Team Canada 2008 IIHF World Junior Champions

This was easily the least convincing, least spectacular edition of Team Canada gold medal winners over the past 4 years.

But it was also easily the most spectacular finish.

After 60 minutes and some change, Team Canada defeated Team Sweden in one of the most exciting World Junior Championship gold medal games in recent memory, winning 3-2 on the strength of an OT goal by Matt Halischuk.

Team Canada beat Team USA in a convincing fashion, having several key players step up (what about Brandon Sutter nailing James van Reimsdyk, what about Brad Marchand playing a terrific two way game, what about Chris Mason being named player of the game?), and Team Sweden beat Team Russia in OT, paving the way for a rematch between Team Canada and the only remaining undefeated team in the tournament, the Tre Kroner.

After being legitimately questioned as a useful number 1 scoring unit, Brad Marchand, Kyle Turris and Claude Giroux stepped up and had by far their best game, scoring twice in the first, both of them great examples of determination rather than skill.

Goal number one had Marchand pick the puck out of the air after a Kyle Turris shot and bank it off the Swedish goalie Jhonas Enroth. The second goal had Marchand poking the puck out from Enroth as he attempted the smother it, he then spun around behind the net and centered it perfectly to a wide open Claude Giroux on the opposite side of the net who banged it home.

The Swedes though, should be given their due as well, especially as the comeback kids of the tournament. Beginning with their 4-3 comeback victory against Canada last Saturday, then a 2-1 OT comeback victory against the Russians yesterday, and then they managed to tie the game after being behind by a couple goals in the third.

After Kyle Turris dinged one off the post early in the third, Sweden put the pressure on, dominating the game for over 15 minutes straight. From terrific individual plays by Patrik Berglund (an absolute beauty behind the net pass for Sweden's first goal, then an almost a coast to coast), to a constant flow of great passing and individual plays from Robin Figren, Team Sweden did everything possible to tie and nearly win the game. At one point Marchand looked like he was about to go after a Swedish player for a perceived slight, the camera momentarily moved to Craig Hartsburg who clearly mouthed "Marchand! Focus Marchand!!" The last minute goal by Team Sweden looked to be the last nail in the coffin for Canada who were outshot 14-3 in the third period and were completely dizzied by the Swedish attack. I'm not sure there was one Canadian player in position, including goaltender Steve Mason who really overplayed a shot at the side of the net, mimicking Jonathan Bernier's earlier mistake.

Team Canada though would not be denied. When OT started Sweden still held the play but were not nearly as dominant. After a few hesitant shifts in which Canada played a simply dump (with no chase), Canada changed strategy to dump AND chase. Matthias' forecheck caused a turnover in the corner and he drove to the net hard, making contact with Enroth as he came from behind the net. From then on the story was Matt Halischuk driving to the net hard and banging in the rebound. After that it was sheer bedlam.

The celebrations lasted longer than usual with the team charging into the stands and celebrating with the 4000 or so Canadian fans. As the choir of boys sang out the Canadian national anthem, Stefan Legein, who played only one shift in the game due to injury, yelled to the camera 'I told you Canada!!' following up with his statement during the national anthem of the quarterfinal game ("Two more baby!") and after the semifinal game ("One more baby!").

One thing I'll say about this team that is different from the rest of the 4 in a row Team Canada teams is that I never felt any one player stood out for any length of time. Early in the tournament it was the youngsters Jonathan Tavares and Steve Stamkos who played well, Drew Doughty eventually found his stride, and at the end of the tournament I though Marchand, Giroux, Turris, Sutter, and Mason who stepped it up. To give you an idea of individual efforts, not one forward from team Canada was named to the all star team, although Drew Doughty was named along with his underage Swedish counterpart Victor Hedman. Chris Mason was named the top goalie of the tournament.

10 players from this Team Canada edition are eligible to return next year to compete for the gold in Ottawa. The drive for five is only a year away.

Team Canada vs. Team Sweden Postgame/ Team Canada vs. Denmark - Pregame

Adversit

I've talked about it in a lot in my Team Canada discussions, specifically I like to talk about how a team will react to it. There are some teams that will just be so dominant they don't really have to think about adversity, especially in short tournaments like the World Juniors, but eventually, whether it's the next year or the next year, a team will face it. I think a lot of times adversity is harder to overcome if a team isn't used to dealing with it. Gretzky touched upon that idea regarding the Soviet teams of the late 70s and early 80s, he said that although they played great with a lead, if you could stay in the game you saw a different and more vulnerable team.

