It’s time for Canada against the U.S. at the world juniors — the moment we’ve all been waiting for
The moment of truth has arrived.
After a fifth-place finish in Sweden last year, this edition of Team Canada was not put together with the purpose of racking up double-digit goals totals in lopsided victories over improving, but still inferior visitors, from Europe.
It was structured with the sole purpose of winning gold again at the world junior championship.
It was built to beat the best.
The first test of Canada’s “ultimate team” plan comes Tuesday night in the traditional New Year’s Eve battle against a star-studded USA squad that, with 10 returning players, is attempting to capture back-to-back golds at the WJC for the first time.
Canada’s group remains confident, even while the rest of the country has its doubts.
The skepticism comes from the fact that coach Dave Cameron’s squad has scored just nine goals in three games against Finland (a 4-0 win), Latvia (a 3-2 shootout loss) and Germany (a 3-0 win).
What outsiders are overlooking is the fact that, while allowing an average of one goal per game, Canada has yet to be scored on at even strength.
But to the Canadian team, that is a source of pride. That is the reason for its optimism.
The opponents to date have not exactly been world powers. None have a line like the Americans’ top unit of first-round picks Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perreault, along with James Hagens, who is a candidate to be selected as the No. 1 overall pick this coming June.
Canada is hungry for the opportunity to prove it can contain that line and defeat the U.S., not just on Tuesday but, if the cards play out the way they should, again in the gold-medal game on Sunday.
But nobody is looking that far ahead in a tournament with a track record of upsets.
“We’ve got a lot of high-scoring guys that are snake-bitten,” Cameron said on Monday in defence of the plan. “We said from the get-go that we’ve got to use all of the clubs in the bag. Well, what better way to win games when you’re not scoring, you’re snake-bitten, than to have other guys that are real good away from the puck. You’re not giving up stuff, so you don’t give up any even-strength goals in three games. That’s the ultimate team.”
Unofficially, Canada leads the tournament in posts hit and most times stoned by sensational goaltending. So, how can he help prevent the frustration of coming so close to scoring from seeping in?
“That’s what’s great about this team. It hasn’t,” replied Cameron. “(They) haven’t given up an even-strength goal in three games. They’re sticking with it. That’s the strength of this team, that’s what’s the most exciting part about it. We haven’t broken.
“Tell me how many teams can go through what we’ve gone through, in terms of being snake-bitten, and all the bad PR we’re getting because we lost a game, and blah blah blah … that stuck with it. That’s character.”
Character was the word used most often to describe Brayden Yager when he was named team captain.
Instead, Yager has set the tone for the defensive style Canada is playing, as a member of the shutdown line that includes Tanner Howe and now Bradly Nadeau, who switched spots with Cole Beaudoin who was bumped up to the first unit to create a net-front presence.
“Everybody has different roles,” said Yager, whom the Penguins traded to the Winnipeg Jets for first-rounder Rutger McGroarty in August. “I take a lot of pride in my 200-foot game. I want to play against the other teams’ best players and try and shut them down, and try to produce offence at the same time.”
On Tuesday, Yager will see a lot of the Hagens-Leonard-Perreault line which he says has a “little bit of everything.”
But chirping to get into the head of the young Hagens is generally not a tactic he uses.
“That’s probably more Howie’s style,” Yager said with a laugh. “I think we’re just going do whatever we can to stop them. If that’s what it takes, then we’ll do it.
“But I think it starts with our compete, especially when we don’t have the puck. Staying above those guys and trying and keep the puck out of their hands.”
Cameron took what some saw as a message sent to his players — that the Americans are no better than they are — when he used the schedule to explain the standings.
Canada lost to Latvia after playing the tough Finns the previous day, while the Latvians lost to the Americans 5-1 less than 24 hours after beating Canada.
“If Latvia was fresh (against the Americans), Latvia has a good chance to win that game too,” he said. “If we hadn’t gotten Latvia in the second game (of back-to-backs), I think we would have won that game. That’s the reality of how close the tournament is.”
Germany reinforced that by taking Latvia down to the wire before losing 4-3 in overtime on Monday.
Now, Latvia, which had three wins in tournament history before this year, can finish as high as second by defeating Finland and Canada losing to the Americans.
X: @sundonib