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Red, White and Blue, They Played Like P** |
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Childish title aside, those are generally my real feelings about how Team Canada played this year. A few lads in the comments had talked about whether this was the worst team they had fielded in memory. That is a hard thing to quantify, but this was the worst overall performance at the very least that I’ve had the displeasure of watching the Canadian Juniors play. The team was disjointed, undisciplined, frustrating and overall lacked any semblance or spark of some of the elite talent they undeniably have on the team.
Going into the tournament, if I told you that Team Canada’s greatest problem was that they couldn’t score on anybody other than Kazakhstan to save their lives, you probably would have laughed at my pitiful comment…one which I didn’t make! It’s presumptuous and probably part of Canadian hubris from past successes, but scoring has never been Canada’s problem in this tournament. It tends to be defensive miscues or goalies who fall asleep from taking only 11 shots a game. This year the goaltending was very good overall. Maybe because Canada played so poorly that they never got to actually have a distracting break like goalies in the past and had to stay on point. With only 13 goals in the tournament and no player showing any sign of taking a starring role outside of maybe the brief glimpse of Matthew Schaefer before his exit from the tournament to injury.
Allegedly Dave Cameron did not hold practices and if that is true…it freaking shows why they were discombobulated and taking out of position penalties constantly. Having the 67’s Coach lead Team Canada in Ottawa is a nice concept on paper and the type of storyline to film in Almonte’s Hallmark location shooting, however this seems to have been a large mistake. The players need to play, but nobody showed that they were listening to him and the meme of American players focusing intently as their coach draws up plays and then a cut to Dave Cameron slacked faced and closed mouthed as his players stare at the ice blankly is telling.
Oh well, better luck next year! I get to watch Sweden vs Finland tomorrow, so at least I got a good matchup for the Semi’s. Those Scands are a raucous crowd, so it should be fun.
The Blue Leafs did better last night thanks to Joseph Woll who really saved a rather “meh” game overall. He had some flashy saves and looked really good. I particularly liked his angry glove save point blank on Barzal while on his rump.
Bobby McManimal – McMann continued his up and down scoring play. He can be frustrating some times because he’s able to get himself in good positions a lot using his size and just isn’t an elite finisher. Regardless he has been the blessing on the third line and his development has been fantastic to watch. To go from undrafted to waivers to a player who will almost certainly score 20 goals in the NHL is a fantastic story and one the Leafs need as they continue their depth scoring search. I’m glad he wasn’t sent away to “be given a chance” like Marchment, Brazeau et all.
Matthew Knies – Speaking of depth scoring…the slump that Knies finds himself in has been a large problem for this team. He’s not playing poorly by any stretch, but with his scoring drying up and Matthews out, the lack of finish is worrisome. We can’t expect Mitch Marner to score hattricks or Max Domi to score more than twice a year. I don’t know what he needs to get on the score sheet, but they need him to produce more than just 1 goal in 15 games.
Tomorrow it’s Hockey Night in Canada against a Bruins team that has treaded water all season. Feels like a Leafy game upcoming, but here’s hoping it isn’t! Thanks for reading.
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