World juniors not ‘best against best’
Isangulov’s head hit to Jenner precipitated Jenner’s indiscretion. “(Getting up for Thursday’s game) is a real challenge for us,” acknowledged Don Hay, the Canadian coach. “We’ve got to go play the game. There’s no use feeling sorry for ourselves. You’ve got to get over that.” It’s been three years since Canada won gold at this tournament. And in a country in which gold, in some minds, should be a given, the obvious question could be: “What’s wrong?” Going micro, certainly you could analyze the breakdowns in tactics and discipline and goaltending that allowed Russia to build Tuesday’s 6-1 lead. And certainly, even in doing that, we should all remember that these are kids — not to mention kids who didn’t quit — even if some of them have already inked NHL contracts that firmly place them among the 1 per cent. Going macro, certainly you could also point out that Canada’s players are products of a developmental system that is, the occasional setback aside, the envy and the bane of the hockey world. In the 30 years since Canada started sending a hand-picked team of the country’s best players to this tournament, it has emerged victorious 15 times. Over that same span, Russia (and the Soviet Union before its dissolution) has won nine times. There aren’t many dynasties in the history of sports that can compete with either of those win rates. Going macro, you don’t need to be a blinkered homer to suggest Canada is actually developing junior players too well, or at least too quickly. Jeff Skinner was eligible to play in this tournament, for instance. But Skinner is into his second season as an elite NHLER, not to mention the reigning rookie of the year in the best league on the planet, so the Carolina Hurricanes weren’t inclined to spare his services. Ryan Nugent-hopkins was eligible to play in this tournament, but Nugent-hopkins, before he was recently sidelined by a shoulder injury, was having a season for the Edmonton Oilers that makes him the front-runner to be Skinner’s successor on the Calder Trophy winners’ list. Tyler Seguin could have been in uniform on Tuesday night. Alas, the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins weren’t in the mood to lend Canada their leading scorer.
The last time Canada actually iced a team that was truly made up of its best players in the under-20 age group — back in 2005, during the NHL’S last lockout — perhaps you’ll remember the outcome. The maple leaf claimed gold with a 6-1 win over a Russian team led by Alex Ovechkin. In that tournament Canada outscored its opponents by an aggregate score of 41-7. Canada’s roster included the likes of Sidney Crosby, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Jeff Carter, Dion Phaneuf and Shea Weber.
As Hay, who won gold with that group, lamented in the lead-up to the tournament: “You want to go best against best, and you can’t.”
You can’t, and so you lose to a team of Russians that, as talented as they are, writhe around like Eastern European incarnations of Vince Carter every time they’re touched. You can’t, and so you put up with a Canadian team that lacked some of the discipline typically associated with this country’s best players. You can’t, and yet you still come within a goal or two of a trip to the gold-medal game. There’s no shame in that, and plenty for a fan to cheer.