A Tempest In A Teapot

February 01, 2008

Canada’s national Junior Men’s hockey team has once again come home with a gold medal from a world championship, the fourth time in a row for our juniors. The drive to win five starts Dec. 26 in Ottawa.

Watching the games as they were broadcast from the Czech Republic, I could see the joy these young Canadians showed as they went about their task.

We are a hockey nation and we have high expectations of any team that wears the Canadian Maple Leaf on its sweater. Players know that when they join the team, know that they are being thrust into a spotlight that is perhaps the biggest of their career.  After all, when they compete for the Stanley Cup, they have the support of their city, but not usually of the entire nation. Playing in a World Championship or an Olympic games is a big deal. Because it’s hockey there is no wiggle room.  A silver medal might be a big reason to celebrate in volleyball or Alpine skiing, but that’s just not acceptable to Canadians when it comes to hockey.  It’s gold or nothing.

This year’s junior squad members were almost all new to the tournament, only two holdovers from last year’s gold medalists. They picked up right where the previous edition let off, starting the tournament with a  couple of shutouts before blowing a 2-0 lead in the third period and losing to Sweden 4-3.

With that loss you would have thought the world had come to an end. Canada’s win streak at the tournament halted at 20 and suddenly there was a goaltending controversy to be dealt with.

After the loss to Sweden Jonathan Bernier was replaced by Steve Mason, who let in a couple of goals against the Finns in the quarter finals. Many in Canada felt those were soft goals and Bernier should get the next start, but Canadian coach Craig Hartsburg stuck with Mason.

The entire country suddenly weighed in on who should be in nets, providing a fair distraction to the players whose focus should have been on that gold medal – and who were probably equally comfortable with either goalie.

It is to Steve Mason’s credit that he didn’t let himself be distracted from his game by the ‘controversy’ or even by the fact he was traded by his home team, the London Knights, to the Kitchener Rangers while in the Czech Republic. (As a career move that’s probably a good one for Mason – the Rangers will be hosting the Memorial Cup this year and he’ll have a chance to sparkle – but you would have thought the two teams would have waited and announced the trade after the tournament.) He showed those who thought Bernier should be The Man by turning in a couple of stellar performances and earned the tournament MVP award. My feeling is that the depth of the Canadian team is such that had it been Bernier in net those last two games, he would probably have been named the tournament’s most valuable player.

The whole situation stuck me as perhaps so typically Canadian. We have such high hopes for our hockey teams that sometimes we take things a bit too seriously. When the team has been selected and is in the middle of the tournament is not the time to start questioning the coach’s use of the players. Once the game is on it’s time to just enjoy and cheer our athletes on.

With the Beijing Olympics mere months away that’s advice we perhaps all should take to heart. It seems inevitable that there will be some questions surrounding the Canadian athletes sent to compete – armchair quarterbacks abound in our country. Criticizing the makeup of our teams is almost a national sport in itself. But once the athletes arrive in Beijing we should allow them to focus on what they are doing, free of any controversies back home about who should or shouldn’t be playing. These young man and women are making significant sacrifices to represent their country. Let’s cheer them on, let them strive to do their best, and enjoy the Games, without worrying in advance what the results will be.