OHL and Q to be in charge. I don't expect to see any WHL players on team canada for 2 years. Every 3rd year we might see a WHL player.

Bob Nicolson should be fired. Why is Hockey Canada in Calgary when all the hockey players are in Eastern Canada? Who lives in Calgary? This is sowing the seeds in eastern Canada to break up hockey Canada. I predict in the near future two governing bodies in canadian hockey. A split in hockey canada is what we need.

I have no problem with selecting the best players. I have a problem with not even letting some of the other key players in other leagues try to get selected. If you give them a shot and they didnt' make the team, no one in canada would complain. The problem we have is that, there wasn't an opportunity.

:lol

The selection camp is only the last step of every player's opportunity.

Scouts travel the WHL, OHL, QMJHL and NCAA watching Canadian players. They invite who they see as the 30-some-odd best players to the December camp. If 21 of those players are from the WHL, so be it.

Notice how the majority of the people defending this team is from Western Canada. Isn't that ironic?

Notice how the only basis for your opinions is that you're Eastern Canadian? Isn't that ironic?

Why don't we look at the best players of all time the best players currently in the NHL. And the majority of them are not from western Canada.

There are just way too many to name it would be laughable just comparing it to your short list. lol

Easy excuse for not being able to name this long list.

These players you mention should never have been selected to team Canada. They only got on team canada from internal connections such as wayne gretzky and kevin low.

Shane Doan, Eric Brewer, Robyn Regehr, Scott Hannan, Patrick Marleau, Wade Redden, Ryan Smyth.

Those players aren't even close to the best players in Canada.

You do know that this Team Canada won the World Cup, right?

Not only that, you're saying that Lowe and Gretzky only chose these players from internal connections, essentially saying they have a Western Canadian bias. I have news for you. Wayne Gretzky is from Brantford, Ontario and played his junior with Sault Ste. Marie. Kevin Lowe is from Lachute, Quebec and played his junior with the Quebec Remparts.

Name two defensemen better than Rob Blake and Chris Pronger?

And dont' say Regehr? lmfao

You do realize that Blake and Pronger were injured for the World Cup, right?

Also, if you knew anything about hockey a coach picks certain players because he knows that they can play the way he needs them to play, if they picked a different coach, it would be a different situation. Sutter knows the players from the dub, why wouldn't he pick primarily players from the dub?

Sutter coaches the Red Deer Rebels. He can't watch all the players, even in the 'dub'. Blair Mackasey (Hockey Canada head scout) travels the country with other scouts, who have the biggest input on who gets invited. Sutter does have some input, (Boyd and Fraser getting invited, I'll concede that) but in the end, for the most part, Mackasey and his team of scouts make the final decisions.

I could careless if all of team canada is from WHL, but to not give the other kids even one day to prove themselves is really not fair.

If this is truly your opinion, then you simply don't understand how it works.

The players who were not invited did get their chance to prove themselves while playing with their club teams this season. If they're not getting the invite to camp, they haven't earned it. It's not necessarily saying they can't play at that level, but rather that there are other players out there who have shown more so far this season.

Players who attended the summer camp already have brownie points, but that doesn't mean they have a December camp spot sealed up. These players are being watched damn near every game they play. It's not about handing camp spots out to guys who have the talent to play at this tournament. If that was the case, they could invite 60 players to camp. You can't invite that many players for such a short camp. It is all about earning your spot at camp.

If there is just one player out there who didn't get invited and should have, it's Gilbert Brulé. Guess where he plays.

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

If I were to pick the team evenly it would go like this.

Crosby, Richards, Stewart, Carter, Brule, Getzlaf, Bernier, Dawes, Bourret, Dixon, Perry, Fehr, Stone, Bergeron

Phaneuf, Colburn, Belle, Syvret, Barker, Seabrooke, Weber

Houle, Munse

Q = 6
O = 7
W = 10

The WHL still has more players but atleast it's a little more spread out. A player like Bourret no matter the age should not have been left off the list.

 

[markov`]

If I were to pick the team evenly it would go like this.

Crosby, Richards, Stewart, Carter, Brule, Getzlaf, Bernier, Dawes, Bourret, Dixon, Perry, Fehr, Stone, Bergeron

Phaneuf, Colburn, Belle, Syvret, Barker, Seabrooke, Weber

Ellis, Munse

Q = 6
O = 7
W = 10

The WHL still has more players but atleast it's a little more spread out. A player like Bourret no matter the age should not have been left off the list.

