USA outplayed Canada by a considerable margin in both their meetings, and only late-third heroics even enabled Canada to get the games to OT/SO. The Americans were faster, grittier, and heartier (if that's a word) than the Canadians.....in short, they were better at being Canadians than the Canadians themselves were. They deserve this. 100%.
So what went wrong for Canada? Lots of things, but I think a lot of the buck has to stop with some decisions by the coaching staff. I know some Tigers fans are probably going to be all over me in Desjardins' defence, but the way it works when coaching Canada is that when you win you get to be the hero whether you deserve it or not, and when you lose you get to take some blame whether you deserve it or not. Is the loss all the fault of the coaches? No, but they deserve some of it so Willie needs to face some music for the way he was outcoached by Dean Blais.
For starters, the way he handled his goaltending was unacceptable. Jake Allen looked unbeatable against teams (Latvia & Switzerland) full of shooters mostly not good enough to play in the CHL. But Allen looked mortal against the USA in the round-robin and downright sieve-like last night. Blais had no problem admitting he started the wrong goalie last night - he pulled Mike Lee after Canada's 3rd goal. But Canada did not pull Allen until after his embarrassing 5th goal, when in reality he should have been gone after the 3rd USA goal as well, if not the 2nd goal.
Would Martin Jones have done better? I'm not saying he would, but the point is that he wasn't given the chance. He did give up the OT winner but it was a 4-on-1.
Secondly, some of the choices for players on the team are a little bit questionable. Hindsight is 20/20 in this regard, but you really have to question why the coaches chose Jared Cowen to be on the team when they didn't trust him enough to play him more than a few minutes a game. With Hamonic's injury, wouldn't it have been nice to have six other defencemen last night whom the coaches felt comfortable with? Instead they used five guys, with a few shifts for Cowen and a few shifts on defence for forward Brandon McMillan.
Patrice Cormier was a poor choice for captain. I didn't see any captain-like behaviour out of him in the entire tournament. Maybe he's a vocal guy in the dressing room, I don't know....but his on-ice play was not very inspiring. Why not Jordan Eberle with the "C" instead of just an "A"?
Nazem Kadri was a poor choice for the team. His only contributions were stupid penalties and multiple turnovers due to his inability to pass the puck. Wouldn't Cody Eakin have looked better in Kadri's spot?
While I'm at it.....a few other notes.....
Like Kadri, Taylor Hall is genetically incapable of passing the puck too (is that an OHL thing?). At least Hall does make something happen with it once in a while, but his watch-me-I'm-gonna-beat-all-five-opponents-twice-no-honest-this-time-its-gonna-work routine isn't going to fly with coaches in the NHL. He is tremendously skilled but needs to understand that it's not just him out there on the ice. Half the time in this tournament his linemates might as well have stood at the blueline and watched him, for all he cared about where they were.
And Alex Pietrangelo being named the tournament's top defenceman....get outta here. Who cares how the guy played against Lower East Slovenia or any of the other patsies, he was terrible against the USA, twice. Guess whose stupid decision to pinch while playing 4-on-4 with both forwards already deep led to the winning 4-on-1? Yeah, the tournament's "Best Defenceman". He wasn't even the best defenceman on Canada this year....that would probably be Hamonic.
The good....well, I already mentioned Eberle, but you can't say enough about him really. Is he the greatest player in the history of this tournament for Canada? That's debatable but the scoring numbers say yes, and certainly he is the greatest clutch player Canada has had.
I thought Brandon McMillan was outstanding as well....he was asked to play a couple different roles and he played them both excellently. And Brayden Schenn had the misfortune of having to play with No-pass Hall some of the time, but he also acquitted himself very well and should be a key player on next year's team, if he's not in the NHL.
I'm gonna stop here.....I'm sure some folks will disagree with some things I said already. 
17 comments:
I totally agree. you just said everything that i said to my wife during the game. Hall is very skilled but i lost track of how many blind passes he made in the offensive zone. looks like a learning experience for Hockey Canada. I have to wonder if some of the potential first round picks are there to promote Canadian talent and maybe they could have waited a year to be there. Good post.
one more thing I felt Kozun was a bright spot on the team and deserved more of an offensive role than he was given.
I thought Hall disappeared in the tough games. I expected more from him I guess. Yes, Eberle was clutch. Good on him.
What if Pietrangelo scored on the one-timer in OT? Everybody would be praising him and saying that the pinch was a great call. If that puck is in the net you wouldn't be calling down Alex like that.
True, but it DIDN'T go in the net and so that high-risk decision proved to be a bad one.
This wasn't a meaningless January regular season CHL game where you can justify some risky decisions. This was overtime of the gold medal game at the WJCs and I think that calls for a little more caution. Pinching is fine as long as one of the forwards is backing you up defensively, but when both forwards are deep in the offensive zone and you pinch.....you better get it right or else. And he didn't get it right.
