Putting Canada’s Turin failure in perspective

Originally published on IHWC.NET in 2006

By Lucas Aykroyd

There’s no way around it. Finishing seventh at the Turin Olympics after losing three 2-0 games was the worst failure in Canadian hockey history. Just go down the list.

In 1954, the Soviet Union shocked the world by thumping Canada 7-2 to clinch its first-ever IIHF World Championship. But Canada was represented by the comparatively weak East York Lyndhursts, a Senior B champion from the Toronto area, and was totally unprepared for the skill and speed of the Soviets–unlike 2006.

In 1972, Canada lost 7-3 to the Russians in the Montreal opener of the Summit Series. But poor scouting, complacency, and insufficient physical conditioning undermined the NHLers, and in any case, they responded to the national outcry and won the series in Moscow on Paul Henderson’s last-minute goal–unlike 2006.

In 1979, the Canadian-laden NHL All-Stars fell 6-0 to the USSR in the third and deciding game of the Challenge Cup at Madison Square Garden, but had scored four goals in each of the previous games–unlike 2006.

In 1981, the host team surrendered its Canada Cup title to the Soviets in an 8-1 defeat marked by Sergei Shepelev’s hat trick and Vladislav Tretiak’s 26 saves. But Canada had dominated almost all its games before the final, giving up just one point in a 4-4 tie with Sweden–unlike 2006.

In 1984, Canada was shut out three times in Olympic play, much like in Turin. But the only notable offensive talents it had were youngsters such as Russ Courtnall, Kevin Dineen, and Kirk Muller–unlike 2006.

In 1996, Canadians agonized over losing the inaugural World Cup to the USA, but all three final games were hard-fought, and the elite American generation of Brett Hull, John LeClair, and Mike Richter was at its peak–unlike 2006.

In 1998, Canada won four straight games at the Nagano Olympics and only narrowly succumbed to Dominik Hasek’s Czechs in a semi-final shootout–unlike 2006.

At contemporary IIHF World Championships, the red Maple Leaf has also endured its share of woes over the years. The goonish deportment of the 1977 squad that lost 11-1 and 8-1 to the Soviets was a lowlight. 1992’s eighth-place finish and the 2002 sixth-place team didn’t get Canadians jumping for joy either. Yet these missteps pale next to Turin, where $97.9 million US in NHL salaries couldn’t deliver a medal.

Interestingly, though, the motherland of the sport has absorbed February’s fiasco with relative equanimity. There have been no calls for another national hockey summit like the one after Nagano, no allegations that Canada’s skill level has fallen light years behind Europe’s. Perhaps it’s because the Canadians played so poorly after their first two wins over Italy and Germany that this has to be viewed as an anomaly. (The blow was also cushioned by Canada’s posting strong results in other Olympic sports.)

So what went wrong? Well, let’s start by identifying who shouldn’t be blamed.

First, don’t blame Wayne Gretzky. The Great One can only be questioned for selecting a roster that leaned a bit too heavily on experience rather than current hotness or youthful vitality. But realistically, most Canadians would have picked similar rosters, perhaps differing by four or five players, especially with blueline injuries factored in. Gretzky had every right to expect better production from stars like Dany Heatley and Joe Thornton, who would have been chosen no matter who did the picking. The gambling allegations surrounding the Team Canada GM were a non-factor once the Olympics got underway.

Second, don’t blame Todd Bertuzzi. Sure, the hulking power forward was in the sin bin for interfering with Sergei Gonchar when Alexander Ovechkin scored the winning goal for Russia in the quarter-finals, and he makes an easy scapegoat. But Bertuzzi’s penalty was just one of nine minors Canada took in the game. When Ovechkin scored, Canada had 18 minutes and 30 seconds left to tie it up, but couldn’t. (Similarly, in the 1986 Smythe Division finals, Edmonton defenseman Steve Smith put the puck in his own net in Game Seven, giving Calgary the eventual game-winner. But the Oilers could have tied it up in the remaining 14 minutes and 46 seconds, which they squandered.) Bertuzzi had a pretty disciplined tournament, finishing with 6 PIM in total. He was just a little out of his element, not having lit it up internationally since tallying a hat trick versus Japan in his last IIHF World Championship (2000). There was nothing that recalled his March 2004 assault on Steve Moore in NHL action, and the fact that Moore’s lawyer launched a new lawsuit against the Vancouver veteran during the Olympics was out of his control.

