Hoo boy Ron Wilson might get a lot of crap for this if Team USA doesn’t win today pic.twitter.com/YdOuJw6gr0
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) January 4, 2016
The United States took on Russia in the semifinals at the World Junior Championship in Finland on Monday, and — with a spot in the gold medal game on the line — USA coach Ron Wilson made some questionable comments prior to the game. Wilson, a former NHL head coach, basically said he knew nothing about the Russians and didn’t plan on doing any research.
Wilson: “I couldn’t tell you any players on the Russian team. It’s probably a good thing that I don’t know any of their players.”
Reporter: “Why is that a good thing?”
Wilson: “Because I don’t know them! Do you know any of the Russian players? Do you? No! I’m the same I’m in the same boat I’ve never seen them play before.”
Reporter: “Are you going to do some research?”
Wilson: “No, I’m not. We play with our team and that’s who I’m going to trust. I’m going to trust our team to go out there and get the job done.”
There’s a chance that Wilson was just trolling and actually did do his research, but, wouldn’t you know it, Team USA, who looked dominant for much of the tournament prior to Monday’s game, did not get the job done. Instead, they lost to Russia 2-1 after jumping out to an early lead.
Wilson ought to learn some names before playing Sweden in the bronze medal game if he wants to save face.
