Why did Canada fail at 2006 Olympics?

[User9992]

What was the reason Canada failed at 2006 Olympics?

Roster selection mistakes? Bad coaching? Absence of Niedermeyer & Crosby? Wrong goalie starting? Or just a bad luck?

Why did Canada fail in 2006 Olympics? What was the rehind that failure?

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[Langdon Alger]

They left Gretzky on the bench

 

[McRpro]

They left Gretzky on the bench

In 2006, that was not a bad thing lol. They didn't even take him!

 

[Langdon Alger]

In 2006, that was not a bad thing lol. They didn't even take him!

I was trying to make a joke

 

[jcs0218]

I think the roster selection was okay. They took a lot of the best Canadian offensive talents at the time. It is true that they took a couple of "plumbers". But that strategy had worked for them in the 2004 World Cup, when they dominated that tournament.

Niedermayer's absence did hurt, because Team Canada didn't have many defensemen in 2006 capable of quick transition and skating like Niedermayer.

Ultimately, I think the biggest explanation is that their forwards all got cold at the same time. The talent level was there for them to not get shut-out 3 times in the tournament.

Maybe there was poor chemistry amongst the players? I don't know.

But they took many of the players considered Canada's top offensive weapons at the time.

 

[Petey But Really Jim]

In before Bertuzzi

 

[missinthejets]

I seem to recall they took too many slow guys to a big ice tournament.

 

[Flair Hay]

A lot of their talent did not translate their game well to the big ice as I remember it

People were calling Pronger a bag of shit before he dominated playoffs that year from his Olympic performance

 

[HF007]

Too many grinders and “good ol Canadian boys”

Kris Draper
Shane Doan
Ryan Smythe
Robin Regehr

Are you kidding me?

Sub in

Crosby
Kariya
Marleau
Shanahan

 

[Sweetpotato]

If I remember correctly they picked as if they were picking an NHL team instead of the best team. So they brought a bunch of penalty killers and grit guys instead of picking the best team and placing players in positions of strength.

 

[MessierII]

Martin Gerber stood on his head

 

[jcs0218]

If I remember correctly they picked as if they were picking an NHL team instead of the best team. So they brought a bunch of penalty killers and grit guys instead of picking the best team and placing players in positions of strength.

Plus or minus a few players, they picked the same team that dominated the 2004 World Cup.

Maybe the big ice had a factor? I don't know.

I do think their defensemen were lacking in the areas of puck-moving and mobility. This can lead to the offense become stagnant.

But if you look at their roster, they were loaded with offensive talent that should have been able to score more than they did.

Chemistry issues? Too many players got cold at the same time?

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

The World Cup is not the Olympics. Two years is a lot of time in terms of hockey longevity. Dumb ass old boys picking the team.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

The management team f***ed up and didn't pick the best possible team for the big ice. Had the tournament been played on NHL arenas Canada would have done much better.

Some of the decision were laughable no matter how you look at it. They left a lot of great players out only to pick sandpaper.

 

[bobholly39]

They should have had Crosby, for starters. Ridiculous they didn't. Crosby was young, would he have been the difference maker? I don't know. We do know his track record internationally, so it's possible. But not having him was just stupid.

It's a case of Team Canada trying to outsmart themselves. When you see an obvious choice, just make it.

 

[NyQuil]

Too many grinders and “good ol Canadian boys”

Kris Draper
Shane Doan
Ryan Smythe
Robin Regehr

Are you kidding me?

Sub in

Crosby
Kariya
Marleau
Shanahan

Some of these guys won back-to-back World Championships on the big ice.

A bigger factor in my mind was Gretzky promising spots to guys before the season even started, the most famous example being Todd Bertuzzi.

Instead of playing the guys who were actually producing in the NHL, they left them on the taxi squad (e.g. Spezza and Crosby).

IIRC, it was intended to be Joe Thornton's team, but he flubbed pretty hard with 3 points in 6 games.

But the easy answer is that they lost in a close game to the Russians.

 

[Hanji]

Other teams were better.

 

[Mickey Marner]

It was an odd mishmash of players rather than a cohesive team. They didn't do a great job of bridging the generational gap of players entering and exiting their prime. Injuries on defense didn't help, but that team wasn't going to medal regardless.

