OTTAWA | The recent setbacks of Junior Team Canada will not get the better of the head of Hockey Canada’s national teams, Scott Salmond, who assures that changes will have to be made to avoid reliving the disaster of the last two years.
Salmond sat alongside Hockey Canada President and CEO Katherine Henderson on Saturday at another press briefing organized by the national hockey federation, which was intended to serve as a review of the tournament but in which the majority questions focused on the Canadian underperformance.
It was a clear vote of confidence: Salmond will not be the sacrificial lamb.
“Scott is an incredible leader for our men’s, women’s and para hockey programs,” said Henderson when asked about his appreciation of the work of the hockey man who, on Friday, took all the blame for the Canadian discomfiture.
He had, sure, but listening to him, team general manager Peter Anholt and head scout Al Murray, they wouldn’t have changed anything in their decisions, whether it was hiring Dave Cameron or player selection.
On Friday, he was more transparent on this subject.
“We’re going to find a way to be better. We will make changes and we will be back,” he assured.
A way of doing things to review
Now, what will these changes be?
“It’s still a little early to talk about specific changes, and we won’t make changes just for the sake of making changes.
“We will review our selection process and how we build our teams, using skillful players, physical players and others who bring energy. […] The way we build this team will be criticized, probably rightly so, but the irony is that we will never know. We could have taken different players and had the same result.
Full-time staff?
Salmond did, however, give some clues. First, he implied that Peter Anholt would not be back with the program next season, whose two-year contract has just ended.
But he also speculated that the solution may lie in implementing a full-time hockey staff. Currently, the general manager like Anholt, as well as the coaches, work for their junior teams in addition to carrying out their duties with Hockey Canada.
“It is a difficult task to take care of your junior club in addition to the national team,” he added.
