Canada vs the czechs thread

Join the discussion about the Blues.

[Complete Blues coverage on STLtoday.com]

Moderators: STLtoday Forum Moderators, Blues Talk Moderators

Post Reply
DawgDad
Forum User
Posts: 8304
Joined: 16 May 2019 10:58 am

Re: Canada vs the czechs thread

Post by DawgDad »

Rollin' on the River wrote: 05 Jan 2026 17:26 pm
MiamiLaw wrote: 05 Jan 2026 17:24 pm
Rollin' on the River wrote: 05 Jan 2026 17:16 pm
MiamiLaw wrote: 05 Jan 2026 16:12 pm
Rollin' on the River wrote: 05 Jan 2026 15:57 pm
MiamiLaw wrote: 05 Jan 2026 15:30 pm McKenna seemed upset about the winning goal not being disallowed for a kick but it clearly was not kicked. Even Canada homer Mike Johnson (though I do like his analysis) said it was a good call without question.

A lot of Canadians on Reddit are lamenting Canada hockey and how many are being priced out of the AAA hockey system. Meaning they are only getting the skilled rich kids who are often entitled and not willing to work.
I don’t think that’s solely a Canadian problem.

The AAA Lady Blues cost about $6,000-$7,000 a season on the low end. It’s crazy. Especially when you consider that women’s hockey is one of the top 3-5 “easiest” athletic scholarships to learn.
$6 to $7k a year?? Insanity...
And that’s just girls hockey, and honestly $6-$7k is pretty light in comparison.

Scan a women’s NCAA roster and check the high schools. You see a lot of Shattuck St Mary’s, a Lot of Brecks, and a lot of academies.
Yea hockey has always been a high cost entry even for house leagues. Equipment is expensive. Ice tie is expensive. Practice times are usually miserable.
Yeah, I didn’t always love those 5:30am practices as a youngster
LOL. 4:30 a.m. back in the day. We used to put my son to bed in his uniform, carry him to the van still asleep. We'd do practice, hit Waffle House, be home by 6:30 a.m.
IsDurbanodoingtime
Forum User
Posts: 866
Joined: 23 May 2024 16:17 pm

Re: Canada vs the czechs thread

Post by IsDurbanodoingtime »

Love playing a quality game in net in the final. Making the saves he suppose to and not gifting the czechs any cheap goals as well as the ten bell.
Pierre McGuire
Forum User
Posts: 2248
Joined: 23 May 2024 13:10 pm

Re: Canada vs the czechs thread

Post by Pierre McGuire »

Crazy finish but Sweden hangs on
2forDiving
Forum User
Posts: 907
Joined: 23 May 2024 14:39 pm

Re: Canada vs the czechs thread

Post by 2forDiving »

I assume Blues’ prospects will make up 1/3 of the all tournament first team.
Pierre McGuire
Forum User
Posts: 2248
Joined: 23 May 2024 13:10 pm

Re: Canada vs the czechs thread

Post by Pierre McGuire »

Harenstam named best goalie
Jiricek named best dman
Cihar named tourney MVP
Oddly enough the first team all stars,..Jiricek didn’t get named to that, but Galvas was.
2forDiving
Forum User
Posts: 907
Joined: 23 May 2024 14:39 pm

Re: Canada vs the czechs thread

Post by 2forDiving »

Pierre McGuire wrote: 05 Jan 2026 22:08 pm Harenstam named best goalie
Jiricek named best dman
Cihar named tourney MVP
Oddly enough the first team all stars,..Jiricek didn’t get named to that, but Galvas was.
Hard to be best dman and not make the all star team :D
Pierre McGuire
Forum User
Posts: 2248
Joined: 23 May 2024 13:10 pm

Re: Canada vs the czechs thread

Post by Pierre McGuire »

2forDiving wrote: 05 Jan 2026 22:12 pm
Pierre McGuire wrote: 05 Jan 2026 22:08 pm Harenstam named best goalie
Jiricek named best dman
Cihar named tourney MVP
Oddly enough the first team all stars,..Jiricek didn’t get named to that, but Galvas was.
Hard to be best dman and not make the all star team :D
Gonna blame them Minnesota politics….that would be the only thing that would make sense
STL fan in MN
Forum User
Posts: 2732
Joined: 23 May 2024 13:57 pm

Re: Canada vs the czechs thread

Post by STL fan in MN »

Pierre McGuire wrote: 05 Jan 2026 18:26 pm
STL fan in MN wrote: 05 Jan 2026 17:27 pm
MiamiLaw wrote: 05 Jan 2026 16:12 pm
Rollin' on the River wrote: 05 Jan 2026 15:57 pm
MiamiLaw wrote: 05 Jan 2026 15:30 pm McKenna seemed upset about the winning goal not being disallowed for a kick but it clearly was not kicked. Even Canada homer Mike Johnson (though I do like his analysis) said it was a good call without question.

A lot of Canadians on Reddit are lamenting Canada hockey and how many are being priced out of the AAA hockey system. Meaning they are only getting the skilled rich kids who are often entitled and not willing to work.
I don’t think that’s solely a Canadian problem.

