The summers are hard for these guys. I coached in the CeBL https://www.cebl.ca/ It is Canadian pro league trying to copy the model of other pro leagues around the world (3 import limit). the hope is to transition to the winter, but they ran a summer league this year. The quality of the Canadian players is quite high and our team https://www.therattlers.ca/ ended up winning dressing only one American player for the final game. But the summer is a demanding time, and a lot of the best players in the league left because they did not want to play into August, since they step right in into camp in September, and the grind is too much.
Not sure what the answer is for Canada. They breezed through the tournament of the Americas before the last Olympics only to choke in the finla and miss the Olympics. The "Wiggins is soft" whispers started then. It is hard for guys to play, then deal with unfair criticism id they lose.
Even a younger ages this happens. My kids team from Saskatchewan was in the medal round of the nationals for u17 this summer, but probably only 2 or 3 of the top 20 kids in Canada played since their US prep schools or their elite AAU teams demand their summers.
Not sure what the answer is for Canada. They breezed through the tournament of the Americas before the last Olympics only to choke in the finla and miss the Olympics. The "Wiggins is soft" whispers started then. It is hard for guys to play, then deal with unfair criticism id they lose.
Even a younger ages this happens. My kids team from Saskatchewan was in the medal round of the nationals for u17 this summer, but probably only 2 or 3 of the top 20 kids in Canada played since their US prep schools or their elite AAU teams demand their summers.