The Highlight Man

Thoughts on Team Canada at World Juniors: There's been a lot of discourse today about Canada's performance after bowing out to Czechia again. I've read a lot about roster construction, team toughness, how players were used during the tournament, and other things related to the team's inability to get the job done. These things may have been an issue, but reality is the problem runs way deeper. Here is the biggest thing that people aren't talking about: Canada has WAY fewer youth boys playing hockey than it did a decade ago. Looking at Hockey Canada registration and membership data, it's mind-boggling to see the numbers. And the numbers in the biggest provinces (Ontario and Quebec) are especially egregious. So why is this happening? Hockey is Canada's sport. It shouldn't be like this. It's what we hear every day from families all over North America: Costs are too high. It's professionalized at too young of an age. The stress of the youth hockey experience is too much for kids and families. Community programs have been replaced by for-profit entities leading to higher costs and more pressure. Development has been replaced by super teams and rogue/outlaw leagues outside of Hockey Canada even before kids are 8 years old. At the older ages, hockey academies have become what families believe is the only way their kids will make it - shelling out INSANE amounts of money to send their kids to do so. Ontario just got rid of residency rules which will only lead to less accountability and more club-hopping than there already was in the nation's craziest and biggest youth hockey market. The reason why Canada was the hockey superpower for so long is because it was part of the fabric of the country. There was such a pride and passion for the game and what the game meant to the flag. There was such a sense of playing the game for something bigger than yourself. Now rather than playing for the love of the game, hockey in Canada is like a job for many of these kids in the environment they're being put in. It's less about pride and passion and more about the path to making it. When in all honesty, it's the pride and passion for the game that is the biggest consistency in the kids that do end up making it. If Canada wants to restore its hockey dominance, it better take a long look in the mirror at the grassroots and what is going on in youth hockey. If you have tens of thousands of fewer boys playing the game, you should probably look at that first. The bigger your pool of athletes, the more elite athletes you can develop. "As many as possible, for as long as possible, in the best environment possible". That has to be the guiding principle. There's a lot of great people in Canada doing incredible things for the game, but the system itself is fundamentally broken. If Hockey Canada is serious about getting back to the top, it has to start at the bottom.