What the fuck is wrong with Team Canada (mens hockey)?

[Doc Holliday]

I do feel that it is partly Gretzky's fault for choosing many players that don't deserve to be there. But time will tell.

The problem seems to be with slow defencemen. The offense is okay if the defencemen would be quicker and get them the puck. So, my question to you: "outside of Dan Boyle, who would you have picked to play defense in place of the ones they already have in place?"

I consider Canada's batch of defencemen to be average at best. I mean, IN ALL OF THE NHL, not just at the Olympics. That's what happens when you've put too much emphasis on larger players over the last 20 years...especially on defense. Europeans countries have been emphasizing quickness and playmaking for what seems forever.

 

[hornyanglo66]

I would 100% support those amateur athletes who play for the love of the game and lose than these spoiled assholes who play for their pocketbook. Play great in the olympics and increase your market value.

Heros of society who snort their coke and inject their 'roids (but its only for good looking hair...) and are just assholes. Wake up and smell the roses. It's a disgrace that our tax dollars were spent to send these guys to the olympics. BRING BACK AMATEUR SPORT. Remember that the olympics it was supposd to be a celebration of amateur sport....

If the plane of stars went down on the way home I would not shed a tear.

 

[Techman]

I would 100% support those amateur athletes who play for the love of the game and lose than these spoiled assholes who play for their pocketbook. Play great in the olympics and increase your market value.

Heros of society who snort their coke and inject their 'roids (but its only for good looking hair...) and are just assholes. Wake up and smell the roses. It's a disgrace that our tax dollars were spent to send these guys to the olympics. BRING BACK AMATEUR SPORT. Remember that the olympics it was supposd to be a celebration of amateur sport....

If the plane of stars went down on the way home I would not shed a tear.

The only players that play for the love of the game are kids. From junior level up, they are playing for future fame and fortune. There are no amateurs in sports where there is a possible future of earning millions in a professional league. If you want the Olympics to go back to a purely amateur basis then all sports with professional levels should be eliminated from the games.

 

[Reppy]

oh and btw, change of subject, Pronger is really HORRID so far... I wish Phaneuf made the team, of is Boyle played rather than sit on the taxi squad...

 

[hornyanglo66]

I don't believe the women are playing for fortune... fame, sure but all amateur athletes from all olympics were doing that.

 

[spin]

Getting off of Team Canada (who didn't play very well today in win over the Czechs) and on to amateur athletes for a minute, IMHO "amature" athletes don't really exist anymore. Sure there are a few cases of obscure sports like luge, nordic combined, and I guess curling but in most of the other sports it would be tough to find and actual amateur.

Look at alpine skiing although most of these guys/girls aren't millionairs by NHL standards they sure aren't amateurs, the NCAA wouldn't allow Jeremy Bloom to play football for Colorado because of the money he earned from Skiing (which was ridiculous by the way, some day someone is going to slap the NCAA with a multi billion dollar lawsuit and they deserve to loose every penny).

Shaun White (Gold Medal Half Pipe) is a Pro snowboarder (and pro skateboarder - take that Bo Jackson) who makes one hell of a lot more money than most of us.

Bode Miller (no medals but lots of press) I'm sure gets more than all the pasta he can eat for giving up that prime realestate to Barrilla on his helmet.

The Summer Olympics are no better with Tennis (Andy Roddick), Basketball(Dream Team), and Soccer (Beckam) just to name a few.

The Olympics could not survive as an ALL AMATEUR GAMES anymore the world just doesn't have any amateur athletes left, so lets not pick on the hockey players too much just because WE have decided to pay them more. Yes thats right WE decided to make hockey players millionairs and everyone who ever bought a $55.00 NHL Team baseball cap or a $110.00 ticket to watch the Canadiens vs Panthers on a Tuesday night in November or an Authentic $150.00 Replica Jersey helped.

One final thought, I may have erred in a previous post when I stated that Gretzky hasn't been a distraction to Team Canada, the following was overheard in the dressing room after the 2-0 loss to Finland:

Joe Sakic (captain Team Canada): "Hey Nasher, what the hell were you thinking on that breakaway?"

Rick Nash: "I don't know man, I looked up in the stands to find Wayne to give me some guidance and he was making these crazy up/down motions with his hands, I didn't know if he meant go high or five hole or what??"

Sakic: "Ahhh man, that wasn't for you Wayne was trying to signal Janet to take Latvia plus the points in the 2 man skeleton."

Nash: "Damn he's really becoming a distraction out here, by the way I know a guy who's giving Canada 2 "Rocks" against the Swiss in womens Curling at 5 to 1 - You'd have to be nuts not to take a piece of that action."

Vincent LeCavalier: "Shit, hey guys keep it down Dick Pound is on his way over here."

