As predicted.

The Canadians complain the WJC is boring because they “win every year”.

So they don’t win this year, and for some then absolute panic sets in and they wonder what’s wrong.

Posted by Primis on 01/07/10 at 09:56 AM ET

Well, ok. But a few things:
-I don’t exactly see how that article qualifies as “panic”. Perhaps Primis can explain.
-The women’s team has a distinct advantage in its recent history against the Americans. Look at the games that the teams have played against one another this season, and the Canadian team has had the Americans’ number.
-It was Team USA that beat *Team Ontario*. When Team Minnesota or Team New York manages to ice a team - never mind win a medal - in any hockey world championships - perhaps then I’ll be a little worried.

For the record though, I’m glad the Americans won, on some level. You never like to see your country lose, but I do want to see such a fantastic tournament remain competitive. It would be nice to see the Swedes win a gold medal at some point soon, too: apparently 1 million of them watched last year’s gold medal game from Ottawa on TV. And that was at 2am their time.

Posted by Josh from Whitehorse, Yukon on 01/07/10 at 11:47 AM ET

No excuse the American JR team beat the Canadian JR team and won gold, congrats! They played great.
But if these guys were playing, Tavares, Stamkos, Kane, Duchene, O’Reilly, Myers,  Del Zotto, Cody Hodgson, this tourney would be a joke. The article should mention how amazing it is for Canada to have such young players making huge impacts in the big show.
As for the U-17 it was the US select team vs each Province, not our Canada select team.
As for the Olympics, the US has some nice players and good goaltending, but we could field 2 teams with as much talent as the US.

The US has come along way and continue to generate talent, and from new areas of the US, but lets not kid ourselves, they aren’t on the same level yet.

Posted by Roboshow on 01/07/10 at 11:57 AM ET

Hockey Canada and their fans should come to the same conclusion as USA Basketball and their fans did a few years ago.

Posted by UMFan from Denver, Colorado on 01/07/10 at 11:58 AM ET

But if these guys were playing, Tavares, Stamkos, Kane, Duchene, O’Reilly, Myers, Del Zotto, Cody Hodgson, this tourney would be a joke.

Posted by Roboshow on 01/07/10 at 11:57 AM ET

And I suppose the US could have played Zach Bogosian…. what-if’s and could-have’s don’t really cut it.

By the way, no more complaining about Brett Hull and Jason Pominville when Canada has no problem whatsoever claiming the Texas-born Myers…

Posted by Primis on 01/07/10 at 01:11 PM ET

Bogosian, great young player no question, but come on man, look at the players Canada has under 20 making huge impacts in the NHL.
You forgot to include Hedman for Sweden.

The team you put on the ice is the team, so like I said, congrats to the US, but when you look at top talent under 20, Canada is still far ahead.

I don’t know one Canadian who complains about Brett Hull, we always thought he was a prick, goal scorer or not, I didn’t want him playing for our country. Pominville? oh no not Pominville, what will Canada do!

Posted by Roboshow from Calgary on 01/07/10 at 01:38 PM ET

I think UMFan hit the nail on the head.  I don’t question that for sheer number of great hockey players, Canadians lead the world.  But, the gap has closed significantly and it seems that, in any given tournament, another country can ice a team that’s a significant threat to the Canadian squad.  This is exactly what USA basketball has gone through.  The NBA is still the premier league and the majority of the top talent comes from the US in basketball, but we’re no longer as dominant as we once were.

I’m excited about the upcoming Olympic tournament.  I think the US squad will struggle to get to medal contention, but I think that Sweden and Russia are just about equal threats to Canadian gold.  Even the Czechs and Slovaks could put together a good enough run to surprise some people.

Posted by J.J. from Kansas on 01/07/10 at 01:43 PM ET

I don’t know one Canadian who complains about Brett Hull, we always thought he was a prick, goal scorer or not, I didn’t want him playing for our country. Pominville? oh no not Pominville, what will Canada do!

