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Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
Predictable outcome in the end.
The team just didn't have enough talent and the skilled guys they did take just didn't have very good tournaments.
I blame the coaching more than I blame the players though TBH, poor selection from the start and then they just didn't look prepared in any of the games, and the coaches just kept cancelling practices.
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100% this is on the coaches and everyone involved at HC with team selection, coach selection, and managing the team. They were unprepared, "too tired to practice", uninspired, unorganized, unfocused, and undisciplined. Someone made a comment about Cameron not wanting to be there - that was the impression I got too, like he was going through the motions , and couldn't wait for it to end. (Side note: that call for a review last night was one of the worst I have ever seen. Not only did it have ZERO chance of winning, but it destroyed their momentum)
I do not think this team was less talented than Latvia and Czechia, I think that it was poorly managed, and they got absolutely nothing out of the talent that they had there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stemit14
Also didn’t care for McKenzie’s take on the roster. He was defending the roster saying that there was no guarantee the players others thought should be there would have produced in this tournament. He argued that Ritchie and Cowan dominate the OHL and they didn’t produce so there’s no guarantee the players that were omitted (he used Sennecke as an example) would have produced.
Of course it’s not a guarantee. There are lots of prolific scorers in Junior that do not produce much at the World Juniors. But if you bring as many of these skilled players as possible to the tournament, you give yourself the best chance of at least a few of them producing.
Canada really needed players like Misa, Sennecke, Parekh and Yakemchuk at this tournament. Who knows which one of them (or any of them) would have produced or created chemistry in the roster but it would have at least maximized the chances of having some top end elite offensive talent break out in this tournament.
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McKenna was just defending his teammates, I am not going to hold him to the comments. But what he said is wrong of course. Sure, there were talented guys there, and it didn't work out for them, but no one saying bring the other talented guys instead, they're saying bring ALL the talented guys - - more chance that someone gets hot, that something clicks, that they find ways to be better than the other teams.