WJC: Horrible team selection (Canada)

[NyQuil]

Don't sit back like chumps, counter with your own offense.

We had guys with speed who could forecheck and pressure.

They just didn't.

I agree the coaching in that period was abysmal.

The players panicked and didn't respond. Cameron didn't take the timeout when he should have, though based on what happened after the one he did use, there's no guarantee anything would have changed.

Basically, Canada ran into a team that had no fear of coming back, while Canada's nerves got the better of them.

I don't think one or two additional players would have changed the outcome.

 

[Tavaresmagicalplay*]

They shouldn't have been trying to protect a 3-0 lead. You gotta go for it and keep attacking until the end. This is the new era of hockey. Trapping doesn't work anymore. It is why teams like the former Chicago Blackhawks can win cups, while bigger teams like San Jose have more difficulty.

For some reason, Canada played the 1-2-2 and laid back. I think that has to do with some of the roster decisions. The team look gassed to me. As the game wore along, they started losing 1-1 battles with more frequency and I think this was related to being fatigued and trying to chase around a faster team...thus, this leads to the decision to just lay back and trap to contain Russia's speed (which I think was both a conscious effort on the part of the coaches and a subconscious tactic on the part of the players).

That makes no sense. Teams trap with the lead all the time. Watch the stanley cup playoffs. The team just didn't execute. The guys that were there should have done a better job. Nothing to do with personnel everything to do with guys who should have been able to get it done and who had the ability to not getting it done. You'll counter with "how can you say that when they choked?" well thats just how I feel.

 

[Torts]

Murphy and RNH cant play defence

 

[Kenobody]

The Ryan Nugent-Hopkins peanut gallery is really getting redundant. If Couturier was cut and RNH made the team, the RNH apologists here would argue "Couturier's offensive ability could have changed the game!" Where were these concerns after the first game against Russia? After the semi-final win against the USA? Heck, even after the loss to Sweden (I distinctively recall everyone blaming the defense and Roy for that). This team scored some 38 goals in seven games (~5 goals/game). If you want to blame coaching fine, but goal scoring was not the issue.


It's the same story every time after a team Canada loss. If the Olympic team lost, HFBoards would have excessively criticized the omission of players like Green and Stamkos.

 

[Minister of Offence]

Cowen did not have a great tourny, he had a good one. I don't think he deserved a top 3 player award I would have voted for Ryan Johanssen but w/e. .

I'd agree with this. I think just like when they always choose returning players to wear letters they chose their captains to take the honours again. It seemed like all week players were mentioning the strong presence the returnees had and I think the coaching staff was just rewarding them.

Cowen deserves some credit, he was put into a situation to fail last year and he failed in front of the whole country. And while no one made an excuse for him, he also never made an excuse for himself.

 

[PeterTheGreat]

This may or may not have affected the outcome, but how does Stefan Elliott not even get an INVITE to camp? He is on of the best defencemen in the WHL, leading point scorer among dmen, has 17 goals and you don't even invite him to camp? Thats a snub, plain and simple. The fact that Olsen was a major disappointment the whole tournament makes it even more of a factor.

 

[Big Phil]

Murphy and RNH cant play defence

But they have a boatload of skill and will both likely go in the top 5 in this years draft. They could have been used in an offensive role, a role that NOBODY had on that team. No one else saw a problem with that?

I don't think one or two additional players would have changed the outcome.

We don't know that though. It would have been worth a try. It's the old adage of a "19 year old's tournament." Pierre McGuire said it best during camp that the birth certificate of some players shouldn't have mattered. Is this really a 19 year old's tournament?

- 16 year old Gretzky scored 17 points in 1978
- 17 year old Lindros scored 17 points in 1991
- 18 year old Tavares scored 15 points in 2009
- 18 year old Hodgson scored 16 points in 2009
- 18 year old Hall scored 12 points in 2010

Come on, this team is as bad as other years when it comes to selections. Canada sometimes has a cocky attitude when selecting the team. There is politics involved. Eric Staal and Nathan Horton were cut in 2003 in favour of Kyle Wellwood. Canada loses a tight gold medal game 3-2. Mike Comrie was cut two years in a row in 1999 and 2000 both years that we desperately needed goals our way.

 

[Big Phil]

The Ryan Nugent-Hopkins peanut gallery is really getting redundant. If Couturier was cut and RNH made the team, the RNH apologists here would argue "Couturier's offensive ability could have changed the game!" Where were these concerns after the first game against Russia? After the semi-final win against the USA? Heck, even after the loss to Sweden (I distinctively recall everyone blaming the defense and Roy for that). This team scored some 38 goals in seven games (~5 goals/game). If you want to blame coaching fine, but goal scoring was not the issue.


It's the same story every time after a team Canada loss. If the Olympic team lost, HFBoards would have excessively criticized the omission of players like Green and Stamkos.

But that Russian team was skilled. Someone should have called Dave Cameron and told him that there were other teams in this tournament. The Canadians could hit, and while we did that for 2 periods we did NOT in the 3rd. Maybe it's because the Russians went all out for a game of pond hockey. You need the players who can make up for that when the physical game goes dry. We didn't have it. We did not have a well rounded team because when the ice opened up we got buried. Remember Sweden? People forget how fast that team was and how they skated circles around us. We needed more skill.

