Winning world juniors gold special for Canada
EDMONTON — Canada’s under-20 males’s hockey workforce bought to know adversity intimately over the previous year-and-a-half.
The trials and tribulations paid off Saturday night time because the workforce gained gold on the world junior hockey championship in Edmonton.
After going up 2-0 halfway via the second interval, the group noticed Finland roar again to tie the sport 2-2 within the third and power additional time the place a highlight-reel save by captain Mason McTavish was a championship-winning purpose by Kent Johnson on the different finish of the ice.
“It’s virtually a year-and-a-half since our first coaching camp so for all of that onerous work to have form of paid off, it’s simply so particular,” McTavish mentioned, gold medal draped round his neck.
The workforce initially got here collectively in the summertime of 2021, with the unique match set to be performed in Edmonton and Purple Deer, Alta., that December.
Rising COVID-19 instances amongst gamers and officers induced the forfeiture of video games and the occasion was halted after simply 4 days.
The Worldwide Ice Hockey Federation promised to replay the match, however the one out there time was in August — a interval the place younger hockey gamers are sometimes gearing up for coaching camps.
Within the meantime, Canadian hockey got here below hearth as sexual assault allegations emerged in opposition to gamers of two former world junior groups. Hockey Canada confronted intense scrutiny for the way it dealt with the allegations, with the federal authorities freezing the group’s funding and big-name sponsors pulling their help.
A number of gamers opted not to participate in the summertime match, creating large turnover on the Canadian squad, however the group persevered, mentioned head coach Dave Cameron.
“This can be a robust sufficient match to win when it’s a traditional match at Christmas time,” he mentioned. “And for this group to come back in right here below the cloud that they got here in below, with what was occurring with Hockey Canada, and the turnover, we had seven or eight guys that didn’t come.
“Simply the dedication. … This group simply caught with it. That form of was a theme.”
Canada was undefeated throughout the match, successful all seven video games it performed. The workforce trailed simply as soon as, falling behind 1-0 in a preliminary recreation to Czechia, the nation generally generally known as the Czech Republic, earlier than ultimately recording a 5-1 victory.
McTavish — the match’s most precious participant — led with 17 factors (eight targets, 9 assists), tying Wayne Gretzky and Eric Lindros for the second-most factors ever scored by a Canadian participant on the world juniors.
“They’re clearly within the Corridor of Fame and to actually have a quarter of their profession, what they’d and the success they’d can be a hit for me,” McTavish mentioned. “I really feel so honoured. I really feel like I don’t belong there.”
An 18-year-old Anaheim Ducks‘ prospect, McTavish has had a busy yr. He suited up in 9 video games for the NHL workforce earlier than returning to the Ontario Hockey League and in the end serving to the Hamilton Bulldogs to an Ontario Hockey League championship and berth within the Memorial Cup the place they completed second. In-between, he pulled on the Maple Leaf for Canada on the Beijing Olympics.
Profitable world juniors gold, although, is a dream come true, he mentioned.
“I feel any championship you win is so particular,” he mentioned. “Right here, it’s an unbelievable feeling. Any time you get an opportunity to win something, it’s among the finest emotions on the earth and it’s so addicting. So hopefully I’m in a position to do it once more.”
McTavish is one in all 11 gamers on the Canadian squad eligible to play once more when the 2023 match takes place in Moncton and RisePEI.
Defenceman Olen Zellweger believes the group has rather a lot to construct on transferring ahead.
“I feel coming to this match, the expertise and what you study is invaluable,” mentioned Zellweger, who had 11 factors (two targets, 9 assists) within the match.
“So coming again, I’ve a greater understanding of how arduous it’s to win, how dedicated you could be, how tight as a bunch you could be to come back out on prime.”
Whereas the 2022 world juniors was an odd affair — held throughout the scorching summer time with out the packed crowds typically seen on the December occasions — the group has discovered that the match comes with plenty of shut video games and plenty of expectations, Cameron mentioned.
Having lived via that may serve the younger gamers properly, the coach added.
“Actually they’ll draw on the expertise that they’d right here and the strain,” he mentioned. “So after they do go to that match, there must be no surprises about what to anticipate.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Aug. 20, 2022.
Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press
