CBC-Sports

Development, evolution key to Canada's hockey success

January 5, 2009 05:46 PM | Posted by   Jim Hughson  

About 20 years ago I had the good fortune to get to know, work and travel with one of hockey’s most colourful innovators.

Howie Meeker, former NHL player, coach and general manager, was in his 60s then and was way ahead of his time in television and hockey.

He practically invented the telestrator as a tool for pointing out interesting aspects of a replay. In fact he was a forerunner in replays themselves, remember “stop it right there, back it up”? The things we take for granted in television today were either his ideas or truly enhanced by his enthusiasm and knowledge.

About the same time, Meeker was telling anyone and everyone who would listen that hockey in Canada was in trouble. We weren’t teaching skills and as a result, the Swedes and Russians were leaving us behind.

More than 'raw tools and emotion'?

Most people treated his rant with derision because Canada had won the Summit Series and Canada Cups and felt pretty good about its game. But Meeker was relentless and he was right.

Canada still had pretty good results at international tournaments, but didn’t take the challenge seriously. We slapped our teams together, sent them to Europe with little preparation and, most of the time, the players tried to bully their way through most tournaments. This worked at many events and if it didn’t, the referees were to blame for not letting Canadians play their game.

But what was Canada’s game beyond raw tools and emotion?

Over time we figured it out.

In the NHL and on the international stage, Canadians finally determined that “big and tough” was only one aspect of the game. The small, skilled players, who ironically used to be banished to Europe because they couldn’t play in the NHL, were embraced at all levels.

Skills, coaching improved

The game has changed to allow for more speed and skill and on the international scene we are being copied again and, for the most part, are ahead of the competition. Canadians have always played with an unbridled passion that is the envy of other nations, but now it’s coupled with greater skill and knowledge.

While not without flaw, coaching at all levels has improved dramatically. We don’t just skate the circles without pucks anymore. And for the top players, Hockey Canada’s programs of excellence have been a big reason why Canada is the international leader in hockey. Young elite players are identified early and given a chance to play with and against the best. If you connect the dots, you can see how far the program has come and where it’s going.

The world under-17 hockey challenge provides the entry level to elite international competition. Canada enters five teams, or about 100 players and the rest of the hockey world enters an all-star team per country. At the 2002 championship, Ryan Getzlaf, Dion Phaneuf, Jeff Carter, Corey Perry and Mike Green all made their debut.

In 2003, those players, the best of the 100 or so from the previous year, formed the core of the Canadian team at the world under-18 tournament.

By 2005, the group was augmented by Sidney Crosby, Brent Seabrook, Cam Barker and Shea Weber and beat the world for gold at the world junior championship in North Dakota. By then they had played together for four years in competitive elite tournaments. They were well coached, knew what to expect and were as ready as any team of 19 year olds could be.

Olympic core group?

So now fast forward to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. The decisions Team Canada general manager Steve Yzerman will make are going to be difficult. There are so many candidates for few spots on the Canadian team that it’s inevitable excellent players will be left out.

Inevitably though, many of the prominent Canadian players will be from that group that grew up together and played for Canada as teenagers. Getzlaf, Phaneuf, Weber, Carter, Crosby and Green could all be on the team with others who, like them, will be playing in their fourth or fifth major international competition.

While other countries have picked up the game and introduced great teaching methods, no country has made a greater improvement than Canada over the last two decades. Canadians can now “beat ‘em in the rink and in the alley.”

And perhaps Howie Meeker can finally rest his case.

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