Allsports wonders? Can any team give the Canadian Juniors a Game.

If you have been searching for sports on the web or watching sports on TV you will likely have noticed that the World Junior Hockey Championship is being played in Ottawa. Canada beat Germany last night by a final score of 5-1 but the game was not really that close. Germany’s goaltender played a very good game even though he let in five goals. The score could have been much worse. Canada thumped Kazakhstan 15-0 in their previous game.

Due to the lopsided scores in some of the games taking place, there has been talk about reducing the teams in the group “A” competition. This has put the IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) into a bit of a catch 22. On one hand maybe some of the countries should be dropped because they are not on par with the hockey world powers, but on the other hand, how are these countries ever going to improve their hockey programs unless they are playing against the best teams in the world. These young men will only improve their game if they are pushed by stiffer competition. Allsports believes that the latter has to remain in place in order for the weaker countries to keep a viable program. The bar has to remain high in order for the caliber to stay high. This is why the last place team in group “A” is relegated back to the group “B” playoffs. Maybe they should look at relegation of the bottom two or three teams in future years. Then only the winner of group “B” will compete in the championship.

Anyway Canada should face some pretty good competition from a solid American squad on New Years Eve. Lets hope it is a good game for the IIHF format.

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb