Sportsnet's Kevin Bieksa Calls Out Online Criticism After Team Canada's World Juniors Failure
PUBLICATION
Tom Banks
January 5, 2025 (7:54 PM)
Team Canada certainly came up short in the 2025 World Juniors tournament in disappointing fashion, and now Kevin Bieksa has called out the online hate.
Over the past few weeks, Team Canada had one of the most disappointing runs in World Juniors history, with the team coming under immense criticism before, during and after the tournament.
The biggest criticism was sent towards Hockey Canada given their dreadful roster build, as they left off the most talented players in the country, and ultimately failed to medal for the second straight year.
While Hockey Canada deserves criticism, the 16 to 19-year-old players on the team certainly do not, as they clearly gave their all, with their loss to knock them out of the tournament coming in the final minute despite fighting incredibly hard throughout the game.
Now, former NHLer and now Sportsnet analyst Kevin Bieksa has called out the online hatred, condemning fans for their attacks on young players, instead of supporting the players representing their country.
"Yeah, but as a country, though, there should be a little bit more support than demanding victory, and then when they lose think about all the people that are writing negative things online," Bieska said. "Like, who does that? Who writes a negative thing online about a 16 to 20-year-old playing their hearts out trying to win?
You think they want to lose? We should be nothing but support."
This is very well put by Bieksa, as there are certainly complaints to be made about the way the entire tournament went for Hockey Canada, so while calling out the organization makes perfect sense, the young players on a big stage tried their hardest, and certainly deserve respect for giving their all for Team Canada.
POLL |
Does Hockey Canada deserve the hate for back-to-back failures in the World Juniors? |
Yes | 174 | 72.8 % |
No | 65 | 27.2 % |
List of polls |
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