The twenty three kids from various parts of the country that comprised Team Canada at the world under-20 championship learned a valuable lesson in humility last night. Leading 3-0 towards the end of the second period, the Canadians put things into cruise control, assuming their victory would come as easy as it had two nights ago against the Americans, a game in which they also held a 3-0 lead after two periods.
It started late in the second when the Canadians failed to capitalize on a few power plays, with the Russians generating the majority of the chances, even though they were a man down. The Russians had come back from a two-goal deficit against Finland in the quarter-finals, and a late one-goal deficit against Sweden in the semi-finals to earn the right to play in the Gold Medal game. They had certainly proved capable of mounting comebacks.
The second still ended with a 3-0 score, but the momentum had clearly shifted to the side of the Russians, and they came out hard to start the third, pressing with an early goal. That started a chain reaction that saw the Canadians get beaten to many pucks in the corners, their defense was often caught pinching, and Team Canada goalie Mark Visentin, who hadn’t been tested much until that point, was often caught out of position. Canada had fell completely off their game for a good eight minutes or so, allowing the Russians to tie it.
Shortly after the tying goal, the game settled down a bit and Canada was able to generate some sustained pressure in the Russian zone, but were unable to get any quality chances on the Russian goal. A bad pinch led to another Russian goal, giving them the lead and forcing Canada into desperation mode. The final few minutes were frantic, but as Canada was about to pull their goalie for the extra attacker, Russia broke in on a two on one, and put the dagger through the heart of Team Canada. 5 goals in under 15 minutes. The largest single collapse in tournament history.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to many, as it was Canada’s 10th straight year in the Gold Medal game, and 5th time they have come up short, settling for the Silver medal. After a run of 5 straight gold medals, Canada has now lost back-to-back gold medal games, getting upset by the Americans last year in a 6-5 OT loss, and following that up with this epic collapse.
Many fingers of blame are being pointed right now. Some are pointed at head coach Dave Cameron for not pulling goaltender Mark Visentin; some are pointed at some NHL teams for hanging onto their eligible players like Tyler Seguin, Taylor Hall and Jeff Skinner. Some are blaming the managers of the club for adding too much size and power, and not enough speed or raw skill to the line up. Some are pointing at the overall weakness of the Canadian junior goaltending landscape.
In a tournament that is becoming exceedingly a Canadian celebration of the game, nothing less than a gold medal is acceptable north of the border. After watching dominating performances by this team, like their 6-3 trouncing of Russia in the opening round, to their 4-1 pasting of the Americans in the semi-finals, most fans felt like they had this in bag. However, in true Canadian fashion, it was the Russians who exhibited that never give up, never say die attitude, and they took what was rightfully theirs.
Now that Buffalo has returned to America, we can look forward to next year’s tournament in Calgary, and hopefully some of these youngsters can put this tough loss behind them, but take away from it the most valuable lesson of them all: Respect your opponent.
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Born and raised in Northern Ontario but currently living in Toronto, Tyler wouldn't have it any other way. Home to his two favourite sports teams, Tyler revels in the day to day sports experience that is Toronto. 