Howie Meeker stuck in his replay machine
Liam Responds - Letter to Ottawa Citizen - March 26, 2006
Reply by Liam Maguire to an article by Howie Meeker (read the original article)
Never could I have imagined someone as revered as Mr. Howie Meeker would have such a knee jerk reaction to Canada's showing in men's hockey at this past Olympics. The most poignant comment in a second submission from Mr. Meeker (Ottawa Citizen March 13) on the state of affairs in Canadian hockey which for some incredible reason he deems to be in a state of chaos, came in his sixth paragraph when he states, "I was around kids' hockey in the mid to late '60s." Yes you were Mr. Meeker. Apparently that's where your mind must still be.
Mr. Meeker goes on to make a comment about Europeans winning every NHL award and having their names engraved on the Stanley Cup. Yes, some of them did. In fact there were seven Europeans or East Bloc player's names engraved on the Cup in 2004 for Tampa Bay. Along with fifteen Canadians and three Americans. I don't get it. What's the point? Last years entry draft
Featured the least amount of Europeans drafted in the first round in years. Not one was taken until the 11th pick. The 2004 all-star team had one Slovak, a Swede and four Canadians. Canadians have won four of the last five Hart Trophies as league MVP's. Canadians have won the past three Calder Trophies, two of the last three Art Ross trophies, in fact Mr. Meeker; Canadian hockey players not only dominated the last Stanley Cup final we've dominated
Every Trophy since we've turned the new millennium. I simply do not understand your logic in trying to use that statement to substantiate your point.
You allude to USA hockey as having made a mistake in the late 1960's by coming north to study Canadian hockey. My contention is with Canadian players dominating the rosters of US colleges in the 1970's the American players continued to improve and with an extra special graduating class were able to produce something akin to a miracle in 1980. Sixteen years later they would win what Brett Hull called, "his biggest triumph on the international stage" when the US won the inaugural World Cup in 1996. Six years after that they were silver medalists in Salt Lake City at the Olympics. Did they get stupid over night? They had a bad tournament. They need an infusion of youth and that's coming case in point their gold medal at the World Juniors three years ago and the development of their very successful national U-18 program. Again, your logic escapes me.
Where you've really struck a nerve with me personally was in your final thought regarding the state of Hockey Canada and conversely minor hockey in Canada. I am a coach. I have been for five years. I don't have your resume but your comment, "unless someone takes control of minor hockey and starts teaching individual skills to all those involved, things, if possible, will get worse," that Mr. Meeker is out of line, inaccurate and irresponsible journalism. In the late 1960's I was a player. Today I'm a coach and I follow the doctrines set out by my association and Hockey Canada. We stress every imaginable skill going along with all of the other key elements that make up our national sport. With 700,000 thousand children playing and close to four million Canadians involved in the sport clearly there are going to be some issues. But to paint minor hockey in Canada as a group that is not doing its job is ridiculous. How in God's name do you figure this is so when we are the top country in U-17, U-18, U-20, and women's and even our men, in the past three world championships have two gold and silver! Mr. Meeker, do you think you may have over reacted just a tad?
In 1972 we were challenged by the Soviets and it was something special. In 1976 we were challenged by Czechoslovakia and needed an overtime goal to secure victory. In 1980 the Americans won the Olympics and in 1984 we faced a challenge from the Swedes. In a twelve year period, 1972-1984, three other nations emerged as hockey powers in addition to the Soviets. From 1979-1981 Canada was beaten soundly on the international stage. It was a terrible time in fact it was our worst. We developed the Program of Excellence in 1982, rebounded and dominated the next fifteen years until the next hiccup, 1996-1998. We steered the ship through that storm (what could you possibly have been thinking then?) and watched more gold come tumbling in after.
This most recent showing had absolutely nothing to do with how our children are being taught. It was a couple of poor selections, complacency with the coaching staff after two previous gold medals and some players placing themselves above the team concept. Canada still produces the best players Mr. Meeker; you were one of them sixty years ago. We will win gold in Men's hockey in 2010 because of superior coaching not because we’re not doing the job right.
