I suppose this will be a moot point when Canada becomes the 51st state. (I kid, I kid)

Canadians: WE DON'T FEEL THREATENED BY USA HOCKEY!


Also Canadians: Cheers wildly for every nation that scores a goal against USA every single time.

Hold on a second!

Hockey Medals Comparison: Canada, USA, and Other Nations

World Men's Hockey Championship
1 Canada: 53 medals (28 gold, 16 silver, 9 bronze)
2 Russia: 47 medals (27 gold, 10 silver, 10 bronze)
3 Czechia: 48 medals (13 gold, 13 silver, 22 bronze)
Compare: USA: 20 medals (2 gold, 9 silver, 9 bronze)

World Women's Hockey Championship
1 Canada: 23 medals (13 gold, 9 silver, 1 bronze)
2 USA: 23 medals (10 gold, 13 silver, 0 bronze)
3 Finland: 15 medals (0 gold, 1 silver, 14 bronze)

World Men's U20 Championship (Junior Hockey)
1 Canada: 35 medals (20 gold, 10 silver, 5 bronze)
2 Russia: 37 medals (13 gold, 13 silver, 11 bronze)
3 USA: 15 medals (6 gold, 2 silver, 7 bronze)

World Men's U18 Championship
1 USA: 20 medals (11 gold, 6 silver, 3 bronze)
2 Canada: 10 medals (5 gold, 1 silver, 4 bronze)
3 Finland: 12 medals (4 gold, 3 silver, 5 bronze)

World Women's U18 Championship
1 USA: 16 medals (9 gold, 6 silver, 1 bronze)
2 Canada: 16 medals (7 gold, 7 silver, 2 bronze)
3 Sweden: 7 medals (0 gold, 2 silver, 5 bronze)

Men's Olympic Hockey
1 Canada: 16 medals (9 gold, 4 silver, 3 bronze)
2 Russia: 14 medals (9 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze)
3 USA: 11 medals (2 gold, 8 silver, 1 bronze)

Women's Olympic Hockey
1 Canada: 7 medals (5 gold, 2 silver, 0 bronze)
2 USA: 7 medals (2 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze)
3 Sweden: 2 medals (0 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)


So, saying the USA is the new hockey power might be jumping the gun. Sure, they’ve done well lately, especially with younger players, but when you look at the bigger picture, Canada’s history and dominance still stand out.
For over 100 years, Canada has been at the top or right near it. In the World Men's Championships, Canada has 28 golds, while the USA only has 2. In Junior hockey (U20), Canada leads with 20 golds, and the USA only has 6. And in the Olympics? Canada’s got 9 golds in men’s hockey compared to the USA’s 2.
Now, yeah, Canada has dropped a bit in the last decade, but let’s not ignore the context. Hockey is expensive, and with the way things have been financially for Canadians, fewer kids are playing. Plus, with Russia banned from international competitions, the USA has had a much easier path to gold. Once Russia is back in the mix, it’ll be a whole different game.
Also, let’s talk population. Before Canada’s recent immigration boom, the country’s population was 35 million. The USA, even before the border crisis, had around 320 million people—nearly 10 times the size of Canada’s population. The USA has always had a much bigger talent pool to draw from, but even with that advantage, they’re still trailing in terms of historical achievements. Canada has done more with way less.
Women’s hockey? That’s always been a Canada-USA rivalry, but Canada still edges out with 5 Olympic golds and 13 World golds, compared to the USA’s 2 Olympic golds and 10 World golds. And don’t forget, these things go in cycles. The USA is doing great right now, but that doesn’t mean it’ll stay that way.
So props to the USA for what they’ve done lately, especially with youth hockey and the U18s. But calling them the power when Canada has dominated for over a century? That’s a stretch. Canada’s got the history, the passion, and the culture. We’ve been the best for so long, and it’s only a matter of time before we’re back on top.
- TroyTech

nah man, you're totally looking backwards. This isn't anything "cyclical" at all. Rather than look at past success, look at the trends. The USA does indeed have roughly 10x the population to draw from...but here's the thing. THEY HAVEN'T BEEN drawing from it! Kids are just starting to enjoy high level elite hockey in the USA. This was my point before, the USA youth hockey movement is pretty much what Canada WAS 20 or even 30yrs ago. They've got more and more backyard rinks, more and more state of the art arenas, more kids watching hockey on TV instead of the other sports. Hockey was never a popular sport in the USA...now it is.
We could probably name 500 small towns in Canada with a local rink and a bunch of minor hockey kids and families that sleep eat and breathe hockey, the USA had like...Minnesota and Alaska. haha Now go to minor hockey tournaments in Florida, Boston, up-state New York, man...even in California and Texas now. The USA minor hockey movement is coming and it's coming hard. As you've very correctly pointed out, they've got 10x the population...but they haven't even scratched the surface.

The minor hockey kids in the US started off playing, what I would say, the wrong way. It's like they watched too much NFL or something, hitting from behind, crosschecking, just playing very dirty in general. The "I'm playing "Ice Hockey" mentality, if you will. They couldn't skate well, didn't know the basic skills and fundamentals. Well, we go to several elite tournaments every year and every year the US teams improve a tonne!!!! Also, as Eklund pointed out, you see some guys like Chara, Tanguay, St. Louis, Osgood, Peca, Amonte behind the bench more and more often.

