WJC: Horrible team selection (Canada)

Kritty

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Feb 27, 2002
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It looked at one point that it wouldn't come back and bite us with a 3-0 lead to start the 3rd. From that point Russian speed and skill took over and made our slow defense look foolish. When they scored the 4th the team did not have enough skill to come back.

Why do we have players like Olson and Cowen when we could have had Murphy? Why do we have player like Eakin and Ashton when we could have RNH? Very puzzling player selection the last few years. Our slow defense and lack of skill was exposed. We could have used an elite talent like Seguin last year too.


Good lord, shut up! This team was the dominant team for all but one game and 15 minutes of another. They changed their style of play for the 3rd period and it came back to hurt them. Enough with this crap you're spewing, that's all it is. Russia played hard all game and didn't give up, they deserve all kinds of credit. Enough with the bashing of Canada, they did everything and came up short with a tough period, it's not the first time it's happened and won't be the last. Get over it.

Do you even know what you are talking about? I agree on Olsen, he looked too slow and didn't have the footspeed, but seriously, Cowen, Eakin and Ashton? Did you actually watch those 3 play? All 3 were solid all tournament long. RNH? Isn't Couturier supposed to have all this high end talent? Well where was it when Canada needed it? This had nothing to do with talent selection it was all style of play. Anyone that knows hockey can see that.
 

Hymanbrah

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Apr 8, 2007
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You can sit around all day talking like Captain Hindsight about certain selections, but the team was good enough to win gold and just fell apart in the third period. They didn't come to play the last 20 minutes and made the brutal mistake of thinking the game was in hand.

Everyone can whine about a few guys but this was a team failure, not something that one or two different selections would solve. Although I will say this team could have used a few saves that they didn't get. Five goals against in the third period of a gold medal game is... yeah. Worst collapse I have ever seen from Team Canada.
 

Dipsy Doodle

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May 28, 2006
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Making excuses because of team selection now is so lame. Don't be that guy.

The team lost because they went on auto-pilot on the 3rd, went away completely from the sort of game that made them successful, and couldn't withstand the determined Russian assault (huge props to them for never giving up).
 

13 others

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Apr 18, 2007
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So why make this thread now, AFTER we lost? Stop making Canadian hockey fans look like sore losers please.

I've thought something looked off with the team the whole tournament. When should I make it?

In the middle of the tourny? "They aren't even eliminated yet. Wait and see what happens before you judge them"
After they win Gold? "Why the hell are you complaining about a gold medal winning team?"

After a loss my argument has more traction. The team could have been better. I have already given props to Russia because they had a better team so this has nothing to do with being a sore loser. I could have made this thread any time.
 

YNWA14

Onbreekbaar
Dec 29, 2010
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One game doesn't mean anything. I love how people are ripping on Cowen for one game, but it's not like the rest of the team played any better in the third. It's a team game, and the Canadians collapsed. Period.
 

ComrieFanatic

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I criticized Team Canada's roster before the tournament started for not taking some of our better skilled, speedy players. But we got up 3-0 tonight, and if this team was built for anything it was defending leads and grinding out wins. There's really no excuse for this loss other than Canada let down their guard and tried to coast to a gold medal.
 

Garyboy

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Oct 31, 2010
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You're really ripping on Eakin's selection?

He probably was one of Canada's best players tonight.

All tournament!

My only gripe was them opting for size over skill on the blue line. Murphy and Murray over Gudbranson and Olsen.
 

Hale The Villain

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You guys want Murphy instead of Cowen or Gudbranson? Get real. If elite shutdown blueliners in their respective leagues weren't shutting the door tonight, what the hell makes you think Murphy would?

The problem with this team was goaltending and lack of secondary scoring. Schwartz got injured, Connolly and Couturier played awful, and players such as Hamilton, Ashton, Foligno, Cizikas, Howden and others were being counted on to provide solid secondary scoring. To be fair to those players, the collapse was because of the defense, Russia's extremely skilled forwards and pathetic goaltending. Visentin could not make the big save, or any save when it mattered.
 

v-man

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Apr 19, 2006
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Sure there were a bunch of more deserving guys that should have been there (especially Anderson), but pretty much anyone not named Olsen showed up and played well... until the third period of today's game that is. They simply got cocky and complacent and it backfired in a big way. I doubt a few different players would have made a difference.
 

Preach

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Oct 8, 2006
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Nothing wrong with the selections, to begin with the pool for this year wasn't very deep to begin with. Most of the players you see on the team won't do much at the NHL level, if they even make it to that level... this Canadian team was one of the weakest in terms of talent in years.
 