 

[amnesiac]

cus thats whats happens in one game elimination games sometimes

they also tried to play a North American game on international ice

 

[Bustedprospect]

Defence were really not skilled enough and too slow on the big ice, Pronger looked like pylon but from I remember there where far worse d-men in that group.

Canada did not have a well balanced team. It was very obvious even against lesser nations like the Swiss.

There were a lot of discussion about the taxi squad as well. Lots of great player left out like Crosby.

Also some nations had strong teams and played extremely well. So competition to win were harsh.

 

[86Habs]

Crosby and Staal (even more so) would have helped, but the biggest issue was defense. No Niedermayer. Pronger and Blake were playing injured. McCabe was garbage and only there because of Quinn. Regehr and Foote were poorly-suited for the larger ice surface (not to mention Foote was past his best-before date). Bouwmeester was our best defenseman, which not ideal obviously. Boyle (the closest replacement for Niedermayer at the time) was left on the taxi squad. The forwards wear a lot of the blame for not generating anything offensively once they actually got to the o-zone, but that team’s transition game was very very weak with few capable puck movers.

 

[lawrence]

They built this team to way the built the 98 team. They prioritized Seniority, over choosing the best players regardless of age (the 2002 team built this way)

We had St.Louis Draper doan , Ryan smyth? Make the team over ….

Eric staal (had a 100 point season in 06)
Crosby (had 102 points in 06)
Jason spezza (had 90 points in 68 games) however dan heatly made it.
Dion phanuef (50’point season)

Canada didn’t dress their best players. They really didn’t. we could have had a young dynamic team instead we went for older players again and it bit us in the ass.

 

[JackSlater]

They failed because they didn't play well while the opposition played better. Brodeur was good but the defence and forwards didn't play that well. It wasn't really a case of a team playing well but losing in a one game elimination setting. There could have been some more speed at forward but those forwards were easily good enough to win with. Crosby always gets trotted out and he would have been more valuable than Bertuzzi (the worst forward selection) or Doan but he really increased his scoring after the team was already selected. Some combination of Staal, Kariya, Marleau, and Crosby would have improved things.

The bigger problem was defence. Niedermayer missing was huge, and Pronger, who was never a great fit internationally, played through a foot injury I believe. Canada's other defencemen were not a good fit for the larger ice surface regardless of how well they played in the NHL. Having Boyle on the taxi squad while Foote, Blake, Regehr, and McCabe played was a big mistake.

 

[86Habs]

They built this team to way the built the 98 team. They prioritized Seniority, over choosing the best players regardless of age (the 2002 team built this way)

We had St.Louis Draper doan , Ryan smyth? Make the team over ….

Eric staal (had a 100 point season in 06)
Crosby (had 102 points in 06)
Jason spezza (had 90 points in 68 games) however dan heatly made it.
Dion phanuef (50’point season)

Canada didn’t dress their best players. They really didn’t. we could have had a young dynamic team instead we went for older players again and it bit us in the ass.

I agree with the sentiment but it’s odd that you singled out St Louis and Heatley. They’d both make any team I’d put together at the time.

Out - Bertuzzi, Doan, Smyth, Draper
In - Kariya, Staal, Crosby, Marleau

 

[86Habs]

They failed because they didn't play well while the opposition played better. Brodeur was good but the defence and forwards didn't play that well. It wasn't really a case of a team playing well but losing in a one game elimination setting. There could have been some more speed at forward but those forwards were easily good enough to win with. Crosby always gets trotted out and he would have been more valuable than Bertuzzi (the worst forward selection) or Doan but he really increased his scoring after the team was already selected. Some combination of Staal, Kariya, Marleau, and Crosby would have improved things.

The bigger problem was defence. Niedermayer missing was huge, and Pronger, who was never a great fit internationally, played through a foot injury I believe. Canada's other defencemen were not a good fit for the larger ice surface regardless of how well they played in the NHL. Having Boyle on the taxi squad while Foote, Blake, Regehr, and McCabe played was a big mistake.

I’ve always wondered what was going through Sakic’s and Blake’s heads when Bertuzzi was named to the team after attempting to kill one of their teammates