Re: 2018 USA Olympic Women's Hockey Team
I have to admit that your post made me laugh. I don't agree with everything you say but do see some of the same issues you mention. Some older players do not belong. Some younger players definitely do not belong. As for leadership, Poulin is one of the most respected female hockey players in the world, on and off the ice so do not get your comments on the Captain. The coach is obviously under a lot of pressure and you can see it in her body language. It's not good. This team feels entitled and has become a click like most of the other HC programs. Things need to change and winning the Olympics again will lead to the status quo. Maybe you are best to leave things alone and let the future results determine next steps. I simply can't see the US losing again unless Canada catches them on an off night like they did in Boston.
i hope that meaghan mikkelson does not make the Olympic team only because she is meaghan mikkelson, 2-time olympic gold medalist. I am sorry to say this but i think she may have the worst shot in women's hockey.
A skilled player and respectful nicey nice humanitarian a great captain one does not automatically make. I am sorry to say again, because i don't like meghan duggan, but I watched a post game interview with her and she sounds like a captain. Like, I would not doubt the fact that she is captain of team USA if i had not known of this fact earlier. captains do not have to be well liked at all in the dressing room. Look at wickenheiser and what she was able to do. respect is better. in fact, i would be awfully concerned if captains were too well-liked. captains are there to rally the troops, to organize and be tough and win, not play cat's cradle afterwards.
i hate to say this but i think that team canada women's giving of the C to poulin after Sochi was a symbolic move.
Now I don't know what exactly goes on in the players' heads. But the problem is, since wickenheiser and the grizzled veterans all left the team after Sochi, i believe there was a collective sigh of relief. if true, which I think is, then that is deeply concerning. the players, especially those who won in Sochi for the first time, i believe got arrogant and cocky and they think they run the prison now even though that sochi win was a total fluke. I do not know what goes in the players' heads. but Jenner and Spooner look horrible out there and what i see from those two is a total lack of discipline and focus out there. some cannot stick handle in the offensive zone to save their lives. so it is not surprising that Rebecca Johnston and Agosta are the best players on team Canada who have been consistently producing thus far, and those two are the most veteran members of the team (who have played with the likes of wickenheiser, ouellette, hefford for the longest times). Agosta played with wickenheiser and was her formidable linemate in sochi, even.
this team will need 29 year old Rebecca Johnston and 31 year old Meghan Agosta to show the way along with 30 year old haley irwin (who i hope will be given the captaincy).
the era of wickenheiser and ouellette yielded many great and victorious returns for the culture of the team canada women's program. sadly, with wickenheiser gone, the first time sochi winners are jockeying for leadership positions who i believe are turning the culture of this team into the dumpster fire that it currently is. perhaps true, perhaps not, but i think the former.
how is this any different than other people the same age?
Because it is distracting and detracting from the continually worsening product they are putting out on the ice. sometimes, i do not know from looking at the team social media page if they are on their way to participate in a christmas paegaent or if they are on their way to play USA. but if they think that it is elevating the profile of the women's game, and attracting teeny-boppers is an objective of theirs to appeal to grassroots hockey members, then that is their prerogative. personally, i think that a more concrete way to elevate the profile of the game would be to win? There are many opportunities to do so. Like maybe winning against your biggest rivals in a hometown world championships, like in Kamloops British Columbia in 2016? That would elevate the game and reach their desired audience. but no, they are so bad that selfie stick culture reigns.
the teeny bopper stuff in social media is detracting from their crap on-ice performance. It is obvious by the way in which the canadian media is now drinking the kool-aid (i just cannot read another fluff piece on spooner again, it is as if the journalists had never watched women's hockey before or watched knight) rather than holding their horrible performances accountable. there is such lack of thoughtful critical journalism regarding the worsening state of the team. this team is a dumpster fire right now and the cutesy selfie stick culture is pulling the wool over the eyes of many, sadly.