And while we did win in the Olympics last year, the Stamkos and Green omissions were gambles needless to say. You don't omit a guy who leads the NHL in goals.

 

[Uncle Rotter]

The selection was in question from the start no?

It is every year

 

[Banjo Cat]

I don't know enough about junior players to say whether this guy should have been picked instead of this guy or whatnot, but the team looked pretty good in most games throughout the tournament and they played with a lot of heart in most of the those games. They looked lost tonight in that third period, and full credit to the Russians they played awesome to come back. No point in whining about team selection.

 

[KingJet*]

My Team Canada would've looked like this (The lines wouldn't look like this)

Eakin-Johansen-Connolly
Couturier-Schwartz-Kassian
Toffolli-Schenn-Leblanc
RNH-Hishon-Vey
Ashton

Ellis-Gudbranson
Murray-Barrie
de Haan-Despres
Cowan

Visentin
Roy
(No way they wouldn't cut Roy, I would've cut him for Pickard otherwise, hes better)

Cuts
(Olsen, Cizikas, Foligno, Hamilton)

 

[Uncle Rotter]

Come on, this team is as bad as other years when it comes to selections. Canada sometimes has a cocky attitude when selecting the team. There is politics involved. Eric Staal and Nathan Horton were cut in 2003 in favour of Kyle Wellwood. Canada loses a tight gold medal game 3-2. Mike Comrie was cut two years in a row in 1999 and 2000 both years that we desperately needed goals our way.

And there were good players cut in years Canada won Gold

 

[Granlund2Pulkkinen*]

Hishon

 

[leoleo3535]

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.

This is an award winner for the dumbest post of the year.
CONGRATS!

 

[Tavaresmagicalplay*]

My Team Canada would've looked like this (The lines wouldn't look like this)

Eakin-Johansen-Connolly
Couturier-Schwartz-Kassian
Toffolli-Schenn-Leblanc
RNH-Hishon-Vey
Ashton

Ellis-Gudbranson
Murray-Barrie
de Haan-Despres
Cowan

Visentin
Roy
(No way they wouldn't cut Roy, I would've cut him for Pickard otherwise, hes better)

Cuts
(Olsen, Cizikas, Foligno, Hamilton)

You cut some of the best players for Canada?

 

[Nalens Oga]

I was really po'd too, I commented earlier that you pick the best possible team and forget guys like Morrow or Bergeron aka role players in these competitions. I know they prove successful sometimes but honestly, pick the best team.

I would've rather seen a forward like RNH or Hishon who're a lot more skilled than a Cizikas even though I'm a Majors fan.

 

[danishh]

Hishon

Hishon?



HISHON???????




that dude is a bust!!! He couldnt even make a terrible canadian team. Give up now avs fans.

 

[Tavaresmagicalplay*]

I was really po'd too, I commented earlier that you pick the best possible team and forget guys like Morrow or Bergeron aka role players in these competitions. I know they prove successful sometimes but honestly, pick the best team.

I would've rather seen a forward like RNH or Hishon who're a lot more skilled than a Cizikas even though I'm a Majors fan.

You need role players. You can't play those guys 8-10 minutes a game and expect them to produce.

 

[chewey]

Hishon?



HISHON???????




that dude is a bust!!! He couldnt even make a terrible canadian team. Give up now avs fans.

So if we add in a 2nd his value is equal to Cowen's now right?

 

[Big Phil]

And there were good players cut in years Canada won Gold

The most glaring one is Mike Green in 2005. Other than that the teams those years were constructed much better from day one. That was a sickening team in 2005 and I'm not sure there was even a lot of fuss about it either.

A player here and there can make a world of difference

 

[WKFan]

Zero difference if they'd picked Nugent Hopkins or Murphy and probably the same result with Pickard. This team had all the talent it needed to play one more period as the best team in the tournament and by the time it was 3-2 they had let a couple of quick Russian goals rattle them, simple as that. I wasn't on the bench so can't say for sure but it would seem a collapse like that is a mental thing as much as anything else and so the first place I'd look in this situation is the leadership group and coaching staff. If they were overconfident against a team that clearly had no quit in it, who let them be? If they started freaking out that they were all of a sudden in a close game, who let them? The worst was when it got to be 3-3 and 4-3 and you could see a clearly rattled group of players all trying to score the big goal all by themselves rather than a team that knew if they stayed physical and played their game that they could grind a goal out.

Canada rightfully loves this tournament but we do need to keep it all in perspective. We put more pressure on these kids than they've seen in their lives and more than players on any other team may ever see in their career. Some will thrive under it others not so much, especially if there are leadership issues. In the end they're all just kids and we can hope that when the smoke clears they'll be better pros for the lessons learned. This will be one angry team next year, which should make for a fun tournament for Alberta.

 

[DuklaNation]

This team was built to beat the US. However, with a 3-0 lead in the 3rd period, it shouldnt matter what the lineup is, that should be a lock for a win.

 

[RogerRoeper*]

agreed, team feel apart don't know what happened after the first period.

 

[topcat986*]

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.

Revisionary crap by the OP. Get over it and stop being a suck and using excuses. you make all other Canadian fans look stupid..

 

[Fulcrum]

Murphy, Hishon and Nugent-Hopkins would make this team better if not simply Dangerous. I have Professor Larionov's backing on this...