AS I SEE IT COLUMN: Reflections on the world juniors from Ottawa

The recent world juniors didn’t go the way Canadian hockey fans wanted it to go. Here are some thoughts after seeing the tournament in person for the first time in many years.

IT’S A BEAUTIFUL GAME

The tournament was a refreshing reminder of how beautiful the sport of hockey is. Or can be, when all the extracurricular garbage doesn’t happen. The speed, the skill, the creativity, the athleticism — it was a pure joy to watch.

BUT IT NEEDS MORE ROOM

It was also a reminder that the guys are so big and so fast that there is barely enough room for them. The IIHF has ruled all world championships will be held on smaller North American sized ice, so one easy way to give the game and the players more room to showcase their world class skills is to make the game four on four.

HOCKEY IS IN OUR DNA

Interacting with fans, skating on the adjacent outdoor rink (because the Rideau Canal wasn’t frozen enough), it’s clear that hockey is part of the fabric of this nation, whether you are a hockey fan or not. The Hall of Fame had a travelling exhibit (among other things, honouring Ste. Anne’s Jocelyn Larocque). To see the jerseys various Team Canada’s have worn over the many decades of international hockey, was a real thrill.

SHAME ON THE BLACKHAWKS AND SHARKS

Chicago’s Connor Bedard and San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini – both legitimate stars in the NHL – were eligible to play for Team Canada but their NHL clubs didn’t allow them to play. With those two guys in our lineup, we would have been a legitimate contender. Without them, well, we all saw how we did without them and it wasn’t pretty.

SHAME ON THE NHL

Can someone please explain how letting two players play in the world juniors couldn’t happen because of the threat of injury and high insurance costs, but the league is somehow okay letting all of the league’s superstars play in the Four Nations Cup? Their insurance costs would be high. They could be injured. Shame on the NHL for its hypocrisy in allowing players to play in their own tournament but not allowing players to represent their country at the world juniors.

IT’S OUR GIFT TO THE WORLD

Gone are the days when Canada was automatically a threat to win a gold medal at every international tournament. We used to dominate the game, but we gave the game to the world and now several countries have caught us, and the in the case of the U.S., surpassed us. Just like British soccer fans have had to get used to seeing the world catch up to them in soccer, Canadian hockey fans have to learn that hockey is a gift we gave the world. It’s great when have a chance to win, but we can also take deep satisfaction and pride in seeing hockey thrive around the world.

THE ‘CODE’ IS BUNK

In NHL and major junior and wherever old school minds congregate, there is this dumb suggestion that fighting is needed in hockey to keep it safe; that is, without fighting, the game would get out of hand. That it’s part of an unwritten code. That’s North American dinosaur-think. It’s abundantly clear from the world juniors, the Olympics and all the international hockey tournaments, that fighting is not needed to keep the game safe. Simply put, there is no real “Code” in hockey. It’s an archaic, outdated North American construct.

PLAY BOTH ANTHEMS

After every game, one team is joyous and the other distraught. To save one team from having to be humiliated while they are forced to listen to the victor’s anthem, just play both anthems before the game, like happens in every single NHL game and in every international soccer match. Celebrate both countries, not just the winning one.