I’m glad Canada lost

The Canadian disaster at the World Junior Championship may finally be what it took to wake up the hibernating dinosaurs at Hockey Canada.

Hockey in Canada urgently needed a slap in the face. And I’m glad that such an embarrassing performance came to remind us of it or even prove it. This is why, as the tournament progressed, I began to say to myself that perhaps it was better, for the future of Canadian hockey, if our club continued to fail.

The early elimination last year didn’t shock me that much. It was an anomaly, in my mind. Canada had been on the podium the previous four years. It wasn’t time to go crazy either.

But this year it’s terrible. We can go crazy.

Cold or punished

The attackers tried to enter the opposing zone with feints, as if they were at the parish outdoor rink. They were attempting spectacular passes that even Adam Oates wouldn’t have attempted.

In the corners, it was all or nothing. Either they played cautiously, at the end of hockey, or they did a double-check, a stick strike, a knee strike or other stupid things to go to the dungeon.

Guys from other teams didn’t have to be so much stars to counter all that. They threw the puck deep and spent some time in Canada’s zone. There, our club needed 30 seconds of turns in their zone and in the neutral zone to ultimately not be able to enter the opponent’s zone by attempting an impossible play. And the cycle began again.

Poor Cameron

There is the respected driver Dave Cameron, whose career will never be tainted by it. My colleague Kevin Dubé explains why in his column.

The same Cameron who decided to completely unnecessarily contest a disallowed goal midway through the third period, thus giving the opponent a numerical advantage.

Cameron also sent Gavin McKenna to the penalty box for five minutes to serve Cole Beaudoin’s major penalty. The Czechs received punishment during these five minutes. So there was a four against four. And Canada couldn’t use the excellent McKenna. Well done!

And there are the famous selections. Young people were left at home. Visibly less good 19-year-old players came to lose.

Only two Quebecers made the club. Which wasn’t surprising. Of the team’s 12 managers, coaches and scouts, there were zero Quebecers. Ontarian Sylvain Favreau, of the Drummondville Voltigeurs, was the only representative of the QMJHL. In short, we didn’t expect many Quebecers, but it’s even less surprising that there were only two.

A joke

The most insulting thing is to see the Latvians standing up to us. The Germans too. It’s a joke! There are 8,500 hockey players in Latvia and 25,000 in Germany. We have 600,000 in Canada, including nearly 100,000 in Quebec. We’re not supposed to be worried about being shorthanded against Germany. We are still supposed to dominate them with one less player.

It’s always been like this. It’s our sport, batinse.

Is our hockey sick?

First of all, it’s not our hockey. That’s not our hockey in Quebec: knee strikes, guys punished for exaggerated reactions, indiscipline, trashtalk…

And in Canada, no, hockey is not sick. Add in Connor Bedard, Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith who could theoretically play for Canada, and our club would have won the tournament. The other teams don’t have this same problem.

When we hear everywhere that hockey is sick, I think of all the excellent school hockey programs that have sprung up everywhere and which are led by extraordinary teachers and hockey heads. I think of my four nephews who are having a blast through their school journey in these programs. I think of the excellent Quebec coaches who give their lives for the health of hockey like Yanick Jean, Stéphane Julien, Marc-Étienne Hébert…

These people don’t deserve to be told that our hockey is sick.

Frogs and hockey

It’s Hockey Canada that’s sick. As if the organization was infested with spiders. And no one sees fit to ask the frogs for help.

Quebecers are disappearing from the national teams. The 17-year-old top scorer for 30 years in the QMJHL, Justin Poirier, was not even in the debate to represent his country.

The United States takes up more space. Soccer countries are starting to heat us up. And it’s all about hockey.

We basically knew that Hockey Canada had become a national disgrace when it came to handling situations that did not concern hockey. There, to see that it also becomes a shame when it concerns hockey, it’s embarrassing.