As is our habit in this country, we will analyze any result in hockey to death.
And who am I to not follow that pattern.
In this case it’s the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship just completed in Finland.
Canada struggled mightily at this edition of the championships managing only two wins in five games 6-1 over Denmark, and a 2-1 shoot-out win against Switzerland, a teams which would end up in the best-of-three against Belarus to avoid demotion next year. The Swiss would win, salvaging what for them had to be viewed as a year of disappointment too.
Canada managed only 13 goals in pool play, third in the group behind Sweden with 19 and the United States with 18.
And the young Canucks allowed a whopping 12 goals, while the US and Swedes gave up but five apiece. The Danes allowed 16.
In the end Canada finished sixth, which by any standards you might want to hold the team to as a failure.
There are some obvious reasons, including suspect defence and the fact the team took too many ill-timed penalties against highly skilled teams aided by the larger ice surface to work with.
However, in isolation one bad championship should not send a shudder of worry through the Canadian hockey system. But alas, this is not exactly a bad year in isolation.
Yes, Canada won the gold medal a year ago, on Canadian ice, but that was the first gold since 2009, when the championships were also held in Canada.
In 2010 in Canada the team ended up with silver, losing to the US, and a year later again on North American ice, this time stateside, lost to Russia to again bring home silver.
The event was in Canada in 2012 too, and that year we took the bronze.
You have to go back to 2008 to find Canada managing a medal on European-sized ice.
So the first trend we see is that our teams are not at home on larger ice. Since Junior players here aspire to the National Hockey League and its North American size ice surfaces maybe we need to simply understand that when these championships are in Europe we will struggle as often as not.
And frankly we should be fortunate the map in Europe has changed dramatically post the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
The teams in the championships today are far more fragmented because of the changed map of Europe.
In the most recent championship players from Belarus would have not so long ago been available to the team from the USSR (with Russia at its heart).
Latvia, which won the next pool down and will thus join the tournament in 2017 was also part of the USSR, as was Kazakhstan, also a ‘Group A’ country.
The current Czech Republic and Slovakia were not so long ago a single entity as well.
There is also another factor at work here.
Hockey today, at least at the elite level, is increasingly a sport for the rich. The cost of equipment, fees, travel, hockey schools and elite team events, are frankly taking the game away from many families these days. Yes, there are programs to help kids play, but once you take that commitment to the elite level it becomes a burden many cannot afford.
The situation is not likely so different in Europe, but Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany and Denmark are all among the top-20 countries in terms of average annual incomes.
That factor should not be under-played when considering why those countries seem to be making gains on the hockey ice.
Canada is in that top-20 too, but it does show that the top teams in Europe have the money to create top hockey players.
It comes down to Canada, at the Junior level at least, no longer being the dominant team destined for gold just by turning up at the championships. In fact, on larger ice, we are likely a long shot to win most years.
But is that a bad thing?
Certainly not.
The international game having a more competitive field is great. Since Canada’s gold in 2009 five different countries have won the Junior crown. In my mind that is a good thing.
And Canada ultimately can still focus on producing North American pro players, and this country still excels at that too.
On a positive international note Canada did win the Spengler Cup over the holidays defeating HC Lugano 4-3 in the gold medal game. Matt D’Agostini (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont./Genève-Servette HC, SUI) broke open a tie game with 11:47 to go for the title.
It was Canada’s first win since 2012, and fifth title since 2000. They were silver medalists a half dozen times over the same period.
