Post by NHLJets2point0 on Mar 31, 2014 8:51:05 GMT -5
With the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs just around the corner, the excitement is building but something is missing. If you're a Canadien you are primed and ready but if you're a Canadian you are seeking answers. Canada has been waiting for a cup for 20 years and with only Montreal in the playoffs it's a 100 to 1 long shot we will avoid another year watching the Stanley Cup parade on TV.
What strange curse is this? We are the undisputed hockey nation! The majority of the world's elite hockey talent was born in Canada yet Canadian teams are weak year after year.
I don't pretend to have any secrets or brilliant insights but I would like to float a theory. Feel free to disagree and by all means please post your own theory - and with that here is mine.
Canada doesn't win cups because hockey players don't want to play here. More specifically because the best players are allowed to pick where they want to play and none of them would play in Canada if they could avoid it. It is a bitter pill to swallow for the best hockey fans in the world. Most Canadian fans would violently reject the idea that they aren't the best fans. Who wouldn't want to play in Winnipeg? We love our hockey players and treat them like gods. Don't we? Wait a minute, um, well we usually do. Hmmm. Do we treat them like gods? I guess you could say we treat them like celebrities. Therein lies the root of the problem.
Canada scares players away because we are too smart and care too much. We obsess and put players under an intense spotlight, pick them apart and hold them to impossibly high standards. Do you know Kane's corsi ratings? Buff's +/-? Pavelec's save percentage? Yup.
Players don't care what their stats are. They just want to play, and go out for dinner once in a while. Canadians spoil that by being fanatics. We are the bad boyfriend who clings and leaves 10 voicemails on her answering machine. American cities are the perfect opposite. Players in American cities are generally ignored unless they win which is exactly what players want. Just like the bad boyfriend Canadian hockey fans can't see it. We are in denial. If you don't agree with me ask Luongo.
What strange curse is this? We are the undisputed hockey nation! The majority of the world's elite hockey talent was born in Canada yet Canadian teams are weak year after year.
I don't pretend to have any secrets or brilliant insights but I would like to float a theory. Feel free to disagree and by all means please post your own theory - and with that here is mine.
Canada doesn't win cups because hockey players don't want to play here. More specifically because the best players are allowed to pick where they want to play and none of them would play in Canada if they could avoid it. It is a bitter pill to swallow for the best hockey fans in the world. Most Canadian fans would violently reject the idea that they aren't the best fans. Who wouldn't want to play in Winnipeg? We love our hockey players and treat them like gods. Don't we? Wait a minute, um, well we usually do. Hmmm. Do we treat them like gods? I guess you could say we treat them like celebrities. Therein lies the root of the problem.
Canada scares players away because we are too smart and care too much. We obsess and put players under an intense spotlight, pick them apart and hold them to impossibly high standards. Do you know Kane's corsi ratings? Buff's +/-? Pavelec's save percentage? Yup.
Players don't care what their stats are. They just want to play, and go out for dinner once in a while. Canadians spoil that by being fanatics. We are the bad boyfriend who clings and leaves 10 voicemails on her answering machine. American cities are the perfect opposite. Players in American cities are generally ignored unless they win which is exactly what players want. Just like the bad boyfriend Canadian hockey fans can't see it. We are in denial. If you don't agree with me ask Luongo.
