Golden Boys

Every year, my father asks me if I’ve been watching the World Junior Hockey tournament that runs over the Christmas holiday. My answer is usually, “No.” I watch so much hockey during the NHL season (or did, before Rogers took over the league), that the junior teams hold little interest. I am always aware of the tourney, however; especially of the outcome, especially if Canada wins gold.

Winning gold hasn’t been the case for a while. Last year, the Finns beat the Swedes in the gold medal game and Canada got nothin’. I don’t think we made the medal games at all. This year, Ter and I happened on the Canada/US match in the round robin and wound up watching most of the game. It was one of the best hockey games I’ve ever seen, period. It helped that Canada won, but the speed and skill of those junior league boys were mesmerizing. They made the pros look like the amateurs. From that point, we coordinated our lives around the broadcast schedule and stayed with TSN for the duration.

The quarter-final against Denmark was kind of a blowout, but it was a fun game to watch. The semi against Slovakia was less of a blowout, at least at first; if not for Denis Godla, the score would have run further away than it did and sooner than it did—even the crowd was behind the Slovakian goalie. Nobody could believe that he didn’t get the “player of the game” award. They all started chanting, “Goalie, goalie!” until the kid had to acknowledge them while his selected teammate bravely endured the photo op. They say the players choose the recipient on each team, but the crowd knew who truly deserved it that night.

And last night’s gold match between Canada and Russia was hair-raising. Didn’t start that way—our boys had them pulling their goalie 2.5 minutes into the first period and the bigger, huskier Russian players couldn’t keep up with the swarm. When the gap in the score widened early in the second, it looked like we had it. Then, in three minutes, the Ruskies scored thrice, two of them on power plays. Suddenly, the score was 5-4 and the entire third period was yet to be played. I’m thinking that they should have played for gold in Montreal, that the Air Canada Centre is cursed with Leafs’ luck. Ter is yelling for the kids to quit with the stupid penalties (the game was actually very well called). The sportscaster on Global news is reminding us that 6-5 is a recurring score when Russia plays Canada in a series and that’s all fine and dandy so long as Canada gets the 6 …

Well, we didn’t. But the Russians couldn’t get the 5, either. The game ended at 5-4, the country went nuts, and now I understand what Dad means when he says the hockey is better at the junior level. These kids play with hearts and guts and desperation. They’re not in it for the money (well, maybe they are, in the long run—most of them are already drafted to NHL teams). They’re in it for pride, for their parents, for their coaches, and for their country. This year’s Canadian team was unbeatable. They went 7-0 in the tournament, but that’s not what impressed me the most. The chemistry between the players was magical. All four lines were scoring. The defence corps were horses on the blue line. I don’t know if any of them will be stars in the big league, but they were a galaxy unto themselves in the world juniors this year.

O, Canada!