I'm not saying that North Americans dont have skilled players because they do. But our sports analysts are always quick to point out how much more physical North Americans are compared to Europeans.
But if the Euro's do so well in the NHL also, they must have something to make up for that lack of physicality. (technique?).
haha... I remember studying this in Kinesiology. It comes down to:
Genetics.
If you look into the backgrounds of European and former Eastern Bloc countries, most of the higher performing hockey athletes come from the most elite of athletic parents... not necessarily so in Canada or the US. In fact, who on Team Canada has an olympic gold medal parent? exactly. no one.
This is largely due to the fact that western civilization in North America is much younger than in Europe, where they hold to a strong social status structure where athletes marry athletes, musicians/musicians, actors/actors, artists/artists, monarchists and noblemen and so on... In athletically strong 'gene pools' it only makes sense that the predominance of traits associated to predetermine excellence in athletic ability is very apparent.
Our Team Canada 'stars' are mostly kids from families of hard working individuals that may have a lesser degree of athleticism (adequate, but not elite) in their genes.
without wanting to rewrite an honours thesis, here's a quick comparison of 2 Cdn vs. 2 Rus players and their brief 1st gen heritage...
ie, Ryan Getzlaf- from a farming family. brother plays CFL football
Sidney Crosby- father Troy played backup goalie in the Q...
vs.
Alexandre Ovechkin- the son of Mikhail Ovechkin, a former professional soccer player, and Tatyana Ovechkina, who won two Olympic gold medals while competing for the Soviet women's basketball team
Sergei Gonchar- father was an olympic wrestler, mother olympic gymnast... marries an Armenian olympic figure skater, therefore Sergei's Pennsylvania raised children will also carry excellent athletic genes even further...
just sayin'...
