Auger9 Posted January 2, 2004 Share Posted January 2, 2004 From the CP: The hockey team edged the women's soccer side, which reached the final four of the World Cup, by 93 points to 85 in balloting of sports editors and broadcasters across the country. The soccer team actually had more first-place votes (18-16) but the hockey team collected more second- and third-place ballots. World champion ice dancers Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz were third with 16 first-place votes and 67 points. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam040101/hky_team-cp.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ref Posted January 2, 2004 Share Posted January 2, 2004 So because more people thought that the hockey guys were a good second, that put them first? Is this part of a new arithmetic taught in schools now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonovision Posted January 2, 2004 Share Posted January 2, 2004 The hockey team deserved it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattbin Posted January 2, 2004 Share Posted January 2, 2004 quote:Originally posted by jonovision The hockey team deserved it. You're not allowed to say that here. Only soccer is important. [8D] Allez les Rouges, M@ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayWay Posted January 2, 2004 Share Posted January 2, 2004 I agree with the decision. Let's not get sucked into the usual Canadian underdog mentality that usually dominates our thinking for most soccer competitions. This team had the ability to win the whole thing, and they made that clear in their confidence. Now, in no way am I looking down at their accomplishments, not at all. They did terrific. But they could have done that little bit better. They didn't live up to their 100% potential. The hockey team did. It was the correct decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted January 2, 2004 Share Posted January 2, 2004 I completely disagree with this decision. I say this having attended the hockey world championship in Hanover a few years ago. This is a great tournament, with a great atmosphere and a meeting\party of hockey fans across Europe. The level of play is also quite good with the major teams comprised largely of NHL players. I would love to have the chance to attend the tournament again and hope that plans to hold it in Canada will materialize. However, this is a yearly tournament composed of what could be seen as C or D national teams of the major countries. The quality of the respective teams largely depends on luck in that a country with good players on NHL poor teams will have a good entry in a respective year. The title World Championship is a misnomer and the tournament has nowhere near the international significance or legitimacy of a soccer World Cup or several other tournaments that Canadian teams participated in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattbin Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 I'm not really sure what other teams and tournaments you're talking about... the Canadian cricket and rugby teams both went to their own world cups, but neither did much in the actual tournament (not to diminish the importance of their qualifying of course). Our baseball team qualified for the olympics but that's even more small-time than the world hockey championships. Our junior soccer team did really well, but they'd have to win the tournament at that level to be a winner in this kind of poll. So is your point that the women's team's 4th-place finish should count for more than a first-place finish in a world tournament for a sport to which we tie our national identity? Long odds on that one. But arguing the relative merits of this or that competition again ignores the fact that these awards are voted on by journalists. They're going to tend towards the more popular sports and teams. Btw, our Gold Cup-winning team in '00 didn't make it into the top three, if I remember correctly. Allez les Rouges, M@ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 My point is that this is not a real world championship regardless of the sport and media coverage it receives. It is a yearly tournament where the major nations don't send anything close to an A level national team. The women's soccer world cup occurs every four years and consists of A teams from every nation participating. I would also rate the soccer and hockey under 20 championships above this for the same reason. They are A level international tournaments at their level and both featured strong performances by Canadian teams. This is not to take away anything from the players who represented Canada at the hockey tournament but only to say that victory in at best a C-level international tournament does not constitute Canada's team of the year regardless of media coverage. The rugby team was definitely a disappointment while the cricket team performed better than expected but were certainly not world class. Maybe some of the other voyageurs could suggest some other Canadian teams who performed well but didn't receive much coverage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 One might also add that there is more competition & parity in Women's soccer (China & Norway didn't even make it into the final 4) than there is in Men's hockey, where there are only 6 (maybe 7 if you add Slovakia) competitive teams, Belarus Olympic flukes notwithstanding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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