The AAA Lady Blues cost about $6,000-$7,000 a season on the low end. It’s crazy. Especially when you consider that women’s hockey is one of the top 3-5 “easiest” athletic scholarships to learn.
$6 to $7k a year?? Insanity...
Want to play in the NA3HL? It’ll cost each kid $8-10k. Many times the paying customers aren’t in the stands…they’re on the bench.

Hockey is heading in a bad direction and has been for years. Go look up Black Bear and their monopoly on rink ownership in some areas of the country and their for profit model.

The state of Minnesota and the Wild have an initiative called Skate It Forward that’s designed to keep rinks owned by municipalities and to make hockey cheaper for kids. Where I live, it costs $250/year for my kid to play travel squirts. I’d bet it’s way higher in STL and it’s way WAY higher in some other areas. The game has always been expensive but it’s getting way too out of hand and pricing out a majority of people. It’s why countries like Sweden and Finland, with total populations of 8-12 million people can consistently beat our team even though we have 330 million people.
What’s the reason for the low attendance at the WJC’s? I wasn’t expecting sellouts or anything but I would have thought the state of hockey would have shown up a bit better than they did.
It’s back here in 2031 I think but I don’t know if they announced the city yet or not. Also wondering if that poor attendance will ruin our chances of ever getting it in St. Louis
Idk. I can understand not bothering to attend a random Latvia vs Germany game but tickets today were available as low as $14 for the bronze game and $35 for the gold game. I can understand why the draw would tank once the US and Canada was out but I didn’t expect it to drop that much. The US game were near sellouts but not really any other games. I went to 4 games. Overpaid on 2 as I bought tickets months ago. Then the other 2 I waited until the day of and scored cheap tickets.

USA Hockey said they’re not even going to start the bidding process for 2031 for another 2-3 years, which makes sense to me. But I wouldn’t put good odds on STL getting it. Just not a great draw for Canadians. Not a ton of direct flights. Just a random Midwest city.
Pierre McGuire
Forum User
Posts: 2248
Joined: 23 May 2024 13:10 pm

Re: Canada vs the czechs thread

Post by Pierre McGuire »

STL fan in MN wrote: 05 Jan 2026 22:59 pm
Pierre McGuire wrote: 05 Jan 2026 18:26 pm
STL fan in MN wrote: 05 Jan 2026 17:27 pm
MiamiLaw wrote: 05 Jan 2026 16:12 pm
Rollin' on the River wrote: 05 Jan 2026 15:57 pm
MiamiLaw wrote: 05 Jan 2026 15:30 pm McKenna seemed upset about the winning goal not being disallowed for a kick but it clearly was not kicked. Even Canada homer Mike Johnson (though I do like his analysis) said it was a good call without question.

A lot of Canadians on Reddit are lamenting Canada hockey and how many are being priced out of the AAA hockey system. Meaning they are only getting the skilled rich kids who are often entitled and not willing to work.
I don’t think that’s solely a Canadian problem.

The AAA Lady Blues cost about $6,000-$7,000 a season on the low end. It’s crazy. Especially when you consider that women’s hockey is one of the top 3-5 “easiest” athletic scholarships to learn.
$6 to $7k a year?? Insanity...
Want to play in the NA3HL? It’ll cost each kid $8-10k. Many times the paying customers aren’t in the stands…they’re on the bench.

Hockey is heading in a bad direction and has been for years. Go look up Black Bear and their monopoly on rink ownership in some areas of the country and their for profit model.

The state of Minnesota and the Wild have an initiative called Skate It Forward that’s designed to keep rinks owned by municipalities and to make hockey cheaper for kids. Where I live, it costs $250/year for my kid to play travel squirts. I’d bet it’s way higher in STL and it’s way WAY higher in some other areas. The game has always been expensive but it’s getting way too out of hand and pricing out a majority of people. It’s why countries like Sweden and Finland, with total populations of 8-12 million people can consistently beat our team even though we have 330 million people.
What’s the reason for the low attendance at the WJC’s? I wasn’t expecting sellouts or anything but I would have thought the state of hockey would have shown up a bit better than they did.
It’s back here in 2031 I think but I don’t know if they announced the city yet or not. Also wondering if that poor attendance will ruin our chances of ever getting it in St. Louis
Idk. I can understand not bothering to attend a random Latvia vs Germany game but tickets today were available as low as $14 for the bronze game and $35 for the gold game. I can understand why the draw would tank once the US and Canada was out but I didn’t expect it to drop that much. The US game were near sellouts but not really any other games. I went to 4 games. Overpaid on 2 as I bought tickets months ago. Then the other 2 I waited until the day of and scored cheap tickets.

USA Hockey said they’re not even going to start the bidding process for 2031 for another 2-3 years, which makes sense to me. But I wouldn’t put good odds on STL getting it. Just not a great draw for Canadians. Not a ton of direct flights. Just a random Midwest city.
I believe that I heard Denver might be the front runner for hosting 2031.
Post Reply