Theories abound for meltdown
Oh Canada: Goaltending, scoring deficiencies and skills development cited as reasons
Again, we worry. Hockey is central enough to Canada’s self- image that the Prime Minister spent years crafting what was generally agreed to be an impressively dull book about a piece of the game’s origins, so when we fail on big stages, there is always a self- examination. What, we so often wail, have we done to offend the gods?
Canada lost 2- 1 to Russia in the bronze- medal match of the world junior hockey championship in Malmo, Sweden, on Sunday, one day after a far more disappointing 5- 1 semifinal loss to Finland. The caveats: It’s big ice, five different countries have won in the past six years, it’s a game of teenagers, and therefore a game of mistakes. The hockey world has flattened, but these kids can still stumble off cliffs.
This was the fourth straight year in which Canada has delivered a trap door performance in an elimination game — the devastating final in Buffalo in 2011, when Canada blew a three- goal lead in the third period, followed by three straight flops in semifinals. Canada went seven straight years without a gold medal from 1998 to 2004, but it had not finished out of the medals in consecutive years since it adopted the Program of Excellence in 1982.
So we will ask again what went wrong, and wonder whether this is a series of canaries in Canada’s hockey coal mine. And if it is, what is the root cause?
There are theories. The goaltending problem is a real one; Canada is producing fewer elite goaltenders than ever, and has had the tournament’s top goaltender just three times since Roberto Luongo in 1999. That will require a development re- think.
But this edition of the team struggled to score goals, despite elite offensive players like Jonathan Drouin, Anthony Mantha, and 16- year- old Connor McDavid. TSN’s Bob McKenzie, who has covered more of these tournaments than almost anybody, said Sunday that, based on conversations with Hockey Canada people, “My theory ... is that every team in this tournament gears up to beat Canada like you wouldn’t believe, and the Canadian mindset in these elimination games, these semifinal games, it’s more along the lines of we’re terrified to lose more than we are determined to win. I think there’s a psychological gap there.
“I get the sense that these kids are more burdened with the level of expectation.”
If so, it’s new. TSN’s success broadcasting the world juniors is a part of those expectations, and it has become a part of this country’s hockey ecosystem: gladiator academy for the elite prospects, a lesson in pressure. And with those five straight gold medals from 2005 to 2009, Canada set an impossibly high bar.
What about how we coach the game? Brent Sutter, who coached this team to gold in 2005 and 2006 and returned this year, said it had nothing to do with coaching, though that seems convenient. Canada trends toward conservatism in hockey — checking lines, risk aversion, and as Canadian head coach Dave Cameron said after the collapse in Buffalo, ‘ We asked guys to turn their individual skills over to the team and play a certain way’ — and coaching, in this country, is essentially shorthand for culture.
But Sutter believes there is a skill deficit, at present.
“Development starts at bantam age, at peewee age, development starts at 10 years of age,” Sutter told the media after the bronze- medal game, per TSN’s Mark Masters. “It’s not about X’s and O’s and those types of things. It’s about development and skills and skating. You see how some of these teams in Europe, how they’ve done a remarkable job with that and it’s something, I think, in our country we have to evaluate.
“There’s too much focus on winning and losing at such a young age and not enough about the skill part of it and the skating part of it, because that’s truly where it starts ... I’d personally like to see more skill, more creativity, because we had to play against it here and we got beat by it some nights.”
Sutter’s theory is that we are a nation of too many gladiator academies. There’s an element of truth to this, at least. Finland won the gold on a bravura goal from Rasmus Ristolainen, by the way.
“You look at the skill the Swedes have, and the Russians have, that team we played ( Saturday) has and you go on down the list,” Sutter told the media. “The skills that these teams have is top, top- notch. We knew going in we would have to play a certain way, because we knew there were areas we weren’t as strong in as we need to be, but this was the best we had.
“We knew we were going to have to be a structured team, a team that played with a lot of emotion, which would allow us to be creative, but also disciplined. We did that and, yet, it wasn’t quite enough. You get into that one game, like we did ( Saturday), and it was like we froze in the moment.”
The Finland game was indeed a remarkable immolation — Canada took penalties, could not execute power plays, lacked cohesion and puck support, and looked like they were over- thinking the game. As for skill, Canada left skilled players like Darnell Nurse and Max Domi at home, because this country has the luxury of choosing defensive responsibility over skilled risk- takers, or thinks it does.
But Canada will also unveil a senior men’s Olympic team Tuesday, and its forward ranks will be stuffed with talent in a way no other country can even dream of matching. And some will be young.
Maybe, though, it’s pieces of all these things. Maybe it is an improvement by the rest of the world, and a relatively shallow trench for Canada. Maybe it is a goaltending deficit, and a skill development issue. Maybe it’s coaching and conservatism. Maybe the pressure cracks teams whose sheer talent can’t overcome it.
And maybe they win gold next year. Deep breaths.