Canada’s game?

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Two of Canada’s biggest embarrassments./Matt Wincherauk

Two of Canada’s biggest embarrassments./Matt Wincherauk

What’s happened to Canada’s hockey teams?

As hockey fans in Canada, boy we’ve got it rough.

First off, there’s that whole problem of not having a Stanley Cup since 1993. Can we deem this the ‘Patrick Roy curse’? The entire Stanley Cup jinx we’re in, it’s tough to watch. The Flames, Oilers, Senators and Canucks all were in the finals and missed their shot at the championship, so let’s just blame that on Montreal and Roy, I guess.

What else is shitty with Canadian hockey? The Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers are the laughingstock of the NHL, the perfect example of what NOT to do in a rebuild. We’ve heard it all about this disaster, the endless draft picks, coaches, and “veteran” players. This team has nothing good to report on. For god’s sake, their third string goaltender that couldn’t do anything for them when he played there is now starting for the rising Minnesota Wild. This team can do nothing right; yet their players turn into gold after their trashed by the team.

I have no clue why Edmonton sucks. We can hash it out any way possible, but it just isn’t going to work. They need to start over, yet with the management and ownership group in place presently, they will never get to the place in which they want to be.

If they trade their star players like Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins we will hear for years of how they didn’t get enough for these players. Even though the bare minimum is a large step up from the production that these players put out, it will never be enough for the fans of the Oilers.

Another lowly place in Canadian hockey is the Toronto Maple Leafs. Situated in the hockey hotbed of the world, this team is damned if they do; yet still damned if they don’t. They can be on a tear and still be scrutinized by the media, but when they’re losing- which has happened a lot more often of late- they are put down instantly and made into the media’s whipping boys. The Leafs are screwed every time they hit the ice, regardless of who wears the jersey.

When it comes down to it, Toronto will never have one common goal or plateau. They’ll either be ‘overachieving’ or ‘underachieving’, but seriously, what do they have to achieve? This is a weird situation that will never get better. When we see a glimmer of hope from this team, something always has to give. It’s crazy to watch but hey, that’s hockey in the media in 2015.

There are endless other reasons why being a Canadian hockey fan sucks, but we do have some things to look forward to. Calgary, Winnipeg and Vancouver are all in the playoff picture at the time of production here at the Carillon. The Habs are solid and Canada is still turning out the best prospects of hockey when we look at the young stars emerging in the NHL.

We may not have answers for these two teams or a Stanley Cup in Canada, but hey, the futures still bright in this nation.

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