Welcome to 2025. The holiday season has officially come and gone. I can now stop eating.
In my part of the world the World Junior Hockey tournament is just finishing up and Canada has once again is out in the quarterfinals. In Canada we have seemed to develop this mindset of Gold or bust. I compare it going to the casino and playing a slot machine. You pull the handle and hope to win. If you do, you get this huge payout, but more often than not all you get is disappointment. The odds are always in favour of the house.
In this tournament there is so much uncertainty and in the case of Team Canada it is very maddening .Right now the much of the country is pissed off at Hockey Canada.Hockey Canada feels that they wouldn’t have changed a thing in the selection process even though the team lacked discipline, ranked first in penalties taken, had a brutal penalty kill, a stagnant power play and coaching decisions that were very questionable. As a friend said ” all the legos were the same colour”. You will never control everything and you can’t prevent every aspect of failure. What you can do is set a foundation. That foundation must include how to handle adversity and struggle. It is not just the players it is also the Coaching staff. Team Canada coaches struggled with so many decisions.Struggle can make some strange things happen. The Coaching staff knew something was missing and began to see that in other aspects of their,which ultimately influenced other decisions or lack there of over the course of the tournament.
Once Team Canada was eliminated so much blame was directed at the players. The players are 17-19 years of age. Yes, the share a small part of the blame, maybe 10% but the other 90% should be directed at the adults, grown men and women who were part of this process. They stood in front of the press and said all the right things. However, what they didn’t say was even more important. Not one of them said we were sorry that we put the players in that position. They never said we need to reexamine our selection and evaluation of players and coaches process. Not once. Admit you made an error people can live with that or as my friend says ” tell the truth, it is easier to remember.”
Successful organisations manage struggle better than others. It is that simple. They use it as foundation to be better. They try not to be perfect, just better. Don’t know if they are smart enough to figure that out.
It looks like Hockey Canada is going back to the slot machine and pulling the handle and hoping the get big payout. It is great when it happens but when it doesn’t it just leads to disappointment.
Today is the first step towards next years tournament, time to get to work.
To my followers all 32 of you thanks for a great 2024.
Until next time!
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