13 others

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Apr 18, 2007
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Good lord, shut up!

Great way to start off a sentence. Can you not handle somebody that doesn't have the same opinion as yours? Are you frustrated about the loss?

Or is it that time of the month..
Um...yes they do...a good example of this is the 2011 WJC where Canada blew a 3-0 lead in the third to Russia.

You are the worst type of poster. Don't come back.
 

Kritty

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I've thought something looked off with the team the whole tournament. When should I make it?

In the middle of the tourny? "They aren't even eliminated yet. Wait and see what happens before you judge them"
After they win Gold? "Why the hell are you complaining about a gold medal winning team?"

After a loss my argument has more traction. The team could have been better. I have already given props to Russia because they had a better team so this has nothing to do with being a sore loser. I could have made this thread any time.

God you just don't get it. You waited to the end purposely. Now you can talk about how you knew it would happen and this and that.

As other people said, this had ZERO to do with player selection. If they team battled for 6th place then sure, but when you are 3-0 up with 15 minutes to go in the gold medal game you have the team you need. It was all strategy but you just don't seem to get that.

You want to add all these guys that are skilled on paper, but who do you take out? And what says they are going to produce. 3 17 year olds in Murphy, Murray and RNH? Are you kidding me? The only 17 year old on the team look overwhelmed as it was.
 

Carlton Orr*

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It looked at one point that it wouldn't come back and bite us with a 3-0 lead to start the 3rd. From that point Russian speed and skill took over and made our slow defense look foolish. When they scored the 4th the team did not have enough skill to come back.

Why do we have players like Olson and Cowen when we could have had Murphy? Why do we have player like Eakin and Ashton when we could have RNH? Very puzzling player selection the last few years. Our slow defense and lack of skill was exposed. We could have used an elite talent like Seguin last year too.

Are you kidding me? Cowen was one of Canada's best d-men, hence why he got the award at the end of game.
 

Kritty

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Great way to start off a sentence. Can you not handle somebody that doesn't have the same opinion as yours? Are you frustrated about the loss?

Or is it that time of the month..

Haha, this is exactly what I love about posters here. You make a comment about how someone starts their post instead of actually reading what is in it, and then you throw in your last comment. You are a beauty, no doubt.

Nope, not frustrated at all. Unlike you, I can give credit to a team that for 6 games and 45 minutes played their behinds off. You just can't see that.
 

Do Make Say Think

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Jun 26, 2007
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Are people really that displeased with Cowen?

I'm not sold on him yet but he played solid all tournament except for that one shift.
 

The_Eck

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Jan 5, 2006
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Great way to start off a sentence. Can you not handle somebody that doesn't have the same opinion as yours? Are you frustrated about the loss?

Or is it that time of the month..

:laugh::laugh:
That's gold!!! I said that to my ex a few times..not very wise....
 

Knave

Registered User
Mar 6, 2007
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Yes! Why didn't youtube clip guy make it? Or how about guy I've never seen play but only read about?

Seriously! What were the professionals at Hockey Canada thinking? Morons!
 

PaulieVegas

Registered User
Apr 29, 2009
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Is this thread a joke? Seriously? All I heard after your win over the USA was how great your team selection was, and suddenly it sucks? Come on, really?

Canada has too many sore losers. Canada wins, and they're the greatest. Canada loses, and it's that they didn't have their best players, or they don't care about the tournament, or they were still the better team despite the result. And apparently we can add "bad team selection" to the list of excuses. Just admit you lost and move on with it!

Canada always prides itself on its heart and their will to win. Well here was that in the third period? How could a team with so much heart and will to win choke so badly in their championship moment?
 

Amputechture

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Jun 24, 2007
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Toronto
It looked at one point that it wouldn't come back and bite us with a 3-0 lead to start the 3rd. From that point Russian speed and skill took over and made our slow defense look foolish. When they scored the 4th the team did not have enough skill to come back.

Why do we have players like Olson and Cowen when we could have had Murphy? Why do we have player like Eakin and Ashton when we could have RNH? Very puzzling player selection the last few years. Our slow defense and lack of skill was exposed. We could have used an elite talent like Seguin last year too.

Eakin and Ashton were two of the best players on this damn team when it counted. How you can say they didn't belong is ridiculous. I would take those two kids on any of my teams. Eakin was a man possessed tonight. Too bad we didn't have an entire team with that kids heart. Give your head a shake dude.
 

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