Every Canadian hockey fan has a memorable moment.
Yours might be Paul Henderson's winning goal in the 1972 Summit Series, or Mario Lemuix's winning goal in the 1987 Canada Cup, or Jordan Eberle's tying goal in the 2009 World Juniors - heck, what about Sidney Crosby's Golden Goal in the 2010 Olympics? The list goes on.
Canadian hockey has given its fans and country so many amazing moments, and we've been at the top of the international hockey mountain for decades.
But Canada's time in the hockey spotlight might be over.
In Canada's most recent performance at the World Junior Hockey Championship in Ottawa, our team embarrassed themselves and the country by recording only two wins in the round robin games, losing to Latvia, and failing to reach the semi-finals for the second year in a row.
This is a result that Canada has not had in their entire history at the World Juniors tournament.
Happening once could be seen as a fluke, but twice is a trend.
The World Juniors used to be a tournament that Canada dominated. This country won five straight gold medals from the years of 2005-2009 and have won five Gold Medals since 2015.
Canada was a dominant force at this tournament for all of this millennium, and they're now losing to weak, inexperienced teams like Latvia. That drastic dip in performance results should scare Canadian hockey fans.
But what was the reason for Canada's lacklustre performance?
The biggest reason Canada lost this tournament was play structure.
In a tournament like the World Juniors, teams are put together quite quickly. Canada's selection team was announced on Dec. 2, and their full roster was announced on Dec. 19.
Once the roster is announced, it becomes time to build a team. The players are supposed to build chemistry with each other in very little time and have a certain structure that they need to follow.
Canada's coach Dave Cameron missed that part completely.
Every time that Canada stepped on the ice, they looked like a bunch of players that did not know how to play with each other, because they didn't. They were clearly not taught by their coaches and their organization how to play with each other.
Dave Cameron chose on several occasions to not practice before big games, stating that his players were too tired.
By not practicing, he is deliberately not putting in the time to create certain plays, and create systems within the team that the team can use in games.
He chose not to create a structure for his players to follow in order to help them win Gold. Instead by not practicing and trying to teach them how to play with one another he is telling his players "figure it out yourself."
Cameron is an experienced coach with Hockey Canada and has coached for them many times, he seems to have their trust.
If this is the approach that Hockey Canada thinks will help them be successful, they are in for a rude awakening.
All this being said, this doesn't mean that Hockey Canada can not get back to its winning ways because Canada will always produce great hockey talent. But Hockey Canada will need to look at things from a different perspective. What they will need to realize is that they can't win tournaments the way they used to.
You can't win a tournament based on just skill like they tried to do this year at the World Juniors. Several other countries like USA, Finland, Sweden, and Czechia have caught up to Canada in terms of skill.
Where Canada can beat these countries and get back on top is getting back to the identity of Canadian hockey. Playing fast, playing tough, and teaching their players how to play structured hockey where they have systems in place that they can use during big games.
Hockey Canada is moving in the wrong direction currently, but it doesn't have to move that way forever.
What the organization needs to do is change their way of thinking and realize that they are not the best anymore. Once the organization changes their way of thinking and prioritizes coaching players to their best ability, the organization will see more success.
But if they continue the trajectory they are currently on, the organization will little to no success in international play.
Hockey Canada will have the chance to get back on track with the Four Nations face off occurring in February which will finally see NHL players playing for their home countries.
