I just find it too hard to keep inside what I think half the hockey world, might be missing about the promotional gimmick that was the outdoor Canada/U.S. World Jr. game yesterday.
Going in, it seemed like Canada had all the advantages. They didn't play the day before, while the U.S. DID. They are used to playing out in the cold, most of the team being from Alberta and Ontario, while the U.S. has two players from Florida. Most are from Minnesota, Michigan and Missouri, but two guys from Florida? That's gotta be an advantage for Canada, right?
Well the thing about an outdoor game is you're at the mercy of the elements. I heard beforehand that if there was too much snow, they were going to cancel the game and bring it indoors. There was too much snow. So why did they carry on? Why do I ask this question all the time? The answer is always the same. Why does anything wrong, evil, stupid, ridiculous EVER happen? 99% of the time you can trace it back to money. The other 1% of the time the money is just better hidden.
The attendance record for a World Jr. hockey game was broken. Despite the 401 being a parking lot due to a burning truck. And I'm sure the weather kept some away. I heard it was -10, with snow, and who knows what the wind chill factor might have been? Folks, I have played hundreds, maybe thousands of hours of outdoor hockey. I doubt there were many of those boys, if any, who've played more. I haven't played much indoors though. But I have played enough to tell you everything you need to know about playing outdoors, compared to indoors. It's apples and bowling balls. Even if the icemakers try their best, they're not going to be able to duplicate the conditions of a nice indoor ice surface outside. When I was young and indoor ice surfaces were getting more popular, we actually called it "artificial" ice surface. What that meant was the ice freezes from the bottom. The floor is refrigerated, not the air. It makes for a much nicer ice surface that doesn't break off in hunks making holes and ruts that cause bad bounces and players to fall. If you watched closely, (although, who am I kidding, how could you?), you saw several bad bounces and players falling, some in the identical spots.
What this does is it makes people slow down. You don't want to hit a rut at full speed and fly into the boards head first, especially before you are even into the elimination round of the tournament. What was the one word that was used to sum up this year's Canadian Jr. team? SPEED. So there went that! Team Canada's fastest skaters were not only cautiously avoiding ruts and holes in the ice surface, they were skating through the same slush as everyone else.
When I say slush, I'm not just talking about the snow, I am speaking literally. When snow gathers on outdoor ice, it melts into slush and slows the ice a gums it up so not just the skating but anything you want to do with the puck will be at significantly slower speeds.
This brings up the real reason this publicity stunt didn't really work. The weather. It was almost as if God decided from on high that the Americans were not going to repeat the collective heart shattering of Canadian hockey fans by beating them AGAIN in the most hockeyless of manners: the shootout. But listen to God, the tournament organizers did NOT! Dollar signs cha- chinging in their eyes, they let the snow pile up and the game become more and more simple and boring.
I saw a few times, especially behind the net when players converged on the puck and blew snow as they stopped completely obscuring sticks, skates and pucks. I saw players shoot or pass and lift good amounts of snow behind the puck. There is a penalty for skating in on the goalie, stopping fast and giving him a snow shower. This was unavoidable, so not called as the goalies got a good blast of snow, ice and frozen spit every time there was a close play around the net. Along the edge of the boards the snow built up and a few passes or dumps around the boards were significantly slowed by it or actually bounced off the boards and out into the regular ice surface. Every bit of passing and stick-handling was slogged down by the snow as though they were playing in slush. This SEVERELY limits good passing plays and skilled stick handling. It makes the passes short, limits creativity and slugs down the pace like a burning truck on the 401.
Tell me who you thought the player of the game for Canada was. Did you notice ANY player? They named the goalie player of the game. Maybe feeling sorry for all the snow blown in his face. Skill is a rarity in conditions like this. It gets to the point that you play your usual game and just HOPE the snow doesn't mess up what you are tying to do. Essentially the game comes down to the team that snow affects the least. Now you can argue that both teams are playing in the same elements and the better team will create more chances and the snow will mess up less of them for the better team. Yes, I agree, if the teams are not evenly matched. But evenly matched teams in the snow are just depending on luck to get their skill plays completed. And, like the shootout, I hate this because luck is not what the game should be decided upon. Skill is what should be the difference and in this game, it wasn't. But, hey, at least they made a ton of money and the fans had fun and it brought some attention to hockey in America. There we go with that "At least" thinking again. At best, this game could, and should, have been played indoors.
I'll tell you another thing, and I noticed this in pre-tournament play, the thing Canada has going for it more than any team in this tournament, and the thing that will probably win it for them if they do win it, is depth. There is STILL nobody who can say which of the lines are number one two or three. There may be an agreed upon fourth line, but they are still getting as much ice time as the other three. How many teams have 13 different goal scorers? This I LIKE!!! Even though I would like to see Thomas and Raddysh as the tournament scoring leaders, and think they could be if their line was favoured like EVERY other team favours their top lines, the one big advantage the Canadians have when they roll all four lines consistently every single game, is by the end of the game, their players are not tired or injured. And, by the end of the tournament, their players are not tired or injured. And with a speedy team, you don't want them tired. With ANY team you don't want injuries. It's the right strategy and you won't hear me say this ever, but it's the genius, or, ahem, if you will, the "charme" of the coaching staff this year in my opinion.
Regularly stop the play for snow removal, or for some ridiculous end change, and you completely negate this advantage. Nobody gets tired on either side this way. And with the poor ice and visibility, the player safety is also compromised. I finished watching the game a little bit irked that the Americans had won in a shootout again, (well, okay a LOT irked), ((We're talking major irkage)), but I was relieved that there didn't appear to be any major injuries. I don't think.
I heard the announcers saying that they interviewed the players and they were all saying it was hard to call the game because it was hard to see. The players usually retorted with something like, "You're telling me! I was playing it and I couldn't see!" The spectators couldn't see either, but they all had a few nips to combat the cold so they didn't mind too much. The people watching on TV were treated to some of the worst footage of a big hockey game since Foster Hewitt was announcing. And I could hear his voice saying, "Hello Canada and hockey fans in the United States, you can't see it, but I assure you, there's a whale of a game going on here!"
With all due respect to the resurrected Foster Hewitt, it wasn't a whale of a game. It wasn't even a guppy of a game. It sucked. And to all those people who are trying to build up the hockey viewership in the States, stop it! Just because it was close, doesn't make it a good game. If you had the Globetrotters and the Washington Generals playing in that weather, THAT would have been a close game too. The Generals could even win. You folla?
The worst thing about that game was half way through, because they're young kids, and because of the tremendous expectations thrust upon them, it seemed like every member of the Canadian team started questioning their games and their abilities. It was just the weather. They were not the problem. Even part of the game today against the Danish team, they were slower and more careful and making the sure passes, not taking chances, like they were playing in the snow. I think by the end of the 8-0, (really 9-0), win, the players had their confidence back. Let's hope they keep it for the rest of the tournament. And the organizers don't arrange a scrub game against the 1980 American Olympic Miracle On Ice team. You know, just to promote hockey in the U.S.
As I said, I, and most avid hockey players of my generation, have way more experience than today's hockey players with the outdoor game, and in weather like that, even though nobody loves to get together with friends and play some puck any more than I do, I probably would have gone home and had some hot chocolate.
THIS AIN'T OVER!!!
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