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War of Words

 

 

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World Juniors has lost its lustre

By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor

r basically my entire youth, up until this
R=: I’ve always marked down the start of
the World Junior Championships (WJC)
on my calendar. I’ve always looked forward
to it and relished the tournament from start to
finish. In fact, if I remember correctly, I wrote a
number of articles covering the various aspects
of last year’s tournament this time last January.
But lately, something has changed. I don’t
have the same excitement level for the World
Juniors as I used to. I don’t get pumped up for it
anymore. Why? Because, contrary to the popular
belief, the quality of hockey just isn’t that great.
Alright, maybe I should clarify that a bit
more. I should say, outside of the late stages
of the medal round, the quality of play isn’t
great. The talent level disparity between the
established hockey powers, namely Canada,
and everyone else is embarrassing. I mean, does
anyone really get anything out of watching
Canada humiliate Latvia 16-0? How can anyone

say there is real drama involved most of the time
in this tournament when you’ ve got one team,
the Canadians, appearing in nine consecutive
finals and, up until this year, winning five
straight gold medals? Heading into this year’s
event, Canada was 30-1 since 2004? I mean, is
that great hockey? I don’t think so.

The Americans, Russians and Swedes tend
to come from decent development programs, but
can anyone reasonably say that kids from the
Czech or Slovakian junior leagues are capable
of competing with a Canadian side that is
stocked full of players from the CHL, which is
basically one or two steps away from the NHL,
and who play upwards of 80 high-profile games
per season? I don’t think so. That isn’t even to
mention the incredible amount of money that is
funnelled into Canadian junior hockey that other
nations couldn’t even dream about.

Also, let’s not pretend for one second that
the WJCs aren’t about money. If they were
purely about equality and national pride, then
why, when you go back to the 2009 tournament,

.&
Sats.

will every WJC have been held in either Canada
or the Northern United States? I mean, with the
massive advantages Canada already enjoys over
pretty much every other country, how is it even
remotely fair or in the spirit of good competition
that they also get de facto home ice ever year
for the foreseeable future? It’s because when
the tournament is held in Saskatoon or Ottawa
or Minnesota, the tournament organizers know
that almost every game will sell out, regardless
of who is playing, because of hockey’s
monumental following here. If you they move it
to Riga or Pardubice, they don’t make half the
money they would over here because the arenas
are less than half full most of the time.

Now, to be fair, the gold medal game
is almost always excellent, and occasionally
classics, like Canada-Russia last year, are
produced, but looking solely at those games
ignores the brutal, blowout games that
encompass the rest of the tournament, and that is
why the World Juniors are overrated, and in the
end don’t mean all that much.

 

-

 

Mc

  

as piel

The best damned hockey around, period!
World Junior Championships powered by national pride, not big business

By Jay Schreiber

t the end of every year, I get really
Az just thinking about the best

hockey tournament around, the World
Junior Championship, which begins annually
on Boxing Day. For those who have followed
the sport, going into the tournament, Canada
was the returning champions having won five
consecutive world junior titles. Personally, I
never get tired of seeing Canada win, but some
of us I imagine would like to see other nations
take home the gold medal.

But the question now stands; does
Canada’s almost eternal winning streak
discredit the value of a good hockey
tournament? Of course not!

Sure, looking at the facts, in this tourney
alone, Canada has only lost two games in the
last six years (one of which is 2010’s gold
medal game). In the beginning of this year’s
round robin, Canada had 26 unanswered goals
until Slovakia finally scored one of two goals
in Canada’s third game. Hell, in the last decade,
many of the cities to host the event have been in
Canada such as Vancouver, Ottawa, Saskatoon

and Edmonton, slated to host in 2012.

So why is this seemingly one-sided
competition still so great? It’s not the quantity,
it’s the quality. Sure, Canada wins a lot, but
watching the sport itself is more fun than any
other hockey tournament around.

Let’s compare the World Juniors to say...
the NHL.

The NHL, which is about 60 per cent
Canadian players, is more of a business now
than a hockey league thanks in part to Gary
Bettman’s post-lockout changes to the sport.
The new NHL is set up differently so that
things such as a franchise player or even a
hockey super power are things of the past, not
to mention the rule changes that can only be
summed up as ridiculous.

Of course, there’s the speed of play and
excitement that junior hockey has; for example
the last three times that the U.S. and Canada
have met have been a battle for the lead with
un predictable endings. Anybody catch the
Canada-Russia game of ‘09? Canada ties
it up with 6.2 seconds left on the clock and
eventually wins it. You just don’t get that kind
of stuff in the NHL anymore!

   

 

me, -
a sa eso

 

There’s also the idea of international
hockey versus league hockey. International
hockey has players playing for their nation’s
pride, not because their bank account contains
six zeros. They’re representing a country, and
with that pride comes fair competition. As well,
it means more when a team plays less than ten
games to win the championship, rather than 80
games in a season and then another 24 wins to
be considered top dog. The Olympics are right
around the corner, yet the countries involved
have NHL players, so this competition is more
for show than the World Juniors.

People who love to watch hockey
know exactly what this competition is about,
regardless of whether Canada comes out on
top. If you only watch hockey to win, then
you might as well only tune in for the last 10
minutes of play, or catch the score online. I love
watching hockey, and there is no better hockey
than the World Juniors.

On a side note, The United States won the
tournament this year in a tight battle and upset
the home team on our own ice. Next year’s
games are held in Buffalo, N.Y., and I hope that
Canada will make them feel the same way.

 

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