USA disappoints in WJC...again.

It’s the holidays, so here’s my analysis of USA Hockey’s latest flop at the World Junior Championship.

First off, let me state that I realize it's weird that my allegiance to my pro team (the New York Rangers) is equal to my allegiance to my country’s teams in the sport I love. This is common in other countries but not so much here.

So, much to my chagrin, the US finished fifth this year. Just about their customary spot. Since winning their first WJC gold medal in 2004, the US has snagged one lonely bronze. It is completely unacceptable to have nothing to show for the last five tournaments except one bronze medal. It’s beyond a shame.

Now, I can’t get in the heads of the kids who’ve suited up for us in recent years, nor can I get in the heads of the coaches, but it just seems to me that no one cares about this tournament. This blows my mind. When they see the excitement it generates in Canada, how can they not have a burning desire to win the thing? How can they not want to rain on Canada’s parade? Many of these kids are junior or college teammates or have been with some of the Canadian players. How can they not have a strong desire to beat them? Have they no pride? Russia loses their semifinal to Canada and Nikita Filatov looks like he wants to jump off a bridge. The Canadians would have been in tears if they had lost on home ice. I don’t recall any Americans taking any of these bad showings over the last five years to heart.

If we were choosing teams from a shallow talent pool, or if we were simply without the talent to compete, I might be able to understand the apathy shown toward this event. Even though we don’t have Canada's depth of talent, our top players equal theirs.

I’m not suggesting President-elect Obama call together a summit on the state of American hockey like Canadians might ask of their leaders after results like these, but USA Hockey needs a complete overhaul. The leadership is rotten and crooked. But, the same old problem persists: no one notices. No one cares.

There are rinks in Texas, Florida, California, Georgia, and other warm weather states. This is viewed as great progress for our game in this country, and it is. I just think the game would be better off if those same rinks could display posters of players like James vanRiemsdyk and Colin Wilson wearing gold medals around their necks. A kid in Atlanta who learns of us winning a tournament might think it is worthwhile to play hockey over another sport.

We have made some progress. We’ve done well in the World Under 18 Championships. There are far fewer foreigners on American college rosters than ever before. I don’t say that because I don’t want Canadians or Europeans coming to our schools. I just think it’s awesome that there are enough Americans to fill most of our rosters. Ten or twenty years ago, the Canadian major junior castoff or academic-minded player who was starting to think about playing in the NCAA didn’t have to worry about a player from Texas or California taking his spot. Now he does and I think that’s great. But somehow we fail so spectacularly in the most prestigious tournament for young players.

Some things to consider:

World Junior Championship medals since 2005

Canada – 5 (5 gold)
Russia - 5 (3 silver, 2 bronze)
Sweden – 2 (2 silver)
Czech Republic – 1 (1 bronze)
Finland – 1 (1 bronze)
United States – 1 (1 bronze)

First round NHL draft picks who’ve played in WJC since 2005

Canada – 47
Unites States – 30
Czech Republic – 9
Russia – 7
Sweden – 7
Slovakia – 4
Denmark – 2
Belarus – 1
Switzerland - 1

A little intense, but here’s the entire list of those players. I had to put it together to arrive at those numbers, so why not look at it?

Canada - 47

2003
Braydon Coburn, 8th
Dion Phaneuf, 9th
Jeff Carter, 11th
Brent Seabrook, 14th
Ryan Getzlaf, 19th
Mike Richards, 24th
Anthony Stewart, 25th
Corey Perry, 28th
Shawn Belle, 30th

2004
Cam Barker, 3rd
Andrew Ladd, 4th
Devan Dubnyk, 14th
Kyle Chipchura, 18th

2005
Sidney Crosby, 1st
Benoit Pouliot, 4th
Carey Price, 5th
Luc Bourdon, 10th
Marc Staal, 12th
Sasha Pokulok, 14th
Ryan O’Marra, 15th
Ryan Parent, 18th
Kenndal McArdle, 20th
Andrew Cogliano, 25th
Steve Downie, 29th

