Canadian Juniors Fail To Close The Door For Third Year In A Row

Most Canadians are probably beginning to believe that Canada will never win another World Junior Hockey Tournament. Taking into account the fact that the Canadians have not won at this tournament for seven years now and that in the past three tournaments, the Canadians have held leads going into the third period of the gold medal game, it is very difficult to believe that luck will once again return to the Canadians side.

The Canadians took on the Americans in this year’s gold medal game and had much the same fate occur as the previous two years. The Americans had never won gold at this tournament until today, causing the Canadians to have to wait another entire year to attempt to break their drought. Canada had a 3-1 lead going into the third period provided by two goals by Nigel Dawes and one goal by Anthony Stewart. The Americans scored three unanswered goals in the third period and hung on for a 4-3 victory. The winning goal came on a fluky play where the puck was halfway between Canadian goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and American forward Patrick O’Sullivan. Fleury raced up to clear the loose puck away but the clearing attempt hit a Canadian defenseman and went directly back into the net.

Should there be a work stoppage in the NHL next year, a number of star Canadian players be available for the Junior tournament next year. Nathan Horton of the Florida Panthers and Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins were not allowed to participate in this year’s tournament by their respective NHL clubs but would still be eligible for next year’s Junior tournament. If the NHL is on strike next season, teams with young players would be thrilled to have them participate in this tournament to continue their development.

Canada should have another strong team for next year’s tournament. Hopefully, the people who put next year’s team together will take a lesson from the three consecutive missed chances and ensure that next year will be the year the Canadians end the drought.