Agreed. Looks more realistic too. The WHL is the better league, but having 21 players out of 32 invited is just... wrong.

And I never liked Ladd. He's having a bad year this season too.

 

[Mess]

I just read 160 posts and keep coming back to this one. There's ten minutes I will never have back.

Hey I did post that early on hoping to save many readers some time by me violin concert playing post..

... but the poster who started the thread really went so far off the reality Meter that the Needle broke off and sadly now he is a legend in his own mind for posting this nonsense.

...and sadly all the couldn't save anyone ..

 

[espo*]

Every Canadian should get behind the team regardless of where the majority of the players come from.I don't care if every single one of them is from James bay or Nunavut for that matter...if they are wearing the maple leaf then as Canadian hockey fans we should be behind them.This will be a good team...lot's of great players,who cares if most of them are from the west.Just support them.

 

[gerbilanium]

Agreed. Looks more realistic too. The WHL is the better league, but having 21 players out of 32 invited is just... wrong.

And I never liked Ladd. He's having a bad year this season too.

Maybe Canada has lost lately because we in the country take this tournament way too seriously. How do you expect Fleury to make a save when he's got three microphones up his ass. Maybe we should leave some of these young men/kids the hell alone. No other country is this ridiculous about this tournament.

Yes we probably are the top hockey country in the world, so what, why do we have to keep on these guys night and day.

Sutter gets the coaching job so a benefit of that is picking the team you want. Kinda weird how that works. What could possibly benefit Sutter by picking a team that he thinks will lose. Sutters do show a bias against certain types of players, so that's why he didn't pick them. Maybe Bernier told Sutter to eat **** during the camps. We will never know. The time speculating about something we all know so little about is Pejorative Slured.

I hope this isn't how stupid westerners look when they are crying about things that are actually important.

I SAY NORTEL IS GOING TO TEN BUCKS TOMORROW ANYONE ELSE WHO THINKS OTHERWISE IS ANTI-CANADIAN. AND THE 649 NUMBERS ARE GOING TO BE 12 14 17 33 39 42

 

[BuppY]

I don't care who plays for Canada, but when they play hockey I'm cheering for them. NO MATTER WHAT.

 

[letterH]

Hart_House_Ca
Registered User



Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 356 Notice how the majority of the people defending this team is from Western Canada. Isn't that ironic?


well, when I read that, it made sense as to what we are dealing with. Gee, I wonder why West fans would defend the West?Hmmmmmm

 

[Mess]

If I were to pick the team evenly it would go like this.

Crosby, Richards, Stewart, Carter, Brule, Getzlaf, Bernier, Dawes, Bourret, Dixon, Perry, Fehr, Stone, Bergeron

Phaneuf, Colburn, Belle, Syvret, Barker, Seabrooke, Weber

Ellis, Munse

Q = 6
O = 7
W = 10

The WHL still has more players but atleast it's a little more spread out. A player like Bourret no matter the age should not have been left off the list.

Why in the world does it have to be balanced ???

The purpose is to win and while there are great young Canadian players all across Canada and the States .. still best team is the goal and balance is irrelevant ...

If they do win Gold .. then are people still going to say but Bernier should have been on the team ...

The tournament is not NHL ALL-STAR format that all teams should have a player .. Currently the QMJHL is the weakest of the 3 leagues , it show in the selection process and at the entry draft ..they are all Canadian where is the problem ...

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

Why in the world does it have to be balanced ???

The purpose is to win and while there are great young Canadian players all across Canada and the States .. still best team is the goal and balance is irrelevant ...

If they do win Gold .. then are people still going to say but Bernier should have been on the team ...

The tournament is not NHL ALL-STAR format that all teams should have a player .. Currently the QMJHL is the weakest of the 3 leagues , it show in the selection process and at the entry draft ..they are all Canadian where is the problem ...

They are who I feel are the best players....whats wrong with the list?

 

[Riggins]

I believe the thread starter has yet to mention any names as to who should have been selected. While I do think guys like Bernier and Picard (from the Q) should be at the camp, they wouldn't make my Team Canada. But heck, there are even guys from the WHL deserving of invites who didn't get them, Brule and Chipchura had he not been injured. What about the OHL? There aren't really any other candidates from there. Someone else already mentioned Horton and Burns (both former OHLers) would have been there.

