I am sure I am the only one bothered by this, but here goes. Is it not difficult for some of you to swallow the fact that so many sons of former Canadian NHLers are playing for the USA.
Many may not care, but I do. I am really battling with this one. Carey Wilson was a star of Canada's Olympic team in 1984. I will never forget his performance in Game 1 of those Olympics against the US. The defending champs coming off their stunning triumph in Lake Placid. All we heard for four years was how they were the new emerging hockey nation. To this day I have enjoyed few Canadian victories more than the 4-2 triumph that February 7th in Yugoslavia.
So yesterday I went to watch Carey's son Colin, and he is a fine, fine player skating for the red, white and blue -- and seeing him chalk up four points was tough to take. Colin was born in the United States and is a dual citizen playing the majority, if not all, of his minor hockey in Winnipeg.
So in closing I wonder how Carey feels watching his son square off against the country that paved the way for his fine career?
Needless to say, you know how it sits with me.
i completely agree. now i may be mistaken, but isnt it the same situation with brett hull?
Another example to this rule is Zach Parise. His father, J.P., played in the 72 Summit Series with Canada, and now his son is an American Citizen and will most likely play with the U.S. olympic team in the future. I don't think we should be too upset if this Colin Wilson was born in the United States. If he wants to play for the United States, so be it. He obviously wants to play for the country he was born in, and although his father has been great for Canada, its his choice in which country his loyalty resides. I'm sure Zach Parise won't worry about what his father has done for Canada when he makes his decision on which country to play for.
If the Americans need to "borrow"Canadian bred,Canadian trained players,it only puts an exclamation point on the assertion that Canada is the undisputed hockey centre of the world.These kids with dual citizenship know they have a better chance at making a U.S. team than a Canadian.
It should be taken as a compliment not as a snub.
A lot of these kids who play for team USA choose to do so either because they currently live in the US, or they simply don't have the skill to make it to the Canadian team. I'm sure Carey would much rather see his son follow in his footsteps by playing for team Canada, but I am sure that he is proud nontheless
You're right, we don't care. At least, I don't.
There's a difference between Brett Hull playinf for the US and..whoever this Colin Wilson fellow is. One is a former NHL superstar and the other is, well, I really have no idea.
Which brings me to the all-important question: Why SHOULD we care?
Well you can't really blame a player with dual citizenship for playing with team USA. I'm sure everyone born in Canada wants to play hockey for Canada but because we are so deep in hockey talent it is not possible for all. I know both Brett Hull and Adam Deadmarsh were born in Canada but chose to play for team USA AFTER they failed to make team Canada (I don't know if this was the case for Colin but can assume it was). Team Canada still gets the best players with dual citizenship, the Americans can have the rest.
I won't cheer for any Canadians while they're wearing the red white and blue, but have no problem with them taking advantage of dual citizenship to get the experience of playing international hockey.
Don't cheer for them. Its simple. They ceased being canadian the monment they put on the USA's jersey.
I don't care if they have quad citizenship. They are obviously americans at heart.
Go Canada Go!
hey!I'm still choked about Trottier playing for the americans! he was born and played his junior years here in Canada!
It gets deeper than that if your team drafted one of the dual-citizenship players. I would be all for one of the draftees of the Oilers playing for another country if it meant getting experience. Or even if it meant they only got more ice time and an increased role on the team to further their development. It is not likely right now that a few players making the switch would make that much of a difference to Team Canada's chances anyway, we ARE the best hockeynation in the world.
hmmm and just off reading your title I thaught you were talking about Paul Stastny. Stastny is eligible to play for both and he's suiting up for USA. Well when you think about it, your odds of playing for team Canada on the grand stage are slim to none with the talent level out there.
Another example is The Avalanches great rookie Paul Statsny, im pretty sure hes suiting up for the Americans this spring
I remember the 76 Canada Cup. Tony Esposito. He was playing for team USA. 4 years previously, in 1972 he was on Team Canada in the Summit Series against the Soviets.
I remember when Canada beat the US in the 76 Canada Cup and after the game, they played the Canadian National Anthem. Tony O wept.
You can take the boy out of the country but you can't take the country out of the boy.
Who cares ... if they wear the "stars and bars" and are playing hockey against Canada there is no question who I'm rooting for. regardless of who their dad was or where they were born ... i.e Brett Hull
At least they are playing for my second favourite team.
One thing we have to keep in mind is that we are fortunate to have such a depth of hockey talent that players do have to go elsewhere.
I don't think anyone has objected to athletes in other disciplines becoming Canadian to compete for us.
It has worked the other way on very rare occasions as well. Owen Nolan was not born in Canada and Petr Nedved played for the national team after he defected. Going back to 1972 one could also include Stan Mikita. There are way more examples of guys born in countries but I the vast majority of these guys never had a shot at wearing the maple leaf.