TORONTO — Reset the clock on the Canadian-hockey-in-crisis countdown, please.
After five years without a gold medal at the world junior championship, including a spectacular third-period collapse against Russia in the final four years ago, Canada finally won a tournament in which victory used to be routine.
It was not easy, though. Boy, was it ever not easy.
A four-goal lead in the second period turned out to be just enough for the eventual 5-4 win. But just barely.
The fireworks began only 23 seconds into the gold-medal game, when Anthony Duclair took a pass in the slot from Max Domi and blasted it over the glove hand of Russian goalie Igor Shestyorkin.
Two minutes after that, it was Nic Paul tipping a perfect feed on the rush from Brayden Point past Sheshtyorkin, sending the Air Canada Centre into paroxysms of joy and relief — that strange mix of emotion that accompanies international hockey tournaments in this country, in which Canadians do not just want to win, but to be validated.
The two quick goals brought an end to the night of Shestyorkin, who in a pre-tournament game against Canada had performed feats of magic in stopping 54 shots in a 2-1 Russian win.
“I’m hoping he’s not as good as in the past,” captain Curtis Lazar had said before the before the game with his trademark smile.
So that box was checked. But from there, the game turned into a baffling series of momentum shifts, where Canada looked at times like it could do no wrong and then promptly started doing a Denmark impression.
“Make the simple plays,” Lazar had said earlier about what the Canadians needed to do. “Do what got you here.”
They did that, for a while, anyway. After Russia scored halfway through the first to make it a one-goal deficit at the intermission — the first time in the tournament that Canada had allowed an opening-period goal, the home team did their usual takeover of the game not long into the second frame. Connor McDavid beat backup Russian goalie Ilya Sorokin, taking a home-run pass from Josh Morrissey at the blue line and slipping the puck into the net after he faked a deke. Two minutes later, Max Domi picked up the puck along the left boards, and used Sam Reinhart as a decoy before ripping a wrist shot past Sorokin inside the far post. When Reinhart tipped in a Domi wrist shot from just inside the Russian zone five minutes later to give Canada a 5-1 lead, victory was only a matter of time.
Right?
Ah, but this is Russia, the team that had beaten Canada in the medal round four years running, most painfully in Buffalo in 2011 when the Russians scored five times in the third period to overcome a 3-0 deficit. Monday night’s scenario was uncomfortably familiar for the Canadians. A power-play goal from Ivan Barbashshyov two minutes after the Reinhart cut the deficit to three, then another Russian goal caused by a pileup in front of goalie Zach Fucale made it a 5-3 game. For a Canadian team that had faced precious little adversity in a six-game romp through the tournament, this was a whole new experience.
Less than two minutes later, after another Canadian penalty, Russia put another short-range marker past Fucale to make the score 5-4 and rekindle painful memories of Buffalo for the Toronto crowd that had nothing to do with traffic lineups at the border. Russia was scoring Canadian goals. Grit goals. Ugly goals caused by mayhem in front. Russia outshot Canada 21-9 in the final two periods. It was enough to cause the nation’s hockey fans to reconsider their self-worth all over again.
Not that one game should ever have been a referendum on whether Canada is good at junior hockey. But a collapse would have overshadowed that the Canadians rolled to the final in a performance that rivaled their best years in the tournament in recent history. In six games — four preliminary-round games plus the quarter-final and semi-final — the Canadians outscored their opponents by a collective 34-5. Canada never trailed in any of the six games, and once they established a lead they never surrendered it, building up at least a two-goal lead in each game before surrendering a goal. Heading into the final, Canada had the top three scorers in the tournament — Nic Petan, Connor McDavid and Sam Reinhart — while Curtis Lazar was tied for fourth and Max Domi two points behind him in a tie for ninth. Canada’s five goals allowed prior to Monday were also the fewest in the tournament, with Russia the next closest at 12 goals allowed. The only goal totals in recent history that compare were those of the 2005 Canadian team, the powerhouse that included Sidney Crosby, Patrice Bergeron and Ryan Getzlaf in an NHL-lockout year. That team outscored its opponents 32-5 in the preliminary round and won the gold with two victories by a collective 9-2 in the medal round.
Asked earlier on Monday what a gold-medal loss for Canada this year would mean, Hockey Canada president Tom Renney didn’t flinch at the prospect of six years without a gold. “And 18 consecutive years in the semi-final,” he said. “I think we are doing OK.”
Still, brave faces would have been hard to maintain after blowing a four-goal second-period lead.
Instead, all anyone sported on Canada after the game were smiles. It had been five years, and a ridiculous 60 minutes of hockey, so those smiles were some time coming.
Source:: National Post
