Canada bent but wouldn't break in reclaiming the world junior hockey championship

Long before the game started fans were outside the Air Canada Centre in eager anticipation. It was a night that Canada had been dreaming about since last winning gold in 2009. It was the night their world junior championship drought ended.

It was a tense 5-4 victory over Russia which saw Canada take a four-goal lead only to watch it slowly evaporate. Many still remembered the collapse of 2011 in Buffalo when the Russians came back from a three-goal deficit to steal the gold in front of many Canadian fans that had made the trek across the border. But as the seconds dwindled and final buzzer went Monday night there was nothing left for the Russians to do except accept defeat amid the chaos on the ice. Sticks and gloves littered the ice as players took turns jumping into each other’s arms.

The crowd of 19,014 at the Air Canada Centre, who had been raucous all game, went absolutely wild.

“My ears are still ringing a little bit from it,” said Team Canada captain Curtis Lazar. “It was awesome. They love their hockey and so do we. Knowing that we had their support throughout the good and the bad was incredible.”

The Canadian players stood at the blueline and sang O Canada as the flag was raised to the rafters. It was a moment many of them dreamed about as young boys.

“Growing up watching the world juniors since I was five and seeing the teams that had won it and then being able to do that, “said defenceman Madison Bowey, “ I think that was the most memorable moment for (me) and something I’ll never forget in my career.”

After the game, goaltender Zach Fucale spoke passionately about what this victory meant to him. The Montreal Canadiens prospect has won a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League title and a Memorial Cup championship. This was different.

“This is country against country and there’s a lot of pride involved – lots of competition,” said the 19-year-old who made 26 saves for the win and shook off a three-goal second period by the Russians to shut them out in the third. “It’s an unbelievable feeling to win this at home for Canada.

“It’s the best moment right now.”

Both Lazar and Fucale were with the team last year, when Canada finished fourth in Malmo, Sweden. It was the second consecutive year Canada failed to earn a medal. And so, the knives were out and the pressure was on for a group of teenagers to put their country back on the podium in a tournament that has become a must-follow for Canadians during the holiday season.

More than a few of those people questioned whether Canada was still developing junior players good enough to compete with the rest of the world. There was an apparent goaltending crisis that played a part in knee-jerk reactions, like the Canadian Hockey League’s decision to ban European goaltenders.

Heading into the tournament, no one felt the pressure more than Hockey Canada’s head scout, Ryan Jankowski, who joined the management group in the summer of 2013. He was tasked with not only finding the best players, but the ones who would work best together under the guidance of head coach Benoit Groulx.

The scrutiny was an intense as Monday’s highly-charged atmosphere inside the Air Canada Centre.

“Second-guess me all you want, but hopefully we win and that puts all the second guessing to bed,” said Jankowski in late November.

On Monday night his faith in the process and all those nights he and Bruce Hamilton spent scouting players across the country was rewarded with the world juniors’ most coveted medal. As a team, the Canadians kept a perfect record through the tournament and never once trailed in a game. The game against Russia was the first time they had even been outshot.

“That’s the job,” said Jankowski after the victory. “We have to put a quality product on the ice ensuring we make Canadians proud through our performance … when you sign up for that job there’s always going to be that expectation and it’s a challenge. Yes, it relieves some pressure and yet, let’s do this all again next year and have some fun with it.”

It wasn’t just the management staff that let out a sigh of relief once Canada was on the winning end to quiet the chorus of junior hockey naysayers.

“The weight was off our shoulders,” said defenceman Josh Morrissey, another returnee from 2014. “For me being in the program last year and being in the tournament, it was a huge disappointment not winning gold. Anytime you play for Canada that’s the goal. When we were able to win and the clock struck zero the relief was definitely (there).”

Canada and the team will celebrate their hard-fought victory. They’ll enter the 2016 world junior championship in Helsinki, Finland as defending champions. And if you thought the work for Hockey Canada starts anew on Tuesday morning, you’re wrong.

Three weeks ago, with the 2015 edition of Team Canada set, Jankowski began identifying the hopefuls for next year’s tournament – and his next trek to an arena.

“Once the team was picked I started looking at depth charts to see where I have to go in the second half because the season doesn’t stop for me now,” he said. “Even though we hit the reset button on our season today, I might be at a game on Wednesday night.

“But for tonight, let’s just enjoy this.”