2006
Jonathan Toews, 3rd
Jonathan Bernier, 11th
Bryan Little, 12th
Claude Giroux, 22nd
Leland Irving, 26th

2007
Kyle Turris, 3rd
Thomas Hickey, 4th
Karl Alzner, 5th
Sam Gagner, 6th
Brandon Sutter, 11th
Colton Gillies, 16th
Angelo Esposito, 20th

2008
Steven Stamkos, 1st
Drew Doughty, 2nd
Alex Pietrangelo, 4th
Luke Schenn, 5th
Cody Hodgson, 10th
Tyler Myers, 12th
Colton Teubert, 13th
Zach Boychuk, 14th
Chet Pickard, 18th
Jordan Eberle, 22nd
Tyler Ennis, 26th

United States - 30

2003
Ryan Suter, 7th

2004
Blake Wheeler, 5th
Al Montoya, 6th
Drew Stafford, 13th
Rob Schremp, 25th
Cory Schneider, 26th

2005
Bobby Ryan, 2nd
Jack Johnson, 3rd
Jack Skille, 7th
Brian Lee, 9th
T.J. Oshie, 24th
Matt Niskanen, 28th

2006
Erik Johnson, 1st
Phil Kessel, 5th
Kyle Okposo, 7th
Peter Mueller, 8th
Trevor Lewis, 17th
Mark Mitera, 19th
Bobby Sanguinetti, 21st
Chris Summers, 29th

2007
Patrick Kane, 1st
James vanRiemsdyk, 2nd
Ryan McDonagh, 12th
Kevin Shattenkirk, 14th
Ian Cole, 18th
Max Pacioretty, 22nd
Jonathan Blum, 23rd
Jim O'Brien, 29th

2008
Colin Wilson, 7th
Thomas McCollum, 30th

Czech Republic - 9

2004
Rostislav Olesz, 7th
Ladislav Smid, 9th
Marek Schwarz, 17th
Lukas Kaspar, 22nd

2005
Martin Hanzel, 17th
Jakub Kindl, 19th

2006
Michael Frolik, 10th
Jiri Tlusty, 13th

2007
Jakub Voracek, 7th

Russia - 7

2004
Alexander Ovechkin, 1st
Evgeni Malkin, 2nd
Alexander Radulov, 15th

2006
Semen Varlamov, 23rd

2007
Alexei Cherepanov, 17th

2008
Nikita Filatov, 6th
Viktor Tikhonov, 28th

Sweden - 7

2003
Robert Nilsson, 15th

2005
Nicklas Bergfors, 23rd

2006
Nicklas Backstrom, 4th
Patrik Berglund, 25th

2007
Mikael Backlund, 24th

2008
Erik Karlsson, 15th
Mattias Tedenby, 24th

Finland - 5

2004
Lauri Tukonen, 11th
Petteri Nokelainen, 16th
Lauri Korpikoski, 19th

2005
Tuukka Rask, 21st

2006
Riku Helenius, 15th

Slovakia - 4

2004
Boris Valabik, 10th
Andrej Meszaros, 23rd

2005
Marek Zagrapan, 13th
Vladimir Mihalik, 30th

Denmark - 2

2007
Lars Eller, 13th

2008
Mikkel Boedker, 8th


Belarus - 1

2003
Andrei Kostitsyn, 10th

Switzerland - 1

2008
Luca Sbisa, 19th

Of course, having players of great repute doesn’t guarantee success on the ice. And of course, Russia would surely have had more players chosen higher in the draft had the relations between the NHL and Russia not grown so frosty. Still, to have had three more first round picks play for us in the last five years than the Czechs, Russians, Swedes, and Slovaks combined and yet to have only one medal to show for it…I sound like a broken record.

Anyway, in thirty-three years of competing in the WJC, the US has won five medals. Five medals in thirty-three years.

Ron DeGregorio, Walter Bush, Jim Johannson, David Ogrean, Scott Sandelin, Walt Kyle, Ron Rolston, John Hynes, and whoever else who has or has had any power whatsoever at USA Hockey, I ask you...What the fuck?