So what it comes down to is this guy cheering against Canada because 2 or 3 players from the WHL, who likely won't make the team anyways, were chosen for the selection camp instead of the likes of Bernier, Picard, etc.

 

[Mess]

They are who I feel are the best players....whats wrong with the list?

Having a veteran returning team and them adding Brule and Bourret sort of offsets and defeats that purpose in a way .. They will get their chance next year no doubt .. young players make mistakes and that costs games, which you can not afford in a tourney..

and your goalies are intended to be used to balance the team throughout Canada, but clearly the best 2 goalies in the eyes of the selection committee play in the WHL, regardless if they named 4 or them to the camp ... You are ignoring that fact ..

 

[Hiishawk]

I believe the thread starter has yet to mention any names as to who should have been selected. While I do think guys like Bernier and Picard (from the Q) should be at the camp, they wouldn't make my Team Canada. But heck, there are even guys from the WHL deserving of invites who didn't get them, Brule and Chipchura had he not been injured. What about the OHL? There aren't really any other candidates from there. Someone else already mentioned Horton and Burns (both former OHLers) would have been there.

So what it comes down to is this guy cheering against Canada because 2 or 3 players from the WHL, who likely won't make the team anyways, were chosen for the selection camp instead of the likes of Bernier, Picard, etc.

Bingo. Cheering against your country because a couple of guys you favour weren't selected (no matter how well one may argue about their inclusion) seems odd to me. The fact is any team Canada will NEVER select ALL the players I (or any other fan) want(s) them to. To use the logic shown by some in this thread then, I would never be able to cheer on ANY version of Team Canada at any level.

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

Having a veteran returning team and them adding Brule and Bourret sort of offsets and defeats that purpose in a way .. They will get their chance next year no doubt .. young players make mistakes and that costs games, which you can not afford in a tourney..

and your goalies are intended to be used to balance the team throughout Canada, but clearly the best 2 goalies in the eyes of the selection committee play in the WHL, regardless if they named 4 or them to the camp ... You are ignoring that fact ..

No they are not. The best numbers from goaltenders are comming from the WHL. That doesn't mean they are the best. I would take Houle over any goaltender in the CHL at the moment. Like LaLaLaprise said though, Houle is small and everyone frowns upon small goaltenders. I actually feel like an ass for not including Houle on my Team Canada, the change will be made.

"Young players make mistakes" What are you, the head of a NHL team or something. Age makes a difference in the NHL but not near as much in an event like this. All junior players make mistakes. Look at Colburn or Fleury. I am willing to bet Colburn and Belle will make mistakes this year also. Bourret and Brule are better then some of the players on the team now, isn't that what Sutter had set out to do, get the best 30 players. Pile of BS.

 

[God Bless Canada]

Unbelievable that this topic has any sort of life. First of all, comments that Bob Nicholson or others at Hockey Canada should be fired are ludicrous. Canada's ranked No. 1 in the world. It's not even close. Since February of 2002, Canada has won 1 Olympic men's gold medal, 1 Olympic women's gold medal, 1 World Cup, 2 men's World Championships, 2 women's World Championships, 1 WU18 title and 2 Junior World Cups. Canada swept the top three spots at the 2003-04 WU17 tournament. The only thing missing is a World Jr. Title, but that'll change this year. Thus, I don't think there should be any complaints about Bob Nicholson or the current work at Hockey Canada.

I'm from Western Canada, and I could care less where they're from. I never complained when there was a huge contingent of easterns at our camps. Neither did knowledgable western Canadians. But when the best coach in junior hockey announces a team filled with western Canadians, some Easterners sound off. Am I missing something? I want to see Canada win gold, with the 22 best players possible. I don't care what league they're from. The next NHL draft will feature a strong contingent from the "Q," that league's best talent since 1998. You'll see more Q players next year, regardless of who's coaching, and I'll cheer boisterously for them, too.

Bottom line, the Dub had far and away the best players of the three Canadian junior leagues last year. They have the best eligible talent from 2003 as well. (Fleury and Staal aren't eligible, Horton and Burns were excluded due to grandstanding from their NHL teams). In fact, the WHL has had the best record at producing NHL talent since the 1995 Draft, when they had Doan, Redden and Iginla, just like the OHL was the best before that.

PS: Any irony that HartHouse.ca derived his name from a landmark in Calgary, which he slagged earlier?
PPS: HartHouse, we're still waiting for you to step up and unveil your WJC roster.