Posted by Roboshow from Calgary on 01/07/10 at 01:38 PM ET

The accusation has always been that the US has to “steal” Canadian-born players in order to remain competitive.

I just find it incredibly amusing then when Canadians are then fine when they “steal” a hulking d-man and claim him as their own.

Posted by Primis on 01/07/10 at 01:45 PM ET

Ok, we’ll just have to take your word for it that lots of Canadians have always complained about the US ‘stealing’ Brett Hull, Primis from the Internet.

I agree with UMFan, but I don’t think making that point is really covering new ground. From where I sit, it feels like the rest of the world caught up to Canada a long, long time ago - starting in around 1972, actually. I mean, are the Czechs really sneaking up on anyone if they do well in Vancouver? For Pete’s sake, they won the first NHL-approved Olympic gold medal!

I actually think that Canada went through the USA-basketball-like-crash well before the Americans went through their basketball crash. Europeans playing in the NHL was commonplace *well* before Europeans (and South Americans, and Asians) playing in the NBA was. And European/USA teams were very competitive in best-on-best tournaments in hockey well before European (and South American, and Asian) teams were anywhere near competitive with Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Shaq and Kobe, when they wore the stars and stripes.

I mean - hello! - Canada *didn’t medal* in two of the last three Olympic men’s hockey tournaments. That Canada can no longer claim dominance over international hockey is nothing new. I don’t understand why people are acting as though it is.

Posted by Josh from Whitehorse, Yukon on 01/07/10 at 02:00 PM ET

I don’t understand why people are acting as though it is.

Because of writers like Damien Cox and Joe O’Connor

You make a good point that international parity in hockey has been around longer than it has in basketball.  It just seems as though some of your sportswriters never got that message and every time a Canadian team fails to win a major international tournament, it’s the same old “guess we have to accept that the gap is closing” stuff that gets written about.

Posted by J.J. from Kansas on 01/07/10 at 02:08 PM ET

Yeah, you’re right. And it frustrates me to see that all over the media, too. I guess maybe the WJHC is a special case, in some way, though? It’s easy to fall into cockiness about a tournament when you’ve had two separate runs of five golds in a row in the last 15 or 20 years.

With the Olympics, I think you’ll see nervousness more than cockiness, though. There was a time - during the run up to the 1998 and 2002 games, I’d say, when the Canadian media’s take on the situation was sort of like, “Well, we have Gretzky and Brodeur and Yzerman and Lemieux… I mean, you just can’t beat that team, right?” And they’d forget to consider that, oh yeah, the other teams have some guys who can skate and score and stop the puck, too. (This is very similar to how TSN treats the World Jrs, too - they totally hype the Canadian team, and for the most part present the other teams as faceless pawns…) I don’t think you’ll see that so much in the run-up to, or during the tournament in, Vancouver this time. People here are very worried about the Russian team, and not what I would call overconfident about the Canadian team - especially the goaltending end of it.

Posted by Josh from Whitehorse, Yukon on 01/07/10 at 02:21 PM ET

There was the exact same reaction when the US won the World Cup in 1996. It was the end of the world as some Canadians new it. Had to regroup, reorganize and thump the chest even harder. Whether anyone wants to accept it or not, the US will be the largest hockey playing country in the world, it may take 10 to 20 years but the numbers cannot be denied. The US has barely scratched the surface in creating hockey players and participation.  What has lagged is coaching techniques and getting rid of the 1980 syndrome so prevalent in USA Hockey. They have cherished the underdog role for 30 years. This junior team is the first time that mentality was broken, the bottom line while the games were close the reality is Team USA outplayed Canada. Canada had to use every bit of the home ice advantage and determination to even stay in the games.  This tournament win was not a fluke win, the US was better.

Posted by Timbits on 01/07/10 at 10:05 PM ET

Like others have said, I agree with UMFan as well. The gap on all levels is changing. Countries are known for certain sports, but that does not mean they are invincible. The gap will only get smaller thanks to technology..

Posted by Flyerz from Philly on 01/08/10 at 08:44 PM ET