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Team Canada cuts Harvard's Leblanc and UMD's Olsen

Re: Team Canada cuts Harvard's Leblanc and UMD's Olsen

DaTruthinDaluth said:
In theory.. that may be partially correct... but still, there is a nasty smell coming from Canadian Junior Hockey and I still think there is another agenda in the mix. Just my take
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I think you're giving the CHL too much credit. Hockey Canada is ultimately responsible for the Under-20 team, and they are under intense pressure to deliver a gold medal team every year. I know - I'm one of those fans that has watched every Canadian game of every World Junior tournament every Christmas to New Years going back to the 80's, including getting up at 5:00 am to watch games from Europe. And there are millions of Canadians just like me.

The World Juniors are HUGE in Canada, second only to the Stanley Cup and the Olympics (which are every four years of course). If you're not a Canadian, I don't know if you can appreciate how big a deal it is north of the border. One small example: my sister and mother hardly ever watch an NHL game, even during the playoffs, but they hardly miss a World Junior game on TV ...

So like I said, tremendous pressure to get the team right. If a great player is in the NCAA, he plays, like Jonathan Toews -- who will forever be a hero in Canada for his World Juniors performance a few years ago. Team Canada even ignores the political niceties of trying to balance the WHL, OHL and QMJHL contribution evenly, and catches heat for it ... until the games are on and Canada is winning.

It is all that matters.
 
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Re: Team Canada cuts Harvard's Leblanc and UMD's Olsen

FreddyFoyle said:
So like I said, tremendous pressure to get the team right. If a great player is in the NCAA, he plays, like Jonathan Toews -- who will forever be a hero in Canada for his World Juniors performance a few years ago.
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Stupid Frazee. Can you stop a single shot from Toews? :mad:
 
Re: Team Canada cuts Harvard's Leblanc and UMD's Olsen

At least it gave Johnny the opportunity to swear on television. That was a plus.
 
Re: Team Canada cuts Harvard's Leblanc and UMD's Olsen

Louis Leblanc came to camp with all of 8 games played this year. Blame his ridiculous ECAC schedule just the same way Riley Nash was so far behind his CHL counterparts last year at camp time.

Olsen was the last defenceman cut. My understanding is that it came down to him and Calvin de Haan.

this is the first time since 1997 (other than during the lockout and that don't count for obvious reasons) that there is zero NCAA content on Team Canada. There is no bias, but the NCAA guys are at a disadvantage because they play half as many games (or a quarter if you're ECAC) than the CHL guys.
 
Re: Team Canada cuts Harvard's Leblanc and UMD's Olsen

GuyF said:
Louis Leblanc came to camp with all of 8 games played this year. Blame his ridiculous ECAC schedule just the same way Riley Nash was so far behind his CHL counterparts last year at camp time.

Olsen was the last defenceman cut. My understanding is that it came down to him and Calvin de Haan.

this is the first time since 1997 (other than during the lockout and that don't count for obvious reasons) that there is zero NCAA content on Team Canada. There is no bias, but the NCAA guys are at a disadvantage because they play half as many games (or a quarter if you're ECAC) than the CHL guys.
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Guy:

You are a smart hockey man with a wonderful hockey show. You also have a better grasp of the US college game than most Canadians do.

But I think your answer here needs more scrutiny. Major Junior kids do play more games, but I don't think that really, in and of itself, puts anyone more ahead or behind anyone else. First, the uber talented player in either system is going to stand out no matter where he plays. Secondly, the NCAA players get more practice time than the major junior players do. When you talk to elite coaches, at least as many value practice time at this level as just as important as games for the development of the position player.

What it comes down to is this - Hockey Canada has a vested interest in developing the major junior player, because that is the primary development system in the country. I get that, and that's why there will always be more MJ players on Team Canada. That's what the NHL wants, that's what the CHL wants and that's the way it should be in Canada. There are also more major junior players to choose from than college players.

For the Canadian coaches, they will never be faulted for picking the MJ player over a college player. But if they do pick a college player, he really needs to be that much better to take the slot from an MJ guy competing for the same slot. The fact that only three college players were even invited to camp tells you everything you want to know about their preference for MJ players.

In other words, I don't think MJ players are more "ahead" of NCAA players by virtue of the number of games played - I think Hockey Canada chooses more of them because the talent pool is larger and because its in their interest to pick players from the development system in their own country.
 
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Re: Team Canada cuts Harvard's Leblanc and UMD's Olsen

GuyF said:
There is no bias, but the NCAA guys are at a disadvantage because they play half as many games (or a quarter if you're ECAC) than the CHL guys.
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Yeah, Toews certainly showed that disadvantage a few years ago. Same with Parise on the US team a few years before that. ;)

I agree that I doubt there is a bias...most teams will want to pick the best players that will give them the best shot at winning. But I doubt the number of games plays any part of it. If a player is highly skilled like these youngsters are...playing in 40 games or 20 games isn't going to make that big of a difference at all. :)
 
Re: Team Canada cuts Harvard's Leblanc and UMD's Olsen

Crap, Swami beat me to it by a whole minute.
And his answer was more thought-out and better stated.

