World Junior 2015: Team Canada calmed nerves with round of 'tic-tac-tao' at the moment of truth

TORONTO — There it was, their moment of Ben.

Ten, 15 years from now this Team Canada of superstar Connor McDavid and so many old teenagers — Max Domi, Sam Reinhart, Anthony Duclair, Curtis Lazar, Darnell Nurse, Josh Morrissey, to rhyme off just a half-dozen — might be remembered as a special squad. It will depend on what they go on to do in the NHL. Chances are, what will be retold about the 5-4 gold-medal game win over Team Russia was how quickly they got back on the beam after Russia tallied thrice in in 3½ minutes to stir the ghosts of the Buffalo meltdown exactly four years earlier.

With coach Benoît Groulx breaking out the tic-tac-tao mantra during a timeout, his players coolly settled in and closed out a resolute Russia. The puck might have been in Canada's end for much of the third period, but it felt safe.

"That's been our best thing, from Day 1, is pushing out the negatives," said McDavid, whose second-period goal gave the 17-year-old top NHL draft prospect 11 points in seven games, "That comes from Coach Ben and Captain Curt. It comes from all 22 from us. We did a great job regrouping from there. They really didn't get many chances in the third.

"Of course, of course, tic-tac-tao was said," McDavid added. "Even in the heat of the moment, guys were able to have a little laugh, That just goes to show what kind of coach Benny is. To make us laugh in a moment like that is pretty amazing.

"It started from top to bottom, coaches, management, training staff, everything. I think that was about as perfect a tournament as you could get. Maybe one of the best world junior teams but I know there's been some pretty good ones."

The upshot of allowing those three goals by Ivan Barbashev, Sergey Tolchinsky and Nikolay Goldobin, who have all developed in Canadian major junior, was that Canada still led. Like Jon (Bones) Jones against Daniel Cormier, it had taken some shots but not the knockout shot. They were still up by one goal with 20 minutes remaining. It beat being down 6-1 to Russia, like the 2012 team in the semifinal.

"Guys began smiling again and became aware regardless of the good or the bad, we had each other to rely on," Lazar said.

"Finally, we can call this game ours and what a way to do it," said Lazar, the captain who came on loan from the Ottawa Senators. "I know those icings [three in the final one minute and 40 seconds] stretched it out a little, but we did a great job at the end of the game."

The third period was probably too close for comfort for Canadians who sign their emotions over to a team of teenaged NHL prospects for the first 10 days after Christmas every winter. From atop the ACC, it looked like the entire final 20 minutes was the endgame, with Team Canada getting crisp zone exits and subtle plays in its own zone. That Groulx-instilled sense of calm was reflected in the way defencemen moved the puck, or goalie Zach Fucale knew when to freeze for a faceoff, or how 100-point juniors scorers such as McDavid and Sam Reinhart clamped down on the short passing lanes around the net when the D's were defending below the goal line.

"Russia's a team that never quits and they prey on turnovers," Morrissey said. "We made some mistakes in the second period, but I'm so proud of the way we responded. When everything is coming down, we're still in a hockey game and still have a one-goal lead."

It was a game effort by Russia to come bac k. Coach Valeri Bragin's team went down 2-0 barely 2½ minutes in. Bragin burned his timeout after Nick Paul made it two goals on two shots  and reminded his team, as Goldobin related, "we can, we can do this." With Ilya Sorokin supplanting Igor Shestyorkin in goal, they certainly proved that, albeit only once Canada had another three-goal outburst in the second.

The victory, of course, ends a five-year golden drought and a two-year stretch off the podium. Team Canada players aren't that far removed from when they were adolescents watching through a fan's eyes. There's a certain pride that stems from killing a talking point.

"It's the day we all dreamt of for a long time," said Morrissey, one of six players who were part of the 2014 team that came home from Sweden empty-handed. "It's been a while since we've had gold in this program."

That fourth-place 2014 squad was criticized for lacking chemistry. Canada managed the dual feat of having more top-end talent while also being a tighter-knit group.

"After that tournament last year, I talked about wanting to lead," said Lazar. "I didn't have to do much leading with this group. We managed ourselves pretty well and let our play do the speaking."

Moreover, for all the theorizing that the world junior has become so big in Canada that the team is doomed to crack, this groiup lived in the moment. They seemed to block that out, and minus the one blip, pulled it off perfectly.

"From breakfast till now, it's all been a crazy day," McDavid said. "It's all been an unbelievable day."

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.