OTTAWA | No matter how you look at it, Junior Team Canada’s loss in the quarterfinals is a monumental failure for a country that prides itself on being on top of the world. And members of Hockey Canada will be held accountable.
Because we can blame the players and they certainly have some responsibility, but it seems obvious that the biggest mistakes were made above them.
And it all started at the selection camp.
These are the leaders who decided to send very high-level prospects home, and even ignore some of their invitations completely, in favor of players who are fiery, intense and ready to accept their role. We insisted from the first day that we had learned from our mistakes last year and we decided to focus on creating a “hockey team” and not an “all-star team”. “.
Observation: we have never really seen this hockey team.
Meanwhile, third overall pick in the last draft, Beckett Sennecke, watched it all from the comfort of his living room as he was named the OHL Player of the Month for December.
How could anyone also think it was a good idea to leave defensemen Zayne Parekh and Carter Yakemchuk at home? Both scored 30 goals last year, at 17 years old. It is obvious that a team cannot count on too many offensive players, but why not at least choose at least one?
If a failure like this happens once, it can pass. But, two? There are people, somewhere, who will have to be held accountable.
A controversial coach
Rarely has a coach’s work been questioned as much, and not just by fans or journalists, but by coaches, past and present, as that of Dave Cameron.
We could talk about the fact that, despite lackluster performances, ÉCJ did not hold any training during the tournament.
“Our players were tired and there are no systems for tired players,” he explained Thursday evening after the setback.
We could also talk about the fact that, even if the team was unable to generate anything offensively, we left offensive players, Carson Rehkopf or Porter Martone, on the bridge most of the time.
We could talk about Cameron’s stubbornness in changing nothing, or very little, despite an obvious lack of chemistry within the majority of offensive units. Why did we wait until the middle of the second period of the quarter-final match, when ÉCJ was trailing by two goals, to place Gavin McKenna in the first line?
“I changed my trios throughout the tournament,” he then added.
A response typical of those he offered throughout the tournament: in complete dichotomy with what, from the outside, everyone saw.
Life goes on
But, for Cameron, it won’t change much, he certainly won’t return behind the bench of this team. For him, life goes on, he will join the Ottawa 67’s and continue his season as planned.
But he certainly deserves some responsibility. He never held his players accountable for their mistakes. Easton Cowan, in particular, after taking an unnecessary and costly penalty against the Americans on Tuesday, did not skip any appearances thereafter. We continued to use him on the first line and the first power play.
Dave Cameron reiterated that this tournament was too short to start punishing players.
On that, he was right. It was very short.
