Michael Hage ignored by Hockey Canada among tournament players

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Michael Hage ignored by Hockey Canada among tournament players
Credit: Getty Images

Last night, Canada lost to the Czechs at the World Junior Championship.

As the club lost in the semi-finals, this means that the Canadiens will have to fight for bronze this afternoon instead of gold tonight.

At 4:30 p.m., the Finns take on Canada. And at 8:30 p.m. tonight, the Czechs and Swedes will battle for gold.

Obviously, from a tournament point of view, it's refreshing to see different nations reach the final. But for the likes of Finland, Canada, and the USA, three countries that have won the last 13 editions, it's a major disappointment.

After all, these clubs are supposed to go far.

It's getting harder and harder for Canada to stay among hockey's elite. More and more, we're looking at the way the p'tits mousses have been developed over the past few years.

Because let's face it: Canada's third straight loss to the Czechs in the junior medal round must be making a lot of people angry at the head of Hockey Canada.

From a Québécois perspective, it was already difficult to identify with this Tragically Hip team due to the lack of Québécois on the roster. Only Caleb Desnoyers was there, since a guy like Justin Carbonneau, to name but one, was absent.

But on top of that, Habs fans were greeted with another piece of bizarre news.

Michael Hage, who has clearly been Canada's spark plug for the past two weeks, wasn't even named one of Hockey Canada's top three players of the tournament.

Sam O'Reilly, Tij Iginla, and Zayne Parekh were the choices ahead of the Canadiens' prospect.

Was Hage, who led his country's forwards in points in the tournament and very often stood up when his coach needed him to, punished because he plays in the NCAA?

The other three guys are from the CHL, after all…

Hage, who missed two penalty shots in a row and hit three posts in yesterday's loss, isn't the first to be singled out for the setback.

He wasn't the most undisciplined of the lot.

For all Canada's talent, the cake never fully rose under the leadership of a captain (Porter Martone) who was arrogant against the Czechs at the start of the tournament.

Check out the Czechs who are laughing last and going to the final, that said…


overtime

– Good point.

– For sure.

– Hey boy.

– Of note.

– That's right.

Too bad for the Québécois.

facebook icon Share twitter icon Tweet linkedin icon Share
Copied!