An Opportunity Wasted
Canada opened the tournament with a dominant 4-0 win against Finland but followed it up with a surprising shootout loss to Latvia. In that game, Canada took an early 1-0 lead but then sat back, seemingly coasting as if the game was already won. Latvia, gaining confidence, continued to press. A troubling pattern emerged: Canada would build momentum only to lose it due to needless penalties. Latvia capitalized, scoring twice on the power play to force overtime and eventually win in the shootout.
Fast forward to New Year's Eve against the United States. Canada once again shot itself in the foot with selfish, undisciplined penalties. A skilled American team took full advantage, punishing Canada for every mistake.
In my opinion, this failure falls on head coach Dave Cameron. A coach’s job is to ensure their message resonates with the players, and when it doesn’t, accountability is necessary. Canada brought a full roster to the tournament, yet some players never saw a single minute of ice time. The team struggled to score throughout the tournament. If you took a shot every time Gord Miller said, “Shot wide by Canada,” you’d have blacked out—the shots simply weren’t on target.
Dave Cameron tried to set players up for success, but when the results weren’t there, his job was to make adjustments. Unfortunately, those adjustments came too late. It wasn’t until the second period last night that Coach Cameron put Easton Cowan on a line with MacKenna. Once they were paired, that line began creating real problems for Czechia.
Another area that demands scrutiny is the team selection process. Jeff O’Neill summed it up well during the postgame show when he referenced Team Canada’s approach during the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Back then, Canada took the best players in their positions and asked them to fulfill specific roles. First-line centers and wingers played bottom-six roles because that’s what was needed to win. This Junior team, however, selected role players from their club teams and expected them to become goal scorers. That approach simply doesn’t work.
Several highly skilled players were left off this year’s roster, and the question is: why?
- Beckett Sennecke (Oshawa Generals) was named OHL Player of the Month yesterday. In December, he tallied 9 goals and 13 assists for 22 points in just 8 games. Despite 52 points in 31 games this season, he wasn’t selected for Team Canada.
- Andrew Cristall (Kelowna Rockets), a left winger, has racked up 57 points in 26 WHL games this season. He watched the tournament from home.
- Michael Misa (Saginaw Spirit), a center, has an incredible 64 points in 33 games but wasn’t on the roster.
- Zayne Parekh (Saginaw Spirit), a 6-foot, 185-pound right-shot defenseman, has 12 goals and 29 assists for 41 points. His size and offensive ability could have bolstered both the penalty kill and power play, yet he, too, was left out.
These omissions highlight the flawed decision-making process. Jeff O’Neill’s argument for always taking the best players available couldn’t be clearer.
This tournament was a wasted opportunity. In light of the horrifying sexual assault scandals surrounding Hockey Canada, this event was a chance to shift the focus back to the game in a positive way, even if only briefly. Playing on home ice, with a passionate crowd rooting for these young athletes to win gold, should have been a moment of redemption. Instead, the team’s poor performance has once again shone a spotlight on the deep flaws within the organization.
That said, it’s great to see nations like Latvia making the knockout rounds and the Czech Republic advancing to the final four. It demonstrates that hockey is growing worldwide and that the tournament is becoming more competitive. But it also shows that hockey may no longer be “Canada’s Game.” Right now, it belongs to others, and Canada needs to earn it back.
Until Hockey Canada makes the right decisions and puts the proper people in place, we’ll continue to fall behind in our national sport.
Thanks for reading.
Comments
Post a Comment