Once again, I bow to the Swami. :o
 
Re: Team Canada cuts Harvard's Leblanc and UMD's Olsen

brianvf said:
Crap, Swami beat me to it by a whole minute.
And his answer was more thought-out and better stated.
Click to expand...
Its almost like watching Gwozdecky outcoaching Hakstol, but without the thrill of defeating North Dakota. :D
 
Re: Team Canada cuts Harvard's Leblanc and UMD's Olsen

GuyF said:
Louis Leblanc came to camp with all of 8 games played this year. Blame his ridiculous ECAC schedule just the same way Riley Nash was so far behind his CHL counterparts last year at camp time.

Olsen was the last defenceman cut. My understanding is that it came down to him and Calvin de Haan.

this is the first time since 1997 (other than during the lockout and that don't count for obvious reasons) that there is zero NCAA content on Team Canada. There is no bias, but the NCAA guys are at a disadvantage because they play half as many games (or a quarter if you're ECAC) than the CHL guys.
Click to expand...

For once it isn't the ECAC that is to blame. Even though they play hockey in the ECAC, the Ivy League dictates when their member teams can begin play, not the ECAC. The non-Ivy ECAC teams - Q'pac, Colgate, RPI, Clarkson, Union, SLU - play a full D1 compliment of early games.
 
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Re: Team Canada cuts Harvard's Leblanc and UMD's Olsen

GuyF said:
Louis Leblanc came to camp with all of 8 games played this year. Blame his ridiculous ECAC schedule just the same way Riley Nash was so far behind his CHL counterparts last year at camp time.

Olsen was the last defenceman cut. My understanding is that it came down to him and Calvin de Haan.

this is the first time since 1997 (other than during the lockout and that don't count for obvious reasons) that there is zero NCAA content on Team Canada. There is no bias, but the NCAA guys are at a disadvantage because they play half as many games (or a quarter if you're ECAC) than the CHL guys.
Click to expand...

Why would they want to take worn-out, tired MJ guys when they could take fresh, better-rested college players?

Dylan Olsen being cut is one thing, whatever, but Leblanc honestly surprised me. The Canadians could not climax fast enough over him at the draft. I suppose because they still thought he would trade a Harvard education for MJs.
 
Re: Team Canada cuts Harvard's Leblanc and UMD's Olsen

Hey maybe I didn;t make my point clear because I wasn't trying to slam NCAA players. I went out of my way to point out that THERE IS NO BIAS because this is the first time in 13 years there isn't a NCAA player on the team.

Toews, Cammalleri, Heatley, Turris... lots of big contributors over the years.

But they ARE at a disadvantage coming into camp with less game action than their CHL countrymen. Those guys were just good enough to overcome that disadvantage.

Look at it this way... Who is more prepared for the tournament? Louis Leblanc with 8 games played or Louis Leblanc with 35 games played? Honestly tell me that the first Leblanc is more in mid-season form than the latter.

That is my point. Pat Quinn (Canada's captain last year) said that was the case with Riley Nash.

This is not about CHL/NCAA... which is a better path to the NHL. It's simply about a 10 day U20 tournament.

I also think it's pretty telling that Team USA is adding more and more CHL content every year. I think it's for 2 reasons: there are more and more top quality Americans playing in the CHL and that USA Hockey is identifying them as having the ability to help USA challenge.

Jim Johannson was on the show this week and pretty much said that was the case.

Those of you that are familiar with The Pipeline Show know that we are anything but Canadians who thumb our nose at the NCAA game. Far from it. But for the WJC... is it beyond reasonable doubt that this might actually be a reason that the U.S. always fails to live up to expectations? (aside from that 1 gold medal).
 
Re: Team Canada cuts Harvard's Leblanc and UMD's Olsen

Honestly, the US didn't live up to expectations last year because they had a goalie whose "mid-season form" couldn't stop a beach ball. Plus, they got bullied into taking Tyler Johnson who brought absolutely nothing and Eric Tangradi who was worse than nothing, putting his stick into that Canada guy's face after a goal.

I have a hard time believing more guys like that is the answer.
 
Re: Team Canada cuts Harvard's Leblanc and UMD's Olsen

Runninwiththedogs said:
Why would they want to take worn-out, tired MJ guys when they could take fresh, better-rested college players?

Dylan Olsen being cut is one thing, whatever, but Leblanc honestly surprised me. The Canadians could not climax fast enough over him at the draft. I suppose because they still thought he would trade a Harvard education for MJs.
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I do not agree with you there my friend.

Not one other team had any interest in leblanc at that level and Montreal would not have either if he was not a French Canadian kid. They picked him at that level, in front of the hometown fans because the Montreal Candian fans are predjudiced against all players but French Canadians. He is a good player but several selected after him, John Moore for one will have far superior NHL carears and Montreal knows it.

He didnt make the team because he is not good enough, period. Very good player, should do very well at harvard but compared to the top F's they had to pick from, he is not there. Eberlee is 2 levels above him and he is not even there top F
 
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