Sakic: "Would someone please get Ricky Williams the hell out of here!"

 

[spin]

I do see your point femaleluver2, but todays amateur athletes are not passing up on millions of dollars to play "for the love of the game" they simply (and unfortunatly I guess) excel in sports that are not capable of making them millionairs.

My point really is that I don't think we should regard these athletes as any better moraly because they don't make millions or that they play simply for the love of sport more than other proffesional athletes as I would argue that they are amateurs by circumstance rather than by choice.

My question to you guys (oops and girls) is would you rather watch the best in the world compete in there respective sports or would you be more interested in watching the best "amateurs" in the world compete?

If you would prefer to watch only amateurs would you then remove all Olympic sports where the best in the world happen to be proffessionals or leave those sports in the games and watch "true amateurs" compete in them? I am very interested in the response on this, personally I would prefer to watch the best in the world compete regardless of their income level.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Canada Out With 2-0 Loss to Russia

Another 2-0 shutout loss for Canada today to Russia, sending them out of the tournament. No medal for Canada in men's hockey.

What happened? Three shutout losses in four games? What's up with that?

To me, this was the hockey gods' punishment of Canada for not selecting Crosby and Staal to the team. When you keep getting shut out by inferior goaltending and defense, something is not right!

 

[spin]

What happened? Three shutout losses in four games? What's up with that?

Well EagerBeaver this is just not acceptable up here in the land of touques and strippers!

I am at a loss for words to be honest - defense looked slow lazy and old, guys up front had no chemistry, hockey gods may well have knocked Gretzky on his ass for not putting Crosby on the team, Pat Quinn had no business coaching this team.

 

[gohabsgo]

Well EagerBeaver this is just not acceptable up here in the land of touques and strippers!

I am at a loss for words to be honest - defense looked slow lazy and old, guys up front had no chemistry, hockey gods may well have knocked Gretzky on his ass for not putting Crosby on the team, Pat Quinn had no business coaching this team.

Agree 100% - an absolute disgrace

 

[Darcy]

First of all, I don't think professional hockey players should be allowed to compete at the Olympics. That goes for both the NHL and the NBA. It goes against the Olympic ideals. I enjoyed Olympic hockey much more when amateurs competed for the gold.

Second, you take a bunch of star players and throw them together in a tournament with minimal practice time, and this is what is likely to happen. Sure, you can say all teams were in the same boat, but the teams that will play for the gold will be the teams that meshed together over this short period, not necessarily the better teams or better talent. Given the circumstances, among which is the very short preparation period and little time to adapt to the larger ice surface, I don't think that there is any shame in losing.

 

[Techman]

When the team roster was first announced they said that they wanted to go with players with international world cup and Olympic experience as they knew what it took to get the job done. What they ended up with were a bunch of jaded "been there, done that" players with absolutely no fire to win.
They would have been better off with young players who would have enjoyed the Olympic experience instead of going out with their families wining and dining thinking that they were unbeatable. All I can hope for now is that the people who picked this team will be kept far away from the next Olympic selection committee. And I can take consolation in the fact that Bertuzzi won't be walking around with a gold medal around his neck.

Other than that, we have surpased our previous total medal count and should take pride in that. Plus we should win a few more before the end of the games.

 

[Lawless]

Shame

EB
You are right....look at who got the last two penalties for Canada!!!!
No chemistry at all.....those guys believed they were on hollidays!
Not playing for their country at all!!!.....Why did they go in the first place?
No leader.....Brodeur..a good goaltender but far far away from a leader! Who else? Still searching!!!!

 

[CryWolf]

One word : OVERCONFIDENCE.

It reminds me of the USA in basketball and Brasil in soccer when they play on the international stage.

 

[hornyanglo66]

Just as I said these people can never look beyond a paycheck and realize that there is no 'I' in 'TEAM' (hey, maybe I should copyright that phrase...). I am glad they lost and that the women showed them how it's supposed to be. The women would go to the ends of the earth for each other but the men??? HA.

Time to get rid of the old guard in hockey Canada and bring in fresh young blood. I bet you Crosby would have been busting his ass out there day in and day out for the Olympics. These thugs we sent on our tax-paying dime were too busy wondering what italian SP they could get tonight instead of focusing on why we sent them there.

Make them pay their own way back. With how they played all tournament they're a complete disgrace to our great hockey country.

 

[steak]

I am so happy

Yes I am happy. Even though I really thought this team could win the gold, I must I agree 100$ with EB. You have to pick your BESTS players. That being said, Tanguay, Staal, Spezza, Phaneuf, Savard (not so sure about this one), Crosby, Patrice Bergeron (not impressive stats but if you want a solid two way player better than Draper), Marleau and even Kariya (Instead of the regularly mentionned Draper, Bertuzzi, Doan, Blake, St-Louis...). Was Boyle on the reserve team? Should have started. I would have feel safer with M-A Bergeron as D instead of Blake who stinks this year. Of course I made a mistake, I thought McCabe would rule, but far from it... OOOps.

