After another early exit from the U20 World Junior Championship, Team Canada is under the microscope of a nation that expected more. The goal is always Gold, but the expectation of such is waning as hockey grows throughout the rest of the world. What has caused the team to fail? Was it simply a matter of a weaker class of players this year, or are there some larger issues holding the program back? How can Canada return to glory?
There are many potential answers and concerns to these questions, especially within the minutiae. Criticism over which players were selected exist, as well as some doubts that the right coaching staff was chosen. There have been well-documented concerns about the state of goaltending development in the country, though Carter George was hardly the issue in this year’s tournament.
Aligning all these issues is a through line. Like any sports organization the highest structures are largely unseen, though poor decisions and comportment from the highest levels inevitably trickle down to the players, dysfunction finding a way to rear its ugly head. Let’s take a big-picture look at the failings of Hockey Canada and how that fits within the state of the game itself.
Organizational failings
To say little of the toxic culture that Hockey Canada has aided and abetted over the decades, which is a much more serious conversation, the heinous scandals revealed in recent years cast a gloom on everything. Included here is a look at how the very top of this organization thinks and operates. Amidst the revelation involving the 2018 team, sponsors pulling the rug on the team, and the whole country turning against the organization, Hockey Canada was reluctant to admit fault or take accountability, instead squirming to avoid change, even defiant during their court appearances.
Though some fallout occurred, executives replaced and such, the hubris seeping down from the very top was clear to see. To some extent, this was reflected throughout this tournament. This might even be seen in how the public views Canada and their place on the world stage. When Canada lost to Latvia it was seen as a shocking upset. Latvia would go on to play every other top opponent tough, showing that their effort and result against Canada was no fluke.
Hockey Canada, and quite frankly Canadians in general, need to accept that things are changing. More and more countries around the world are developing hockey talent, and that is a great thing. Yes, Canadians should want their team to win, and should not have to feel guilty about that fact. As such a core piece of national identity, this is a sensitive issue. Hockey Canada wears blame as a major contributor to the worst collateral behaviours of the game in this country, and far more blame than the teenagers who played in this tournament.
Global tapestry
Alas, it is the beauty of the game that inspires this global growth. Instead of feeling entitled or insecure, this should be a point of pride for Canadian hockey fans. Hockey began on the East Coast, a collaboration between the people of this land. From the Irish who might have been adapting hurling to ice, to the Mi’kmaq who made the first hockey sticks, to the Coloured Hockey League of the Maritimes innovating the game in the late 1800s, hockey is a collaboration that is and always has belonged to the world. It is built and grown together, a gift to be shared. Canadians would do well to remember that, regardless of how well the national team performs.
More directly related to the tournament, Hockey Canada needs to start respecting the game more. Perhaps it is karmic justice that the program suffers, and that is not on the current players. Every person is subject to interpersonal politics, and no organization is free from scandal, but Hockey Canada cannot afford to let that dictate their roster selections in the future. With the NCAA eligibility changing in the years ahead, it will become more common for players to leave the CHL, and Hockey Canada clearly does not have the luxury of excluding those players from their teams on that basis.
In the 1972 Summit Series, it was the USSR Red Army team that played a revolutionary and cohesive team game, the Canadians relying more on individual skills. This might have been inevitable for a team of all-stars, but despite their ultimate victory, Canada would acknowledge the effectiveness of their opponent’s strategies. It takes humility and strength to do so, instead of arrogance and hubris to resist it. The game, and Canada’s quality of play, was better off for being challenged and accepting that, rather than dismissing other nations as incapable.
On a smaller scale, picking a team that would succeed in the gruelling attrition of the NHL playoffs is not the same as picking a team for a World Junior tournament. Moreover, deploying those selected in more appropriate ways is also crucial. It was the Czechs who came through in the clutch moments more often. It was the Americans who played with more skill and speed. It was the Latvians who played more as a team.
Several key players were not selected to the roster that provided the very offensive skills that eluded the team, from skilled forwards Andrew Crystall and Beckett Sennecke, most egregiously Zayne Parekh who would have been a tailor-made fit as the power play quarterback. Canada has enough depth that player selection is doomed to be contentious, but once more a reevaluation of priorities and identity is needed.
Bottom line
Hockey Canada should take an honest look at themselves and their practices, perhaps even show some humility in looking at their competitors. The good news is that this recent loss is the perfect time to look within. Canada will have better results at the tournament in the years ahead, but the era of perennially being overwhelming favourites is gone. It is only through embracing this realization, by channelling the true spirit of the game that a healthy pride in this aspect of national identity can be re-established. The results will follow if the required work is done in earnest.
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