Legions of crestfallen armchair athletes across our eager nation have sighed too often. For us, losing is confusing

Leigh Smith, aged 16, is typical. He has played competitive hockey since he was seven years old.

Today Leigh plays up to six times a week in a local Toronto league and is on his high school team. Hockey runs deep within him and his family.

"I have a jacket for every team I played on . . . seven different jackets." Leigh says he has no intention of quitting, even though the 0600 practices are less fun, now that he likes to sleep in.

Hockey in the blood

Skates scraping on ice is a sound innate to Canadians. So is the bone-jarring buzzer that marks the end of each of the three hard-fought periods.

Olympic competition offers a chance to shine

The smell of powered hot chocolate and cheap hot dogs smothered in tomato ketchup is also part of the atmosphere, especially among the dutiful parents, grandparents and aunts and uncles who shiver and cheer in the stands.

Hockey is Canada's national pastime and the Winter Olympics is a big deal for Canadian hockey fans.

The competition is the opportunity for Canada's most talented players to sharpen their blades and slice through the competition to take their natural place on the gold medal podium.

At least, that is what Canadians think is their natural position. But it does not always work out that way. Coming in second in hockey hurts our pride.

'Losing is confusing'

Legions of crestfallen armchair athletes across the eager nation, from the Atlantic, to the Arctic, to the Pacific, have sighed too often.

Losing is confusing. This is the rub for Canadians - there are just too many excellent hockey players in the world now.

If you inhibit creativity in youngsters they will be functionally disabled in a sport that is reactionary in nature

Bob Richardson, Dallas Stars

Moderate pundits agree that Canadians are not raising new generations to excel beyond the limiting confines of a kinder, gentler overly coached, give-every-kid-equal-ice-time-style hockey.

Youthful creativity and skills development is inhibited by an emphasis on rules, tactics, management and, eventually, learned behaviour.

'Let them play'

The message is the same for the professionals. As National Hockey League (NHL) hero Bobby Orr told the Boston Globe flatly: "Let 'em play. If an offensive player is able to create, we have to let 'em do it - at every level."

Dallas Stars scout, Bob Richardson, agrees.

"If you inhibit creativity in youngsters, if you do not allow them to develop an intuitive feel for the game, they will be functionally disabled in a sport that is reactionary in nature."

The consensus in Canada is that coaching is focused on winning and advancing kids up through the leagues

Richardson has gone further, citing the growing profile of European players in the NHL as the success story of coaching youth hockey.

The intuitive feel of the game, he says, closes a little with each passing year. Essentially, Canada is quashing its young players' drive to achieve.

The consensus in Canada is that coaching is focused on winning and advancing kids up through the leagues. It is more rushed with less love of the game and more results driven.

What has not changed, however, is the fresh exhilarating experience of youth, or the hockey jackets, or the lumpy hot chocolate.