Going into yesterday morning's game against the Swedes, Team Canada hadn't lost in 20 straight games, had a 400 or so minute EV shut out streak and hadn't let in a goal since the gold medal game of last year. They rolled over the Russian stars in the Super Series this summer, and although the Czechs and Slovaks played them tough, neither team managed a goal against. The closest thing to adversity that Canada has faced in approximately 3 years is a scare in the semi finals against Team USA last year, and that had more to do with Canada being asleep than the USA really bringing it.

In my opinion, pretty much everything was going according to plan going into the third period against Sweden. Team Canada was up by a couple goals, had one completely dominating PK effort in which Sweden barely touched the puck and besides the fact the Swedes were getting the odd scoring chance, I never felt the Canadians were letting things slip out of hand. The turning point, beyond a doubt in my mind, came when the PKing Canadians stole the puck from the Swedes on the points, then had a 2-0 chance. Instead of calmly skating it up, the puck was miss-passed and turned into a dump in. The Swedes recovered the puck and scored on an absolute beauty point shot. Instead of a 3-0 affair, the game was now 2-1. For about 5 minutes after that, the Canadians were a complete disaster of a team.

The Swedes next two goals were either extremely flukey or extremely skillful (or a combination of both). Jonathan Bernier made an extremely difficult save on one chance, only to have puck (now behind the net) deflect off his skate as he scrambled back into position. The next goal deflected off a defenceman's skate on a play that was either a unsuccesful centering pass or a genius read. 3-2 Sweden.

Fortune smiled upon Team Canada as the Swedes received a phantom call against, already shorthanded. Canada scored on a beauty play started by John Tavares (whom I believe should be given more ice time) who made a fake spinarama pass to Turris out front who put it past the Swedish goalie, but not all the way in. Ice cold Claude Giroux managed to bang home the puck and the Canadians were seemingly back in the game.

The Swedes however, would not be denied. With less than a minute to go in the third period, and the game looking more and more like an OT or shootout affair, a series of blunders occured , almost all by players who need to be leaders on this team for it to be successful.

1. Brad Marchand gets the puck near the top of the circle in the Swedish zone, instead of getting the puck deep (as he is the high man in the zone), he dangles it towards the blueline and is overwhelmed by two Swedish players.

2. One Swedish players gets on a partial break past Thomas Hickey, however, not by Drew Doughty. Instead of letting Doughty handle it, Hickey continues to persue the Swede. Doughty also continues to persue the Swede, eventually falling (to try cut off the shooting angle?) and therefore pretty much eliminating Hickey's effectiveness. Meantime, the Swede simply skates a little past the two inept Canadian defenceman and centers the puck to a wide open player.

3. Meanwhile, Bernier, forgetting everything he's ever learned about goaltending, completely overplays the Swede being covered by two Canadian defenceman and has no real angle at the net. By the time the centering pass is made, Bernier has completely vacated his net. The puck is easily banged home.

Now there are a lot of questions about what happened in that play, but it was only a microchasm of the whole game and Canada's general reaction to a little bit of adversity. Panic. It was not a pretty sight.

Now there are a couple of positives to be taken from this experience - firstly, it wasn't an elimination game. Team Canada supporters saw a similar reaction to adversity way back in 2004 when a team consisting of a lot of great NHLers saw Team USA snatch victory from the jaws of defeat coming back in the third period after Marc-Andre Fleury banked a goal in off his own teammate.

Secondly, it should be painfully obvious now that Canada is not immortal. They've gone unbeaten for so long that perhaps they had forgotten what it was like to lose, perhaps they had forgotten that sting. That's the sting that motivated Canada to greatness in 2005, and perhaps this team can figure out what it takes now rather than wait till next year.

Today Canada will play Denmark, and they will win. Steve Mason will be starting in goal, and I believe that is a sign he will be our goalie in the elimination portion of this tournament - that misplay by Bernier at a key moment was enough for Hartsburg to believe a change was necessary.

The question now, is who will step and lead this team? In 2005 it was leadership by commitee, in 2006 is was Steve Downie and Justin Pogge who inspired, and in 2006 it was Jonathan Toews and Carey Price that took the team and put it on their shoulders (Marc Staal honourable mention). Will Stephan Legien and Brandon Sutter take this team by the collar and give everyone a shake? Will Steve Mason pull a Manny Legace and win games single-handidly? Will Karl Alzner take control of this group by shutting down the opposition and making a phsyical statement?

Or will Team Canada go out with a whimper when it comes time to face the music in quarterfinals?