Team Canada Starts Slow--What's New?

A slow start by Team Canada in a best vs. best tournament. No, we've never seen that before.

I guess with 2010 getting off to that roaring 8-0 start vs. Norway, this 2014 3-1 win is quite the letdown. Sure, it is as some of these forwards Team Canada has (calling Ryan Getzlaf and Jeff Carter) seem pretty big and slow on the big ice. Then again--Crosby? Sidney? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Anyway, before we all forget Team Canada has won tournaments with less than stellar group play.

At the 1984 Canada Cup, Team Canada finished in 4th (the last playoff slot) in the six-team group with a 2W-2L-1T record. Thanks to John Tonelli, Paul Coffey and Mike Bossy they turned almost horrendous embarrassment into victory in an unreal 3-2 overtime semi-final win vs. the USSR to save Canada's back bacon. Then Canada defeated the much easier Sweden two games to zip in the Final.

Paul Coffey could play D

Although both the 1987 and 1991 teams won the Canada Cup and did top group play, their opening games vs. Czechosloavkia and Finland in both years ended in less than spectacular ties.

And in the Olympics in 2002 and 2010 there were some early hiccups. In '02 Canada got torpedoed by Sweden in the opener 5-2 and ended up with a 1W-1L-1T record in group play. At the last Olympics in '10, Canada ended up having to play in the qualifying playoff round thanks to not finishing off the Swiss in regulation time. With the Olympics having a more logical 3-2-1 point system for victories in regulation, overtime/shootout and shootout losses, the shootout win was the single point difference between a bye to the quarter-finals and having to play that extra game. In the end, both years saw Team Canada take gold so fret not yet.

Anyway, a win is a win is hopefully another win with about 10 goals scored against Austria tomorrow.

Of more importance is how even more dreadful GI Joe Head Hughson is at play-by-play. Is everyone at CBC oblivious to how Bob Cole-like he's become? Mark Lee may not be the next coming of Danny Gallivan but at least he does his job--you know, Hughie, the actual play...by...play.

The beauty of the new channels with the dedicated feeds is not only is Glen Healey never heard (the mics only pick up the broadcast booth not the between-the-benches mic) but the intermissions are filled with just the cameras roaming the arena focusing in on fans. This is the BEST thing ever! Forget the same old talking head experts in the intermissions. NHL get in on this. It's mesmerizing checking out who's wearing what and what goofy stuff fans, mascots, Olympians and assorted PK Subbans are up to sitting in the arena.

No Nightmares Here With This Russian Bear

All I can say give me another day of that many goals and quick-paced games without all the play stoppages or commercials and I'm golden. Plus who knew Finland could lose possibly their two best scorers in Mikko Koivu and Valteri Filppula and still put up an 8 on the scoreboard. The last time they did that in a meaningful tournament (sorry, IIHF your B level World Championships) was back at the '98 Olympics when they smoked Kazakhstan 8-2. Given the Finns ended up playing the game of that tournament, the 7-4 loss to Russia in the semi-finals (a game in which Pavel Bure scored five goals...so beat that, Ovie!), here's hoping the Finns keep the goals coming. If you have a spare 90 minutes, check out below the best game ever in Olympic play since the NHL pros came aboard:

Game Over

Let's all face facts, this Canucks team did not suddenly come off the rails with this 9-1 loss to the Ducks last night. It all started back in the 2011 Final when the entire hockey world saw a team up 2-0 in the Final, getting blown out 8-1 in Game 3. The Canucks were outmuscled, outskated and outplayed in all facets of the game.

Because it was the Final and it was just one loss, I suppose management shrugged it off given that the Canucks still led the series 2 games to 1. In hindsight, that (and the dumb hits by Dan Hamhuis on Milan Lucic and Aaron Rome on Nathan Horton) was the beginning of the end.

Now we're here two and a half years later and the Canucks have been exposed once again as being too soft, too slow and having no discernibly consistent goal scoring let alone goal scoring depth. My bigger question is when is owner Francesco Aqulini going to fire Mike Gillis and get Trader Phil Esposito back in the NHL. I mean, the Canucks already have a Luongo, Tortorella, Sestito, Corrado and a Santorelli. Why stop there? Maybe even try to resurrect Angelo Esposito's career while they're at it.

 To think I netted Marian Hossa in a trade

A Yzerman Than I Set To Pick Team Canada

We all know the Team Canada brain trust may just overthink this whole selection process. Remember they left off Mike Green for 2010 and although ultimate victory was achieved, you don't think that version of Team Canada could have used a tad more offence considering it was forced to play an extra game just to get into the medal round.

Looking at the 14 top Canadian NHL scoring forwards, you get:
Sidney Crosby
John Tavares
Ryan Getzlaf
Joe Thornton
Patrick Sharp
Corey Perry
Jonathan Toews
Tyler Seguin
Patrick Marleau
Taylor Hall
Martin St. Louis
Matt Duchene
and
Claude Giroux

 Top shelf, James baby!

Anyway, you know off the top 14 above, they'll pick Steven Stamkos, as well they should. They have got to take Jamie Benn (faceoffs alone!) and to link up with Tyler Seguin (although I have a feeling they'll go Logan Couture over Seguin). All this talk of whether Chris Kunitz should be on the team ignores the fact the better player (James Neal) should be on the team as that guy is the next best pure sniper to Stamkos.

Taylor Hall--well, his speed alone should make him an automatic pick, plus you get this cheesy techno Eurobeat with all his hilite videos:

 Hall of Taylor

Anyway, I can see Kunitz, Jumbo Joe and Marleau left off out of Canada's top 14 point scorers right now.

Then on D as long as they're not stupid about P.K. Subban it'll be him, the two each on Chicago (Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook) and St. Louis (Alex Pietrangelo and Jay Bouwmeester), Shea Weber and Drew Doughty meaning the 8th D guy by scoring stats would be Jason Garrison? He won't be on the team but that 8th and final pick is going to be tough.

I mean, for all the whining about Dion Phaneuf he's in the mix as should the long forgotten Brian Campbell who leads all Canadian d-men in ice time/game. Weird eh. HUGE droopff when thinking about who slots in that #8 slot on the defenceman depth chart. Your guess is as good as mine. Just toss a bunch of names in the hat and hope they come up with a right-handed defenceman as all of a sudden they seem in short supply for Canada.
Grapes will find a way to blame that on the pinko lefties.

Then we all know the netminders are Roberto Luongo, Carey Price and Marc-Andre Fleury who despite their shaky playoff netminding are all playing well in the "regular" season. Honestly, though, Stevie Y would be best served by dropping one of these three for Jonathan Bernier. The third goalie won't play anyway so make it a guy who you can maybe count on to be super motivated should some extreme fiasco happen where the two guys ahead flop a la CuJo Vintage 2002 in Salt lake vs. the Swedish Torpedo. . . and also get the next Martin Brodeur ready for 2018 to have a feel for the Olympic experience.

All I know is as Trade Deadline Day should be a national holiday up here so should Team Canada Selection Day.