Hockey Canada leaders therefore had to face the music on Friday. Scott Salmond, Al Murray and Peter Anholt presented themselves to the media with very little enthusiasm.
“The Program of Excellence is my responsibility, just like all the national teams. And so, like other Canadians, I am extremely disappointed. I am sorry to Hockey Canada, our volunteers, our members, our supporters. This is not unacceptable, but we cannot accept it. “It’s something we’re going to work very seriously on to improve, to find ways to win,” said Hockey Canada’s senior vice-president of high performance, Scott Salmond.
This is the first time since the introduction of the current format of the World Junior Hockey Championship that Canada has finished fifth two years in a row. The level of competition was certainly very high, but the result remains disappointing, even alarming for the Canadian program. The country still won two gold medals in a row in 2022 and 2023.
“I think the lessons learned from this tournament are very important,” admitted head scout Al Murray. And I told our players before the game, there are a lot of opinions, a lot of things that are written, a lot of things that are said, but it’s all because people care about our team . This is the responsibility that we all have.”
“In the long term, our program has proven to be successful. We have proven that we do things right, with the right people. And that’s not going to change. I don’t think the results are always representative of the people or the process. Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. In our country, we must win much more often than we lose, and that is what we are committed to.”
Many are looking for the culprits of these two moribund results. No one seemed to want to take the blame while everyone mentioned having no regrets. It was finally Scott Salmond who got up and took him on his shoulders.
“You can blame me. If you think the problem is with player scouting, I’m the one who hired the scouts. If you think the problem is with the coaches, I’m the one who hired the coach. So if you want to blame someone, you can blame me. But that’s our job, that’s what we’re committed to. This country wants to win, and no one wants to win more than the players and the people in this room. Person. These are not political decisions. These are not decisions made on impulse or out of emotion. These are thoughtful decisions based on the will to win, and sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
Canadian fans will not have had the opportunity to celebrate often during the tournament. (Patrick Woodbury/Archives Le Droit)
A lack of discipline and offense
“Maybe too many penalties and not enough goals,” Salmond summed up. That’s how we got here in the end.”
Difficult to contradict him. Canada’s anemic attack produced only 13 goals on 205 shots, the worst success percentage in the competition.
Indiscipline will also have cost Canadians dearly. They concluded the competition first among the most punished teams with 113 minutes in just five duels. Canadian players were not able to adjust in time to the style of refereeing at the international level.
Many questioned the composition of the team. Many elite talents were passed over in favor of certain role players. Beckett Sennecke, Andrew Cristall, Michael Misa Carter Yakemchuk, Zayne Parekh and several other big names were overlooked.
“We were looking for players who had talent, but who would also compete hard,” Al Murray said. I think we had it. I don’t think we lack talent. We didn’t score at times, and it seemed like a collective thing. I don’t know how to explain it. […] We didn’t want one-sided players. We didn’t want competitors who had no skills. And I think we had a good combination of all that, but in the end it didn’t come together for us.”
After being the last player cut by the Ottawa Senators, Carter Yakemchuk didn’t even receive an invitation to the Team Canada junior camp. (Simon Séguin-Bertrand/Archives Le Droit)
Two pivotal moments
The historic 3-2 shootout loss to Latvia in the second match of the preliminary phase has been identified as a pivotal moment for the Canadian team. After a convincing 4-0 curtain-raiser win against Finland, we had to wait until the third period of the quarter-final match against the Czech Republic before seeing the true identity of the team again.
“I think it had an impact on the group,” said Peter Anholt, manager of Junior Team Canada. I felt a difference in the team at that time. We dominated this meeting at times. We had a lot of shots, but that’s not always indicative of the quality of the performance. You have to go inside, to the areas where you have to score. But if we had picked up another point in that game, we probably wouldn’t be here today. […] Despite all the efforts to overcome this, I think a triumphant return in the quarter-finals could have ignited our team. We would have had that little trigger that would have propelled us, but that didn’t happen.”
Matthew Schaefer only played one game and that was a dust-up. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press Archives)
The injured Matthew Schaefer from the first moments of this clash also had a huge impact. He had been Canada’s best defender and best player during the preparatory matches as well as during the first duel against Finland.
“His absence affected the atmosphere in our room. This young 17 year old player had an ability to lead and bring energy into the room. And I think his absence made a difference. Offensively and defensively, he had skills that we didn’t have elsewhere, and I think that could have changed some things for us.
At 66 years old, Dave Cameron was most likely on his last experience with Hockey Canada. (Patrick Woodbury/Archives Le Droit)
Dave Cameron’s work in all this?
Head coach Dave Cameron has been on the receiving end of a lot of criticism. After all, it was his responsibility to make his troop perform to their maximum capacity. Also note that since their 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Americans on New Year’s Eve, the Canadians have never touched the ice before their quarter-final match. All training sessions have been cancelled. “There is no system for tired players,” Cameron explained.
“I’ve known Dave for a long time, and he’s a man of character. He’s a leader. From the first day of camp, we had an identity of how we wanted to play, and I think Dave stayed true to that identity. He pushed the players in the right way, he challenged them in the right way. But at the end of the day, Dave doesn’t score goals. It’s his job to put players in position to succeed. I think he did that, and it just wasn’t enough this time,” concluded Scott Salmond.
Junior Team Canada will have the opportunity to get back on track next year when the World Junior Hockey Championship will be presented in Minnesota.