There is so much more interest in youth hockey in the USA these days. There never used to be a 30minute wait to sharpen skates at a Pure Hockey in the USA. Heck, there wasn't even a hockey store not too many years ago. Now the state of the art hockey shops have amazing inventory, shooting zones, sharpening machines, jerseys everywhere, several games on TVs, etc. Hockey has arrived in the USA and it's not going to slow down.

So be careful to post a bunch of stats about Canadian hockey players over the past 40years when the USA kids were playing baseball, basketball, and football. They are coming....hard...and Canada has some soul searching to do that should not involve arrogance at all.

EKlund is trolling Canadians just like Trump is, where did that famous Canadian sense of humor go, getting diluted from all that immigration I guess

nah man, you're totally looking backwards. This isn't anything "cyclical" at all. Rather than look at past success, look at the trends. The USA does indeed have roughly 10x the population to draw from...but here's the thing. THEY HAVEN'T BEEN drawing from it! Kids are just starting to enjoy high level elite hockey in the USA. This was my point before, the USA youth hockey movement is pretty much what Canada WAS 20 or even 30yrs ago. They've got more and more backyard rinks, more and more state of the art arenas, more kids watching hockey on TV instead of the other sports. Hockey was never a popular sport in the USA...now it is.
We could probably name 500 small towns in Canada with a local rink and a bunch of minor hockey kids and families that sleep eat and breathe hockey, the USA had like...Minnesota and Alaska. haha Now go to minor hockey tournaments in Florida, Boston, up-state New York, man...even in California and Texas now. The USA minor hockey movement is coming and it's coming hard. As you've very correctly pointed out, they've got 10x the population...but they haven't even scratched the surface.

The minor hockey kids in the US started off playing, what I would say, the wrong way. It's like they watched too much NFL or something, hitting from behind, crosschecking, just playing very dirty in general. The "I'm playing "Ice Hockey" mentality, if you will. They couldn't skate well, didn't know the basic skills and fundamentals. Well, we go to several elite tournaments every year and every year the US teams improve a tonne!!!! Also, as Eklund pointed out, you see some guys like Chara, Tanguay, St. Louis, Osgood, Peca, Amonte behind the bench more and more often.

There is so much more interest in youth hockey in the USA these days. There never used to be a 30minute wait to sharpen skates at a Pure Hockey in the USA. Heck, there wasn't even a hockey store not too many years ago. Now the state of the art hockey shops have amazing inventory, shooting zones, sharpening machines, jerseys everywhere, several games on TVs, etc. Hockey has arrived in the USA and it's not going to slow down.

So be careful to post a bunch of stats about Canadian hockey players over the past 40years when the USA kids were playing baseball, basketball, and football. They are coming....hard...and Canada has some soul searching to do that should not involve arrogance at all.
- JLO961

My brother lives in a blue collar town of 4,000 in northern Minnesota. The town’s indoor rink seats 3,000 and they have 3 outdoor rinks. The next town over is 3 miles away and they have an indoor that seats about the same with 3 outdoor rinks. His son plays Pee Wee(9U) and his daughter Pee Wee(8U). They play about 30 games a year including games against Twin City( Mpls- St. Paul) powerhouses. My brother had both of them skating at age 3. They both played on organized teams at 5.

nah man, you're totally looking backwards. This isn't anything "cyclical" at all. Rather than look at past success, look at the trends. The USA does indeed have roughly 10x the population to draw from...but here's the thing. THEY HAVEN'T BEEN drawing from it! Kids are just starting to enjoy high level elite hockey in the USA. This was my point before, the USA youth hockey movement is pretty much what Canada WAS 20 or even 30yrs ago. They've got more and more backyard rinks, more and more state of the art arenas, more kids watching hockey on TV instead of the other sports. Hockey was never a popular sport in the USA...now it is.
We could probably name 500 small towns in Canada with a local rink and a bunch of minor hockey kids and families that sleep eat and breathe hockey, the USA had like...Minnesota and Alaska. haha Now go to minor hockey tournaments in Florida, Boston, up-state New York, man...even in California and Texas now. The USA minor hockey movement is coming and it's coming hard. As you've very correctly pointed out, they've got 10x the population...but they haven't even scratched the surface.

The minor hockey kids in the US started off playing, what I would say, the wrong way. It's like they watched too much NFL or something, hitting from behind, crosschecking, just playing very dirty in general. The "I'm playing "Ice Hockey" mentality, if you will. They couldn't skate well, didn't know the basic skills and fundamentals. Well, we go to several elite tournaments every year and every year the US teams improve a tonne!!!! Also, as Eklund pointed out, you see some guys like Chara, Tanguay, St. Louis, Osgood, Peca, Amonte behind the bench more and more often.

