World Junior Hockey Championship: Canadian Disappointment

World Junior Hockey Championship (WJC): Canada Falls in Quarterfinals

World Junior Hockey Championship continued on Saturday with cross-over Quarterfinals after an exciting preliminary round. Finishing third in Group A, Canada drew host country Finland. Only one of these pre-tournament favorites would emerge to the Semifinals, with gold medal aspirations. A high-scoring affair offered end-to-end excitement, but the Fins ultimately won 6-5.

More from International Tournaments

• This city needs a PWHL franchise as soon as possible
• The New Original Six Teams of the PWHL has been revealed
• The 2023 World Juniors Gold Medal Game Is Officially Set
• WJC 2021: Three Takeaways as Team USA take Gold in shutout
• WJC 2021: Three mouthwatering matchups to watch in Gold Medal Showdown

There’s been years where Canada brings a roster of players that seems destined for gold, but tends to fall short. 2016 wasn’t one of those. Writing was on the wall for this team long before they ever suited up for their first loss against the Americans. The reason this team failed is a slew of continuous bad decisions.

Lowry Named Coach

Back in March 2015, Dave Lowry, coach of WHL’s Victoria Royals, was named as Team Canada’s Head Coach for the 2016 World Junior Hockey Championship. Lowry was an assistant coach for 2015’s Gold Medal team. He’s had success in the WHL (winning coach of the year in 2013-14), but his coaching resume is hardly impressive. His lack of playoff success behind the bench as head coach is concerning. It’s not an attack on Dave Lowry’s coaching abilities, just simply pointing out that better options were certainly available.

Selection Process

Error number two falls partially on Hockey Canada, but largely on Dave Lowry and his management group in the team selection process. The initial 30-man invite list released back at the beginning of December featured most of the countries best players. Surprises unfolded at each round of roster cuts it seemed. Early on, defenseman Jakob Chychrun and forward Michael Dal Colle were among the earliest cuts (both baffling). Later on, defenseman Noah Juulsen, forwards Nick Merkley and Jayce Hawryluk made for surprise cuts.

Two players that looked out-of-place for Team Canada were forwards Rourke Chartier and Julien Gauthier. It’s not a knock on either player, but Chartier was a late-round draft pick, while Gauthier is expected to go in the top half of the first round at next summer’s draft. Better options were available.

Among notable omissions from the initial 30-man roster were:

Conner Bleackley, Red Deer (Colorado)
Josh Ho-Sang, Niagara (NY Islanders) – Character Questions Seem to Have Landed Him on Hockey Canada’s Red-Flag List
Eric Cornel, Peterborough (Buffalo)
Brett Pollock, Edmonton (Dallas)
Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Val d’Or (Philadelphia)
Brycen Martin (D), Everett (Buffalo)
Dylan Sadowy, Saginaw (San Jose)
Jake DeBrusk, Red Deer (Boston)
Zach Senyshyn, Sault Ste. Marie (Boston)
Ryan Gropp, Seattle (NY Rangers)
Jansen Harkins, Prince George (Winnipeg)

It almost seems like Dave Lowry and company were aiming to select a team with overwhelming offensive talent. The blueline, full of mobile puck-moving defenseman, that play two-way styles. Up front, a cast of forwards known for filling the score-sheet with their respective junior clubs. But there’s two problems with that: 1) the best talent in that regard wasn’t even selected 2) that make-up leaves distinct defensive holes (that were exposed by SWE and USA)

Coaching Errors

Constant line juggling throughout the tournament was evidence that Dave Lowry struggled to find chemistry. This suggests there was too much of the same dimension up-front.

Canada constantly misused and mismanaged its players minutes and roles. On the back-end, Joe Hicketts played well, but was leaned on far too often. Yes he’s the only returnee (on defense), but he also plays for Lowry in Victoria (even though his penalty led to the go-ahead goal, it’s difficult to blame the player for shooting the puck over the glass). Based on his defensive skills, Brandon Hickey should have logged the most minutes of any blueliner.

Up front, Dave Lowry relied far too heavily on Jake VIrtanen and Brendan Perlini. What was supposed to be an experience to build on heading back to the NHL after the World Junior Hockey Championship, turned into a nightmare for Jake Virtanen against Finland, after an already disappointing tournament. Two inexplicable late game mental lapses put him in the penalty box, ultimately leading to the Canadian defeat.

Next: New York Islanders Scoring Struggles

Wrap-Up

It’s easy to point the finger after all is said and done. If this team had done well, fans and experts would be singing a very different tune. But, it’s not often the future can be predicted before Team Canada ever suits up for its first preliminary game. Perhaps Hockey Canada will have learnt from this experience. More attention needs to be paid to the selection of the coaching staff and its players moving forward.