Honestly this will be more of a sh*tpost/rant about yet another letdown from Canada against the Czechs.
The bright side: Parekh and Reschny looking great once again; they even helped contribute a goal on the same play together! How cool! Even Tij Iginla was great with his goal as well!
But yet so many problems kept arising during this game…
The turnovers, the questionable defensive positioning, the costly penalties (sure the refs weren’t great tonight, but so many of Canada’s penalties were self-inflicted wounds).
Honestly I’m starting to grow cold/lose a bit of hype over Gavin McKenna . Besides his hat trick game against Denmark, he hasn’t exactly blown my socks off in terms of his overall play; honestly the “tank for McKenna” crowd should have reservations about drafting him because as of this moment, I’m not impressed by what I’m seeing from him.
Czechs are living rent free in Canada’s heads, and I’m starting to get sick of it.
See you tomorrow [at 2:30 PM MT] as Canada tries to salvage a bronze medal vs Finland.
18 comments
Sooooo… tank for Stenberg?
Are you not gonna mention Parekhs poor defense or Reschny blowing up the goalie to seal it for the Czechs
Parekh pulling up at centre for that empty netter was a bad look
He’s just turned 18, has clear vision, IQ, hands and has a decent shot, he just needs to put on some mass that he doesn’t have right now.
I don’t think he’ll be Bedard or Celebrini but both struggled physically in either the WJC (Celebrini) or Bedard (NHL), and Celebrini and Schaefer looked really raw but good in their WJC games.
I’d easily take the gamble on him, he’s very good from the perimeter and isn’t as good at attacking the middle this year due to the size difference in the NCAA.
Hage deked himself out twice on those penalty shot attempts.
I don’t know why people can’t just admit that Parekh has shown some very questionable efforts defensively this tournament.
Leading in points is nice but on plays like that empty netter he just didn’t look like he was giving 100%, and there have been other plays also that just seemed a little laxsidadical.
Good offense but he’s going to need to show way more passion to be an NHL star.
I am not questioning whether McKenna is going to be an excellent player at the NHL level but the more I watch him the more doubts I have that he would be a good fit for the Flames. This isn’t even a question of skill or talent as much as it is about how the kind of team and culture the Flames generally try to develop.
As a general rule, the Flames want an identity of being an incredibly hard working 2 way team with a physical edge. While not all players have to be that physical, they all have to be willing to buy into team defense and contribute to the best of their ability. McKenna seems more like an offense only perimeter player who shys away from physical play. This doesn’t make him a bad player but is almost certainly the kind of player who would struggle in Calgary.
Considering how Czech’s have been Canada’s worst nightmare the past of couple years, I was hoping for more fire from us.
Regardless, no diss to Parekh and Rescheny. Could they have been better, yes; but we still got some decent play from them
Maybe we can get Stenberg at 1 and McKenna with the Vegas pick.
I have loved Reschny all tournament and he had a great game today but he absolutely made a mistake going through the goalie there.
Yes he gets a little contact, but he does nothing to stop himself. I’m assuming he was trying to draw a penalty but he was a terrible way to go about it. They had already called two GI penalties this game.
GeNEraTioNAl TalEnT.
This is what team tank doesn’t get. There truly is no such thing as a consensus 1OA. Generational players come around once in a – _checks notes_ – generation?
It’s a numbers game, get lots of first rounders and then _develop_ them.
Team tank seems to forget that we’ll have had 4 first rounders in 2 years (2025 & 2026) and one of the top development programs in the Wranglers getting these guys NHL-ready, but they’re still disgruntled because none of them have that magic #1, 2, or 3 OA beside their names.
Your draft pedigree doesn’t matter nearly as much as what your system can do to turn picks into NHL players. Drafting McKenna (or whoever else goes in the top 3) doesn’t magically solve problems.
We drafted Sam Bennett at 4OA (he was actually the consensus #1 most of that season until he failed to do a pull-up at the combine) and completely mismanaged his development. In contrast, we drafted Johnny Gaudreau in the 4th round and brought him along slowly. Which would you rather have? Development matters more than drafting high
Z.
Zayne’s a wonderful talent and I was impressed with his offensive instincts and ability all tournament long, but I think he has ways to go with his defensive game, and that’s okay! Many offensive d-men take time to develop that in the NHL, and hopefully Zayne does improve in that area over time.
Between the roster choices the last two years and the absolute dog water attitude the players were showing in this tournament I think Hockey Canada needs a clear out. I won’t even go into the trial that had 5 juniors thrown out of the NHL (obviously some are back now)
To those complaining about Parekh turning out to be like Bouchard, I implore you to go look at Bouchard’s playoff production.
As a former player myself who have skated with some of the guys on this team before. I’m glad they got humbled, completely undisciplined…. Not surprised one bit at how much antics, acting like pre Madonna’s, not taking anything seriously, taking stupid penalties we all saw…. A lot of classless behaviour, especially in the warm ups. That’s not who we’re supposed to be. The culture these guys brought with them and leadership that allows all this nonsense to happen is the culprit, no doubt in my mind.
It’s important to take these games with a grain of salt. It’s exciting because we get a look at players that we don’t often get to see, and see them against their age group. However, these handful of games really shouldn’t inform sweeping opinions on any player. We all knew Zayne needs to work on the defensive side, this isn’t a surprise, it’s been talked about for a long time. Let’s also keep in mind Zayne just got healthy in time for this tournament, and was likely playing hurt down the stretch in Calgary. This was an opportunity for Parekh to get his swagger back, find some confidence, and represent himself well against his peers. He did all of that and showed he’s one of the best offensive players at the Jr. level. The Flames need elite skill more than anything and Parekh has got it in spades. Let’s not miss the forest for the trees here.
Reschny looked very capable, didn’t shy away from the dirty areas, was relied upon in big moments, and I think is getting more trust as the tournament has gone on.
Both players looked solid and we should be excited to see how their development continues.
Yukonapov