Why I'm cheering for ANY TEAM BUT CANADA to win the WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
December 30, 2008
Fifteen to nothing. Seriously?!?! 15-0!!! Wow, the sportsmanship in a hockey game with a score like this is mind-blowing. Kuddos to Canada’s junior team for putting the screws to Kazakhstan and just piling on as many goals as they could in sixty minutes. I mean, the more goals a junior player gets in a tournament like this, the better his prospects of landing a big fat NHL contract. Right? So, it’s basically, to hell with the concept of sportsmanship. To hell with respect, honour, and integrity. Screw decency. Lets humiliate the other team. Ya! Go Canada!!!
TSN seems to think humiliation is fine. This is from TSN on-line: “CANADIANS LIGHT UP KAZAKHSTAN AT WORLD JUNIORS: Team Canada continued on with the punishment that the Germans handed out the night before, scoring eight power play goals en route to a 15-0 victory over Kazakhstan at the World Junior Hockey Championship on Sunday.”
The way of respect, and honour, and most of all, integrity, would be to stop counting at 8-0. If a game ever gets that far out of line in an international tournament, I would just stop the score at 8-0. That’s enough. I give credit to a few of the players on Team Canada, one of whom said, after the game: “It sucks to run it up like that.”
At least the Globe & Mail had the balls to call it a dreadful game. So, for the record, shame on team Canada. Shame on Coach Quinn for letting this happen (Dude, you should have called off your boys between the second and third periods. You're an idiot.). Shame on the organization that runs this debacle. I am now, officially cheering for any team but Canada to win the tournament. For me, decency, grace, and integrity, trump flag-waving stupidity every time. But, these are boys. I need to remind myself that these are only boys. They are not men yet. Not by a long, long, long shot.
8 Comments
1. Adam Snider had this to say: Dec 30, 2008 ~ 11:23 ~ #
I don’t know that this was really an example of poor sportsmanship, Thomas. Short of just skating around the ice not taking shots on net, what was Team Canada to do?
At least they essentially stopped celebrating each goal.
It was brutal, and I feel for the Kazakhs, but I’m really not sure what was to be done. Taking it easy on them would have been insulting, and could just as easily be argued as un-sportsman-like.
2. thomas had this to say: Dec 30, 2008 ~ 11:40 ~ #
I think, just keep playing hard, but stop counting the goals at 8-0 is reasonable. Eight-zip is humiliating enough. So, essentially, the game could be 29-0 but it would only read 8-0 on the board.
3. Mike Gravel had this to say: Dec 30, 2008 ~ 11:40 ~ #
I don’t think this was poor sportsmanship either. If the teams were at different levels, maybe. In this case they’re in the same league. Getting your ass handed to you by a far superior team/person is a humbling experience that everyone should have. I’d rather get wiped off the map than know that the other side “took it easy on me”, i.e. didn’t respect me enough to play the game as it should be played.
4. thomas had this to say: Dec 30, 2008 ~ 13:28 ~ #
I just think a 15-0 score lacks honour. It just doesn’t seem to be in the vein of an international event. In fact, it did seem like these two teams were in different leagues. My solution of a top-end score would be imposed by the organizers and allow teams to keep playing as hard as they like (but no matter how many you score, it isn’t going to change from 8-0. And once the humiliated team scores a goal, or two, or three, all bets are off…the score then reflects what it really is). Having this rule come into force would be humiliating enough. I maintain, there is no honour in running up the score to 15-0.
5. Adam Snider had this to say: Dec 30, 2008 ~ 15:43 ~ #
The only problem with a top-end score is that the number of goals scored by a given team is one of the deciding factors in who wins the tournament, should there be a tie. Of course, I suppose the scores above and beyond the top-end could still be tracked, and just not counted unless necessary.
But, even with that solution in place, Team Canada would have played the same. If you’re going to point to someone and call them unsportsmanlike, or “dishonourable,” point to the IIHF who created the rules by which the tournament is played (I don’t think it’s fair to place those labels upon them, but you see what I’m getting at, I hope).
Whether the score is honourable or not is one thing, I suppose, but to say that Team Canada’s behaviour was unsportsmanlike is another.
And, for what it’s worth, I read somewhere today that the Kazakh team defeated Thailand 32-2 earlier this year. I suppose it’s a different situation, in that the Thais weren’t shut out (and didn’t make it to the tournament), but it’s worth noting the Kazakhstan has been on the winning side of a blowout score, too.
6. thomas had this to say: Dec 30, 2008 ~ 21:26 ~ #
Okay, Okay, USA beat the Kazakhs 12-ZIP tonight. They stink. There doesn’t seem to be a decent path through this ugliness. I appreciate the opportunity to rant…and the discussion was excellent.
7. maude l. had this to say: Dec 31, 2008 ~ 00:31 ~ #
I have 3 things to tell you about this:
1. Obviously you’re not a golfer
2. They tried to do the whole stopping at 8 thing, and the conversation went something like this (you can see why they decided against it):
The Dude (a very laidback Canadian): Walter, ya know, its Kazakhstan, they don’t even have ice. It’s just a game, man.
Walter (a very intense Canadian): Dude, this a league game it determines who enters the next round robin. Am I wrong? Am I wrong?
Walter: Has the whole world gone crazy? Am I the only one around here who gives a shit about the rules? Mark it 15!
(Walter pulls out a gun)
The Dude: Walter…
Walter: You think I am fucking around here. Mark it 15.
The Dude: They’re calling the cops…(who incidentally don’t come)
Kazakhstan: Alright it’s fucking 15. Are you happy, you crazy fuck?
Walter: It’s a league game, Kazakhstan.
(moments later)
Dude: You know, Kazakhstan has emotional problems, man.
Walter: You mean…beyond pacifism?
3. Why 8? How did you arrive at that number?
8. thomas had this to say: Dec 31, 2008 ~ 09:18 ~ #
Eight just seemed like a nice, almost respectable number. 8-0 has the appearance of a blowout but it’s not a massive freakin’ catastrophe like 15-0 or 12-0. Maybe I should just lighten up about the whole thing. The blame, if there is any, falls on the shoulders of the IIHF. The IIHF are nihilists, and cowards….