Third, don’t blame the goalies. Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo both played well in Turin, even if they didn’t shine as brightly as Henrik Lundqvist or Antero Niittymaki. Few would claim that things would have turned out differently if Marty Turco or Curtis Joseph had been the starter. Brodeur’s final save percentage was .923 and Luongo’s was .928, elite numbers that would normally carry a team far. Neither goalie had what you’d call a “bad game” in the entire tournament.

Countless other things went wrong. No forwards stepped up in the leadership department in the absence of Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman, even though many expected this group to perform better than the 2002 Olympic or 2004 World Cup champions. Experienced defensemen like Adam Foote, Chris Pronger, and Bryan McCabe often looked too immobile for the big ice surface, and the loss of Scott Niedermayer proved to be an irreplaceable one. The players never developed chemistry, seemingly incapable of exploiting the extra room and not delivering a crash-and-bang Canadian style either. Failing to score in 11 out of the last 12 periods speaks for itself. This was a team loss.

The tournament showed that adding up the number of big-name NHL players on a roster isn’t the best predictor of international success. Finland’s Ville Peltonen didn’t stick with San Jose or Nashville, but the shifty Swiss League ace was a far more effective Olympian than Jarome Iginla or Rick Nash. The same goes for Fredrik Norrena, Kenny Jonsson, Evgeni Malkin, and Yevgeniy Koreshkov.

In 2010, Canada would be wise to rely more on guys who consistently hone their international hockey skills by suiting up at the IIHF World Championships when possible. Daniel Briere and Shawn Horcoff are good examples, and Sidney Crosby deserves credit for taking advantage of his first opportunity.

Here’s one way for Canadians to put it all in perspective: it’s harder to win an Olympic or World Championship title today than it was to win a Stanley Cup in the old six-team NHL that existed until 1967.

There are now seven international teams who all have a legitimate chance, to varying degrees, of capturing an IIHF gold medal, and nations like Switzerland, Belarus, and Latvia can also upset superior opponents.

From 1942-43 to 1966-67, four out of the six NHL clubs made the semi-finals each year. Over that 25-year span, the regular-season champion had 30 or more points than the last-place team on 24 occasions, reflecting large gaps in ability and performance. The New York Rangers were almost never a threat to win the Stanley Cup, only appearing in the finals in 1950, while Montreal, Toronto, and Detroit dominated.

In contrast, the last three Olympic finals have featured six different nations: Czech Republic vs. Russia (1998), Canada vs. USA (2002), and Sweden vs. Finland (2006).

And another thing to keep in mind: everybody chokes sometimes.

“Choke” is considered a dirty word in sports. But what does the term actually mean? The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as “[failing] to perform effectively because of nervous agitation or tension, especially in an athletic contest.”

The Russians did it at the 2000 IIHF World Championship, finishing 11th on home ice. The Swedes did it at the 2002 Olympics, dropping a 4-3 shocker to Belarus in their first elimination game. The Finns did it at the 2003 Worlds, grabbing a 5-1 lead but losing 6-5 to Sweden in the quarter-finals in Helsinki. The Czechs did it at the 2004 Worlds, using most of their top talent versus a journeyman-laden USA squad but falling 3-2 in a quarter-final shootout in Prague.

Why should Team Canada be immune?

After dropping two straight shutouts to Switzerland and Finland, Gretzky indicated to reporters that nervous tension and agitation were at the root of Canada’s problems: “You can feel it in the locker room. You can see it in their eyes. We need to loosen them up out there. We need to have some fun out there. If you’re not enjoying the game and you’re not having fun, it’s hard to make a five-foot pass.”

It brings to mind what Vancouver Canucks captain Markus Naslund candidly told fans at GM Place after a 2-0 season-closing loss to Los Angeles in 2003: “We choked, but we’re going to play a lot better in the playoffs.”

Now there’s a potential rallying cry for Canada at the 2006 IIHF World Championship: “We choked in Turin, but we’re going to play a lot better in Riga.”