Ill-conceived Super Series is off the radar
05 September 2007
by Jerrad Peters
REMEMBER the first few years of this decade, when Canada’s hockey juniors, try as they might, just could not break the Russian jinx? Winnipegers know it as well as anyone else. From 1999 to 2003, Russia defeated Canada in four gold medal games at the World Junior Hockey Championship. The first of those titles was won at the old Winnipeg Arena – where Artem Chubarov broke hometown hearts by beating Roberto Luongo in overtime to give the Russians a well-deserved 3-2 win in the decisive match.
How appropriate, then, that the newest crop of Canadian youngsters should win the Canada-Russia Super Series, an eight-game tournament commemorating the 35th anniversary of the 1972 Summit Series, by humiliating the Russians 8-1 in Winnipeg. It was Canada’s fifth straight win of the competition and the first on home soil after sweeping the first four games in the Russian outposts of Ufa and Omsk.
05 September 2007
by Jerrad Peters
REMEMBER the first few years of this decade, when Canada’s hockey juniors, try as they might, just could not break the Russian jinx? Winnipegers know it as well as anyone else. From 1999 to 2003, Russia defeated Canada in four gold medal games at the World Junior Hockey Championship. The first of those titles was won at the old Winnipeg Arena – where Artem Chubarov broke hometown hearts by beating Roberto Luongo in overtime to give the Russians a well-deserved 3-2 win in the decisive match.
How appropriate, then, that the newest crop of Canadian youngsters should win the Canada-Russia Super Series, an eight-game tournament commemorating the 35th anniversary of the 1972 Summit Series, by humiliating the Russians 8-1 in Winnipeg. It was Canada’s fifth straight win of the competition and the first on home soil after sweeping the first four games in the Russian outposts of Ufa and Omsk.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This is not 1972. Not even close. And try as they might, the hype-spinners at TSN and Rogers Sportsnet have created barely a murmur of interest in this ill-timed, ill-conceived competition.
The reasons are many. And at the top of the pile is the fact that Canada has dominated the junior scene for the past three years – claiming successive gold medals in Grand Forks, Vancouver, and Leksands. The runner-up in each instance was Russia; and the final score was never close in any of the three finals. The fact is that the once-heated rivalry between the two hockey superpowers just doesn’t exist anymore. At least not at the junior level. The truth is that it was killed by one man – Brent Sutter.
Canada-Russia games at the junior level used to carry an element of dread. And during the barren spell between 1999 and 2003, the Russians owned the ice. They appeared quicker, more skillful and assertive; and no matter how much momentum Canada carried into the contest, time and again, they proved no match.
Those days are long-gone. When Sutter took the helm of the national junior program in the run-up to the 2005 Championships in Grand Forks, North Dakota, he instilled his landscape-altering philosophies into every aspect of the set-up. In actuality, however, Sutter’s methods were quite simple: take short shifts and play with speed, finish every check, and play without fear.
What Sutter did, essentially, was deconstruct the often over-complicated strategies and schemes of coaches throughout the hockey world. He merely took control of the squad at his disposal and maximized its output. Skate fast, hit hard, and be fearless. Simple as that. And it’s what we’ve come to expect from every Canadian junior team since. Sutter brought things back to basics, took the game back to its antiquity, and embarrassed every opponent along the way.
As a result, Canadians were rather ho-hum to the idea of the Super Series. And who could blame them? With games in Russia starting as early as 3:00 a.m. in Vancouver, it hardly made for accessible viewing. And when Sutter’s boys dominated from the outset as many predicted they would, the eight-game competition looked as though it would be devoid of substance or storyline.
That, of course, is only part of the reason why the Super Series has failed to attract the mainstream sports audience in this country. Its timing has also left something to be desired. The Canadian Football League season is in its stretch run. Most CFL fans only start following their teams with any amount of dedication after Labor Day weekend – a weekend which just happened to fall smack in the middle of the series.
Then you have the pennant and wild-card races in Major League baseball. The Toronto Blue Jays, while a full five games back of a spot in the postseason, are still mathematically involved; and the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees are in the midst of an exciting tilt for the American League East. On Thursday the National Football League will kick-off its 2007 campaign – drowning-out every other sporting event from now through Valentine’s Day. Then there is the star-studded U.S. Open. And soccer fans have their fair share of action to keep up with as well – what with qualification matches for the 2008 European Championships being held this weekend.
It all makes for a jam-packed sporting landscape – and an all but impossible one for the Super Series to crowd in on. In all honesty, I tuned into the series for the first time last night. I watched some of the first period and the last few minutes of the third. And whenever the commentators made mention of the Summit Series or drew some ridiculous parallel between the two events, I scoffed and turned the channel.
The reasons are many. And at the top of the pile is the fact that Canada has dominated the junior scene for the past three years – claiming successive gold medals in Grand Forks, Vancouver, and Leksands. The runner-up in each instance was Russia; and the final score was never close in any of the three finals. The fact is that the once-heated rivalry between the two hockey superpowers just doesn’t exist anymore. At least not at the junior level. The truth is that it was killed by one man – Brent Sutter.
Canada-Russia games at the junior level used to carry an element of dread. And during the barren spell between 1999 and 2003, the Russians owned the ice. They appeared quicker, more skillful and assertive; and no matter how much momentum Canada carried into the contest, time and again, they proved no match.
Those days are long-gone. When Sutter took the helm of the national junior program in the run-up to the 2005 Championships in Grand Forks, North Dakota, he instilled his landscape-altering philosophies into every aspect of the set-up. In actuality, however, Sutter’s methods were quite simple: take short shifts and play with speed, finish every check, and play without fear.
What Sutter did, essentially, was deconstruct the often over-complicated strategies and schemes of coaches throughout the hockey world. He merely took control of the squad at his disposal and maximized its output. Skate fast, hit hard, and be fearless. Simple as that. And it’s what we’ve come to expect from every Canadian junior team since. Sutter brought things back to basics, took the game back to its antiquity, and embarrassed every opponent along the way.
As a result, Canadians were rather ho-hum to the idea of the Super Series. And who could blame them? With games in Russia starting as early as 3:00 a.m. in Vancouver, it hardly made for accessible viewing. And when Sutter’s boys dominated from the outset as many predicted they would, the eight-game competition looked as though it would be devoid of substance or storyline.
That, of course, is only part of the reason why the Super Series has failed to attract the mainstream sports audience in this country. Its timing has also left something to be desired. The Canadian Football League season is in its stretch run. Most CFL fans only start following their teams with any amount of dedication after Labor Day weekend – a weekend which just happened to fall smack in the middle of the series.
Then you have the pennant and wild-card races in Major League baseball. The Toronto Blue Jays, while a full five games back of a spot in the postseason, are still mathematically involved; and the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees are in the midst of an exciting tilt for the American League East. On Thursday the National Football League will kick-off its 2007 campaign – drowning-out every other sporting event from now through Valentine’s Day. Then there is the star-studded U.S. Open. And soccer fans have their fair share of action to keep up with as well – what with qualification matches for the 2008 European Championships being held this weekend.
It all makes for a jam-packed sporting landscape – and an all but impossible one for the Super Series to crowd in on. In all honesty, I tuned into the series for the first time last night. I watched some of the first period and the last few minutes of the third. And whenever the commentators made mention of the Summit Series or drew some ridiculous parallel between the two events, I scoffed and turned the channel.
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