PensFan101
Forever Champions.
Well, Hishon was one of my pre-selection camp favourites, but I guess if you look at it like they took Schwartz as a potential game-breaking offense-generating forward instead, it's just bad luck that Schwartz got hurt. And while I wanted Murphy there... I really have no complaints about Tyson Barrie, he played great and I don't think Murphy was going to do better. Ellis already gets the prime-time offensive responsbility, and Murphy wasn't going to give us a better 2-way game than what Barrie gave us.
I will fall back on my complaint that Stajcer is my OHL goalie of choice and nobody will agree with me that he should have been there.
I don't see any value in hindsighting the selections. You go through the process, and Canada is meticulous in their process, and the team that comes out of it may or may not vindicate all the selections, but I don't think you could do the process much differently. It's not just Team USA that plays big or hard, the Russians, Swedes, Finns are all playing tough hockey too, and I don't buy that Team Canada was selected just to pit against Team USA. The same values that favoured a blend of size and grit with skill over pure skill would have emerged when trying to construct an opponent for any of those teams IMHO.
Hockey Canada hates Stajcer, it was pretty clear when they took O'Hagan and Zador (lol) over him at the U18's way back when. He got hurt and struggled hard when Missy came to Owen Sound so I knew he was cooked.
Also (and not directed to Blind Gardien), to those who say it's funny how haters come out after the tourney is over... What about those who were skeptical from the start? I was certainly one. The team selection was flawed from the beginning.
My view of the team pretty much from the start was this was going to be a square peg going into a round hole... When making a team at the national level, countries should always take the best players available... Most countries lack the talent pool of Canada at the men's level so they have to take their best anyhow... And let the players fill the roles on the team, and fit the team with the system.
I don't think it was a good fit. And they spurned some fantastic offensive players with as much speed, skill, and grit as some of the other picks on the team... Too hard to say if it would make a difference, but I feel like the team was doomed from the start.