I hope it teach a lesson to Gretzky to never let his friendships come in the way of his primary mandate. He always had a tendencies of chosing friends over a better player. And Quinn as a coach? What did he do to deserve that? Never agreed with that one and never will. Even in 2002 when we won the gold. Anyway, I will never be happy with any slection unless it's mine... and that will never happen.

 

[steak]

femaleluver

I agree with most of your post but the presence of 4 rookies. Rookies that are in the caliber of Staal (not a rookie anymore), Crosby and Phaneuf aren't ordinary rookies. They are already the best players of their respective teams. Anyone who has seen them play know how good they are. They are young. They are hungry. They haven't been spoiled byt their millions yet. It was THE TIME to bring them. You have to chose the players that are on fire... Now, they lost an excellent opportunity to acquire that experience that is so dear in Gretzky's eyes.

 

[RandyOne]

end of a talent cycle ???

The fact is, guys, that the playing field has now been levelled. The fact is that perhaps the best 2 future snipers in the world are non-Canadians, Ovechkin and Kovalchuk. The fact is that Canada might just be at the end of a ''talent cycle''[\quote]

Ummmm ... Heatley, Spezza, Staal, Crosby, Thornton, Tanguay, Gagne, etc ... there's some under-25 (ish) scoring punch - at the NHL level at least.

Lest we forget Mikey Ribeiro HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Anyway - I don't agree that there is a talent problem AT ALL with canadian hockey. These guys just simply didn't get it done. In the end you have to give a shit and these guys apparently didn't. THAT's what sucks.

Crosby is still a whiny little fucker and wouldn't have helped anything. Perhaps if a finger is to be pointed, it should be pointed at Quinn and at Gretzky for selecting him. BUT quinn did have Martin and Hitchcock who ashould have x'ed and o'ed everything to perfection.

In the end, it didn't happen and the famed canadian "heart" was nowhere to be seen. Nobidy showed up except Brodeur (and Luongo).

I'm sure as they're sipping their $500 champagne on the airplane back to north america they'll at least consider thinking about how they let us all down by not trying.

Let's turn this in another unfortunate direction though: Mark Streit got another goal today and he's STILL going to suck when he comes back. Koivu, Markov, and Kovalev are playing their asses off ... but the habs will still suck.

Oh well, life's a bitch - that's why we love hockey, right?

Randy Out

 

[joelcairo]

Simple explanation guys: we burned the toast because we used the wrong slices of bread. They aren't making Howes or Messiers anymore!

 

[Doc Holliday]

Whether or not Canada won a medal is now irrelevant. One thing i'll say: "Tomorrow's final between Sweden and Finland is great for hockey." Two great rivalries who've never played one another for the gold medal. Two teams in this version's Olympic games who've played with a lot of heart and passion throughout. They are deserving of the honor of playing in the BIG game.

As for Canada....well, i don't think anyone not named to the team would have made much of a difference. Same with coaching...let's face it, Quinn isn't necessarily to blame. Hitch and Martin have as much say in the team's strategy as Quinn. He relies on them a lot, as he should...it worked in the past. Plus, Quinn had to operate with the players he was given, and with not much time to practice together prior to heading over to Turin, strategizing hasn't always been easy.

No, i think we should use this as a positive since it will allow Canada to regroup and finally admit that the European & Scandinavian game has surpassed the Canadian game in terms of skill and talent. Four years ago, Canada wasn't faring much better in the preliminary round as they were this time around. What saved them was winning the gold against the US. Losing was the wake-up call that the European and Scandinavian countries needed to revamp their national programs. Now it'll be Canadana and the USA's turn.

I'd keep the pros in the Olympics. Just because Canada and the USA failed this time around doesn't mean that the whole idea hasn't been a resounding success. Tell the Finns and Swedes that these Olympics haven't been a success. They'll suggest that you go and get your head checked. Also, i still remember the days of amateur hockey at the Olympics vividly. Except for the fluke of the Miracle on Ice in 1980, the whole thing was a joke! The Soviets fielded a team of near-professionals who weren't allowed to play in North America, and they consistently would easily win the gold over a bunch of amateurs. It was boring and a sham!! The Olympics should have the best players each country has to offer, and whether or not they play professionally is irrelevant. Same goes with many other sports in the Olympics, including curling and basketball. There's nothing more enjoyable than watching the Dream Team getting beaten by a bunch of nobodies from Europe!