Re "What if Pietrangelo". You miss the point. The fact is he didn't score. And that is the entire difference between being a difference maker one way, or in this case, the other. I have just returned from the World U-17's where I watched as Team Pacific, at worst the second best team there, imploded in the same questionable manner. The facts are when you are handed world beaters and mishandle them or you select whom you think are world beaters and they turn out not to be, difficult questions are asked. The flaws in players games were there under the bright lights for all to see; when the Coaches don't see it then things go awry.
I couldn't agree with you more Alan. Of all the Team Canada teams that I can remember this was the one team I did not like at all. Cormier as a captain is a joke and I dont care what Pierre Mcguire says he will be in the beer leagues in 3 years. I get sick of all this hype about Kadri. I guess he is Burke's type of player one that takes stupid penalties. Anyways Im done on my rant but keep up the great work Alan I enjoy reading your blogs
I agree the risk/reward of that play for Pieteranglo in OT is too high but I don't think he was Canada's worst. Their blueline as a whole was the issue this year
and what is all the above's coaching records?...can't wait to hear you pick apart steve yzerman if Team Canada fails to win Gold...just so you know...the guy has won almost every major title in hockey!
Key word ALMOST
Your right on point Alan! The USA was the better team. Lack of speed and ordinary goaltending killed us in the end. With the way he has played wouldn't Kevin Connaughton have helped us. It seems to me like press clippings played a part in selections. There seems to be so much politics in the process you know, fairly equal numbers from each league. Brent Sutter led us back to glory but he did it his way. If it meant mostly western guys then so be it. Now we have to be so politically correct. Hockey Canada is going to have to take a look at this because we have to get better. Over our run there have been OT wins, SO wins and other last minute heroics by Eberle. There were many points where the string could have been broken but we wiggled out every time. It came down to a one shot game last night and we can up short.
As a Pat fan it bothers me to think Eberle won't be playing in April. The guy running this franchise (into the ground) has never surrounded him with the right stuff to challenge for the League Chamionship. It would be nice to see him get a chance to bolster Calgary, Brandon, or Vancouver and have a real shot at playing in the Memorial Cup.
*Good post Alan*
yo!...not one of you said it was a great game to watch...none of you have coached or been a gm...we score in ot and none of you would say a word...take it for what it was ... a bunch of "Kids" who were deemed by the HC staff to best represent our country...put in the time, get hired by HC and then you can complain...it was fun to watch! Bottom Line!
Good post Alan, my thoughts to a tee. I would add one more point and this has to do with the coaching philosophy. I think that in a tournament this big you have to have four lines rolling, not just a select few; with the talent we have in this country they could very well be four lines of the same; and short shifts. No one should be sitting out. I feel so bad for those kids that made the team only to sit.
Great analysis Alan. Love reading your blog. Couldn't agree with you more on your comments about the OHL glamor boys trying to play keepaway with the puck.
Hockey Canada has to look at the BIG picture and pick a team that plays as a team and not as what round they were drafted in the NHL. My guess is there are a lot of these players' agents making phone calls and getting them tryouts while the "real" players are left out. Eberle was great and can score, Hall had better improve between now and the June draft, Kadri was a joke, Teubert was a pylon, Kozun plays with grit,Hamonic was reliable, goalies could have been better. I would rather have a goalie who faces 45-50 shots a night in junior playing than a guy who has a low GAA but doesn't face any shots.
One other note, Bob Mackenzie, Pierre Maguire and Gord Miller have to go. I know they are Canadians and have to root for us, but they were embarassing.
I just hope this isn't a prelude to Vancouver.
Do you think Hamonic's injury played a larger role than what has been mentioned about it? It obviously altered the defensive pairings, and Macmillan had to play a bit on the back end instead of focusing on just his main role. Even though Hamonic's role was as a shutdown guy he could also shoot the puck.
jay n.
Why was Hall playing so much in the final ? He started OT....is he the best we have to offer ? Kadri had some good hits. Not sure why he was playing with Hall (both don't pass enough).
My take on the Canada/USA games:
Canada:
Plus: Great hockey sense, tough, hard to knock off skates, move the puck well (in general minus a few players), co-ordinated attack
Minus: Skating is average, defensive coverage is average, weak goaltending and general team defense
USA:
Plus: Great speed, opportunistic (score on odd man rushes!), decent size, good athletes (based on speed and lateral skating)
Minus: Average hockey sense, can't take a hit, seemed to be mentally weak (less so in final though)
Overall: Canada is the better team but the USA was more opportunistic (Campbell made some big big saves in last 10mins of 3rd period)
Excellent analysis.
Aside from the poor coaching decisions of Team Canada, our weakest links were the massive amounts of ice time given to Hall, Kadri, Ellis and Pietrangelo.
That was awful to watch on Dec 31!!
Final game,I had to listen to the whole game on the radio during a 4 hr drive, and arrived at a TV in time to see Ebs score twice. Why the hell was he subjected to play with Hall and Kadri?
Damn selfishness of the high profile (TSN kids) from the OHL cost Canada this time.
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