Team Canada Jr: it doesn’t make any sense

Maxime Truman
Team Canada Jr: it doesn’t make any sense
Credit: Getty Images

Sorry for the lack of foreplay this morning; I just don't have the time.

It just doesn't make cr*ss sense! For the third year in a row, Team Canada Junior has been eliminated by the Czech Republic. The losers have been saying for a few hours now that, at least this year, Canada was eliminated in the semifinals, not the quarterfinals.

That at least this year, the Canadian team might have a chance to go home with a (bronze) medal.

Sorry, but I don't buy that. Canada has to fight for gold every year. Period!

Sure, there will be years when you're beaten by a nation like the Russians (when they come back), the Swedes or the Americans… but losing three years in a row to the Czech Republic, that can't happen, no!

To me, the Czech Republic isn't one of the big five hockey nations (Canada, USA, Sweden, Finland, and Russia); it's a distant second.

Canada is a hockey country with a population of over 41 million. The Czech Republic? Yes, hockey is important there, but there are fewer than 11 million Czechs in the country. That's three times in three years that Canada has been favored to win against the Czechs, but the latter have managed to cause an upset. Eventually, it won't even become a surprise (and that's the problem).

Yesterday, the Czechs had 37 shots on net. Canada? Only 24! Canada didn't just lose yesterday, it also got dominated.

Yet all but four of Canada's players were NHL draft picks: Gavin McKenna, Keaton Verhoeff, Carson Carels, and Ethan MacKenzie. The first three will be drafted very early next June, and the fourth, we saw why he wasn't drafted last night…

The Czechs had 14 guys who weren't drafted. And if my count is right, Canada had more first-round picks in its lineup than the Czech Republic had drafted players!

In short, it's not right that the Czech Republic dominated the Canadiens last night. You can't read the headline ” Czechs too strong for Canada” and not feel sick inside.

I hope Canadian officials and players (finally) got their “Czech reality” last night in Minnesota.

Why are weon — although I feel less and less represented and present in our Canadian teams — be so ineffective last night?

1. We can, and should, question the selection of the coach (Dale Hunter?), the players (OHL first and foremost) and the choice of defensive system(man-to-man). Don't forget that Canada were also shut out against Latvia in the preliminary phase. But there's more…

2. The superior, even arrogant and smug attitude of Canadiens players must stop. They need to regain some humility and behave like better people.

Zayne Parekh's comments, captain Porter Martone's game misconduct at the start of the tournament, Gavin McKenna's cross-checking late in the third yesterday, Michael Misa's lack of concentration on the offensive zone face-off yesterday, McKenna's 10 minutes and attitude after the game, the lack of urgency and the search for individual rather than collective solutions throughout most of the game against the Czechs, the desire to create a game that will go viral on TikTok rather than the right game that will offer the best probability of winning, period…

The list goes on.

3. Bringing together a gang of child kings who've always been told they're good and better than their teammates, it ends up what it did last night. The Czechs were hungrier than Canada (and they hunted in packs for food), that's it

In North American soccer, many athletic directors weigh up a player's street cred… and down the player who comes from a wealthy family that has always paid for everything at renowned private academies. Studies show that if a player is hungry and in survival mode, he's more likely to succeed than another player who plays, but has other options if soccer doesn't work out for him. Let's say Team Canada Junior was filled with players from the second mold…

Six players in the NHL
Many Canadian fans have been saying since yesterday that Macklin Celebrini, Matthew Schaefer, Beckett Sennecke, Berkly Catton, Sam Dickinson, and Ben Kindel could have represented the Canadiens in Minnesota and that, with them, the result would have been very different.

First, we don't know if it would have been different.

Second, Canada's lineup was far superior to that of the Czechs.

Third, Canada has often won in the past despite the absence of certain key players (retained by their NHL clubs).

That's no excuse.

The point is that Canada's best players haven't delivered as much as the best players on the teams playing for gold today.

I'm willing to believe that Gavin McKenna has 10 points in six games so far in the tournament, but frankly, I didn't see in him the makings and impact of a player who could be selected first overall the summer after the WJC.

He didn't have the impact of a Nathan MacKinnon, a Sidney Crosby, a Connor McDavid, or even a Connor Bedard.

Porter Martone and Michael Misa could—and should—have given more too.

At least Michael Hage took his game up a notch during the tournament. He has 11 points in six games and could finish top scorer with a big game this afternoon. Yesterday, he could have made the difference (three posts and two check shots on his penalty shot). I don't know what world those who chose Sam O'Reilly over Hage as the Canadiens' best player of the tournament livein.

Hage is perhaps THE best player of the entire tournament.

And to all those who claim that, with more Québécois, Canada would be playing for gold today, I'd like to remind you that, yes, Caleb Desnoyers was good during the tournament, but he was also soft in several defensive coverages… when his bread and butter is supposed to be his defensive game.

I don't think one or two Québécois players could have made the difference. Sorry again.

The problem is systemic, to use a word that scares François Legault and his CAQ.

Let's hope we can do better with our old Canadiens senior team at the Olympics.

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