There is so much more interest in youth hockey in the USA these days. There never used to be a 30minute wait to sharpen skates at a Pure Hockey in the USA. Heck, there wasn't even a hockey store not too many years ago. Now the state of the art hockey shops have amazing inventory, shooting zones, sharpening machines, jerseys everywhere, several games on TVs, etc. Hockey has arrived in the USA and it's not going to slow down.

So be careful to post a bunch of stats about Canadian hockey players over the past 40years when the USA kids were playing baseball, basketball, and football. They are coming....hard...and Canada has some soul searching to do that should not involve arrogance at all.
- JLO961

You've only explained why American hockey might have improved over the years, but that doesn't address the broader issues. A significant factor is that many U.S. athletes are choosing other sports, like football, baseball, and basketball, which are less physically demanding than hockey and pay more.

It also doesn't address the growing financial struggles Canadians have faced during Justin Castro's reign of dictatorship. These struggles are cyclical because too many not-so-bright people keep voting in Liberals who only want to take our money and raise taxes. Eventually, when people get fed up, they head to the ballot box and vote them out. Only then do things start to improve financially, allowing families to afford hockey fees, equipment, and, most importantly, specialized coaches and clinics. These improvements often lead to better performances in international competitions.

Right now, though, we're suffering more than usual (thanks to the Justin Castro effect). Financial barriers have hit Canadian hockey especially hard, and the impact has been most noticeable with goalies. It's no secret that goaltending is the most expensive position to play in any sport—particularly for kids who need new equipment with every growth spurt. Just look at the current landscape: there are no elite Canadian goalies in the NHL. The fact that Sam Montembeault was selected for the 4 Nations speaks volumes about the state of Canadian goaltending.

Additionally, it’s important to clarify how we classify a hockey "power." Is it based on all-time achievements? The current year? Or somewhere in between, where data can be selectively interpreted to support a specific argument? Canadians would point to all-time dominance to bolster their case, while Americans might emphasize the last year or two for theirs. It would be interesting to hear what the Finns and Swedes think.

Finally, let's not ignore the elephant in the room: how can anyone claim dominance while one of hockey's greatest nations, Russia, has been unfairly banned from competition for years? That has to change. Russians should be competing, in my opinion.

You've only explained why American hockey might have improved over the years, but that doesn't address the broader issues. A significant factor is that many U.S. athletes are choosing other sports, like football, baseball, and basketball, which are less physically demanding than hockey and pay more.

It also doesn't address the growing financial struggles Canadians have faced during Justin Castro's reign of dictatorship. These struggles are cyclical because too many not-so-bright people keep voting in Liberals who only want to take our money and raise taxes. Eventually, when people get fed up, they head to the ballot box and vote them out. Only then do things start to improve financially, allowing families to afford hockey fees, equipment, and, most importantly, specialized coaches and clinics. These improvements often lead to better performances in international competitions.

Right now, though, we're suffering more than usual (thanks to the Justin Castro effect). Financial barriers have hit Canadian hockey especially hard, and the impact has been most noticeable with goalies. It's no secret that goaltending is the most expensive position to play in any sport—particularly for kids who need new equipment with every growth spurt. Just look at the current landscape: there are no elite Canadian goalies in the NHL. The fact that Sam Montembeault was selected for the 4 Nations speaks volumes about the state of Canadian goaltending.

Additionally, it’s important to clarify how we classify a hockey "power." Is it based on all-time achievements? The current year? Or somewhere in between, where data can be selectively interpreted to support a specific argument? Canadians would point to all-time dominance to bolster their case, while Americans might emphasize the last year or two for theirs. It would be interesting to hear what the Finns and Swedes think.

Finally, let's not ignore the elephant in the room: how can anyone claim dominance while one of hockey's greatest nations, Russia, has been unfairly banned from competition for years? That has to change. Russians should be competing, in my opinion.
- TroyTech

Lots of very valid points here, and I'm with you 100% on the Trudeau issues (worst leader in all of peoplekind). hehe

My personal observation is that hockey is indeed a money sport, meaning if you've got money it sure does help, and at the elite levels, people have money no matter what the economic landscape of their country looks like. There is absolutely an impact at the grassroot level and therefore less kids being fed into the system, and thus less kids to funnel into the "elite" crowd. Money doesn't seem to be an issue in that very small group.

The families in mid-fairfield, Detroit, Chicago, etc. have say hundreds of millions, whereas the wealthy hockey families in Toronto and Montreal have tens of millions. BOTH are more than enough and I don't necessarily think the USA has a huge advantage here. There are only so many tournaments and training sessions you can do, and having 100Million new worth vs a 20million net worth doesn't really make a difference (in my opinion).

USA Hockey changed their development program around (I think) 2010 or so, moving to skill based & emphasizing cross ice and small area games. These kids now are the beneficiaries of their full youth hockey career under that system.

As a coach, I had parents outraged that they were moving to cross ice & eliminating hitting until 2 years later. "It's not real hockey" they said, yet with hockey being under the radar in the U.S. it was easier to implement such a change. It's not a way of life like it is North of the border.

It's hard to argue the developmental success it's been, but I'd hardly suggest the U.S. is now the hockey powerhouse. They just leveled the playing field a bit more.