Article content The three wise men who assembled the parts for the odds-on favourite to win the world junior hockey championship tried to explain how the team failed to reach a medal game in the prestigious, Christmas-time tournament for the second year in a row. In true Canadian fashion, the top dog began with an apology. “The buck stops with me,” said Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada’s senior vice president of high performance & hockey operations.
“The Program of Excellence is my responsibility, as is all national teams. And so like other Canadians, I’m incredibly disappointed. “I’m apologetic to Hockey Canada, to our volunteers, our members, to the fans here.
“It’s not unacceptable, but we can’t accept it. So it’s something that we’ll work very diligently on improving, finding ways to win. Again, it’s difficult.
” Salmond, head scout Andy Murray and management lead Peter Anholt faced almost two dozen members of the media gathered at Ottawa’s Delta Hotel in a unified group on Friday, about 14 hours after Canada had suffered a last-minute 4-3 loss to Czechia in a quarterfinal game at Canadian Tire Centre. The script was almost identical to the result 12 months ago, when Canada lost 3-2 to the Czechs on a last-minute goal in Sweden. Salmond wasted little time in defending the players.
“These are young men, very character young men,” he said, “and just like when you win, the credit doesn’t go to one person or one group of people. When you lose .
