Alexander Khokhlachev was the youngest player in the NHL draft, and will actually still be 17 at the start of Boston’s rookie camp. Chiarelli says his game reminds him of a young Scott Gomez.
Canada has the best all round game with their combination of size, defence, and goaltending, but it is not heads and shoulders ahead of other countries like it used to be. In a best of 7 showdown on international ice, they would be in tough against the Euro Countries like Russia, Sweden, Finland, and the Czechs.
This ain't about the gold and ain't about the juniors. This is about Raussia vs Canada matches. There were 43 matches in which Canada had 9 victorys in primary time, and 1 victory via the billet. 4 tied games. The other of 43 matches was ours. Now you understand that Canada is #2? DEAL WITH IT
The IIHF World Ranking is a tool to reflect the long-term quality of the countries' national team programme. The IIHF World Ranking is based on awarding points for the final positions in the last four IIHF World Championships and in the last Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament. The 2012 IIHF World Ranking is thus based on the performance at the 2012, 2011, 2010, and the 2009 IIHF World Championship and at the 2010 Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament in Vancouver. Russia #1 Canada #5 DEAL WITH IT
Yes, but you have to factor in that Russia didn't appear until 1956. Which means that only stats between 1956-2010 are relevant. In those times at the Olympics the Russians won something like 9 or 10 medals, while the Canadians only won 2. Nice, learn to compare stats.
And what happened in the WCs in between? Canada didn't even make it out of the group. And according to IIHF the official rankings have Russia as #1. Stats don't lie.
1924 - 8 Participating nations: Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, GB, Sweden, Switzerland and United States. 1928- 11 Participating nations: Austria Belgium Canada Czechoslovakia France Germany Great Britain Hungary Poland Sweden Switzerland 1932 - 4 Nations: Canada, Germany, Poland, US 1936 - 16 teams, Russia not one of them 1948 - Again Russia not there 1952 - 9 Teams, Russia not there. Look it up.
You have to take into account that Canada seemingly only does well when playing on their own ice. Both Olympic Golds came when playing on the NHL ice surface, and went 50 years between Gold medals in hockey. Sure, its a minor detail, but when playing on international ice, the bump and grind Canadian style does not gain much success. Canada is not #1, in my opinion, as it is far to even amongst many countries to tell right now.
The Soviet team were amateurs. Canadians were sending NHL players. Now you are making excuses. 6/8 medals came before Russia started playing. 7/7 Russian medals came while both teams were playing.. 2/15 or 7/15, which is greater? Once again IIHF rankings include ALL tournaments, and with that being said, Russia is still ranked #1 based on those stats.
We'll see when the Russians play on home ice. Your shit at the WJ was filled in 2 years in a row. A 3rd period comeback and a complete annihilation that was only spared by the refs.
Easy there tough guy. Does anybody honestly even care about the World Championships? I don't know anyone who does, its always a tournament for players who didn't make the playoffs. It is not the best players from a country playing, heck, even Canada had a year with Anson Carter as a key member. If Canada is as dominant as everyone here thinks they are, they wouldn't constantly struggle with teams like the swiss...
Well believe whatever you want to believe, I'm not hiding anything here. Like I said, Canada is well rounded, and Russia has a tendency to have weak D. Canada's top talent has gone down lately, other than Stamkos and Crosby (i might be forgetting some others) there aren't any real superstars. Before they had Lemeiux, Kariya, Sakic, Yzerman, Theo, Gretzky and a whole host of others. Talent wise, I take the Russians with Datsyuk, Ovi, Kovy, Malkin, Radulov over equivalent Canadians.
Well you better get better at spotting it, because I am Canadian. And im sure there are lots of people on here with nothing better to do than trash Canadian hockey, which I am not doing. Im just saying we are not as good as we think we are. Your attitude is that of a stereotypical American. Canada is very good, and probably the best, but not a superpower like you make them out to be. Top offensive talent, I think Russia takes the cake, easily. The defence is where they lack.
What excuses am I making? Even in your 28 extra years, you only managed to win 1 more gold than Russia. 28 years, 7 olympics. These last 20 years were your only golds that you won after Russia started in 1956. That is almost a 60 year gap. Clearly your reading comprehension is very weak. Based on the last 20 years, yes Canada looks like the better team, based on overall time played (both teams with the same amount of time) Russia is better.
Clearly you don't get it. Canada had a 28 year head start. That is 7 Olympics more. In those 28 years they won 3-5 medals. You need to compare where both teams participated. What you basically did is compare a company that just started out to a company that has already been in the market for many years. In the time that both countries played Russia clearly has more medals.
That doesn't piss me off. Russia has been sending amateurs since the 1950s til 1992. And I just showed you a comparison where both teams participated in the same # of tournaments and clearly Russia had more medals.
Canada was there in the tournaments lol. I compared it based on the tournaments where both countries participated. You can't start comparing stats where part of the data is non existent.
Other than Toews, Crosby and Stamkos i wouldnt consider them to be superstars for their 'skill' which i mean is the ability to take your breath away when they touch the puck. They are very good, dont get me wrong, phenomenal even, but don't have the wow factor of say a Datsyuk. And obviously you didn't get that I was chirping that terrible chant, but that's alright. If I may, can I guess you are from Ontario?
Not to mention the other top level Europeans that the game has seen an influx of. You have to appreciate some of the guys from these other countries and the game they play. It's completely different, and they do have some tremendous skill and we should respect it, instead of saying EH OH CANADA GO! (if that joke of a chant doesn't prove im Canadian nothing will ha)
