Todd: Michael Hage overlooked by Team Canada, but not by Canadiens

Hockey Canada may have dodged one when our junior team suffered a beatdown at the hands of the Czechs in the semifinals.

If Canada had won, the knuckle-draggers in this country could point to Dale Hunter and his staff and say, “See! Ya gotta be tough! We taught those you’re-a-peein’ fellas a lesson!”

Instead, Canada was taught the lesson, which did not prevent Hunter and his staff from delivering one last blow to the game by refusing to vote for Habs draft pick Michael Hage as one of the top three Canadian players, even though the University of Michigan centre led the entire tournament in scoring.

Even Jeff O’Neill of TSN, who has come a long way from the days when he was an out-and-out Leafs cheerleader, questioned the vote. “I have no idea how he wasn’t named one of the top forwards for Team Canada. He’s been the best player in the tournament. He’s unreal.”

Hockey blogger J.T. (Gander, N.L.-based journalist Leigh Anne Power) has an idea. “Despite the points and the praise,” she wrote, “Hage missed out in favour of teammates Tij Iginla, Zayne Parekh and Sam O’Reilly. … The decision seemed odd, considering Iginla and O’Reilly had only eight points each, while Parekh had 13 as a defenceman.

“One of the most obvious differences between the three players chosen and Hage is that they all play major junior hockey in Canada, while Hage opted to play university hockey in the NCAA instead.”

Old myths die hard and the myth that junior hockey is the one and only route to the NHL is hard to eradicate. It’s been 15 years since a French-language broadcaster pointed out to me that fewer than two per cent of players in the QMJHL at the time were getting so much as a cup of coffee in the NHL — and yet the belief persists that it’s the only way.

Meanwhile, if Hunter and his pals took the trouble, they might notice that some college boys are doing alright in the big time today — among them Lane Hutson, Cole Caufield, Jacob Fowler and a dude who plays out west named Macklin Celebrini.

Add Hage, yet another electrifying player on his way to the CH.

The world is changing. New NCAA rules for NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) contracts have turned NCAA football into a high-stakes pro league where quarterbacks and other star players are on multimillion-dollar deals. College hockey is not in the same league, but players can do better than they do in junior hockey and get an education at the same time, rather than deferring it to some unnamed future date when they’re through with the juniors and finally realize they will never make the NHL.

Given the backward approach to the sport in this country, we’re fortunate that under new management at Hockey Canada, enrolment in minor hockey is on the upswing after years of erosion, but on this side of the NHL, the world junior tournament is arguably the single biggest influence on young players. That is why the coaches and managers behind Team Canada need to get their heads out of 1965 and build for the future.

Hage did not need the votes of Hunter and his staff. Defenceman Bryce Pickford, the 81st pick in the 2025 NHL draft who leads all of junior hockey in goal-scoring, does not need the invitation to camp that Team Canada never issued. But the treatment of Hage, Pickford and others will not go unnoticed by players trying to decide between the NCAA and junior hockey.

If the choice is there, fellas, if you have the scholarship offer — take it. If you’re meant to be in the NHL, you’ll make it. The overwhelming majority of you will still have to buy a ticket to get into an NHL arena, but if you go to university, you’ll at least come away with an education.

Give the Sheriff his star: The game Saturday was ugly. The result was ugly, a 4-0 Canadiens loss to the Original Six rival Detroit Red Wings.

But it was the clearest indication yet that the big guy they call the Sheriff, or Scrabble, or that Big Son-of-a-Gun, has arrived. In truth, it’s been more and more evident during the past month. Arber Xhekaj is an intimidating force out there, a tough guy who can play more than a little shinny.

As Xhekaj has outdistanced Jayden Struble for a role on the third defensive pair, he has reached a point where you hope he doesn’t have to fight because he’s needed on the ice. He makes good decisions, he keeps up with the play and he eats up a lot of territory.

And when needed, well — the scene where Xhekaj is in the middle of a scrum holding one opponent under each brawny arm says it all.

Heroes: Arber Xhekaj, Alexandre Texier, Oliver Kapanen, Juraj Slafkovsky, Ivan Demidov, Glenn Hall, Macclesfield, Mikaël Kingsbury, Nicole Gosling &&&& last but not least, Martin St. Louis.

Zeros: Dale Hunter, Bill Guerin, Lane Kiffin, Kawhi Leonard, Tom Brady, Tony Romo, Wayne Gretzky, Bud Selig Jr., David Samson &&&& last but not least, Jeffrey Loria.

Now and forever.

jacktodd46@yahoo.com

jacktodd.bsky.social

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