Once Upon A Time At The World Junior Championship: Brendan Gallagher

When the Montreal Canadiens selected Brendan Gallagher with the 147th pick overall in the fifth round, he had just come off an 81-point season with the Vancouver Giants in the WHL. He showed promise, determination, and grit, so they decided to go for the 5-foot-9 right winger. Over the course of his career, many NHL teams must have wished they didn't pass up on him. 

They saw what his coach in Vancouver, Don Hay, was seeing on a daily basis. When he was tasked with coaching Team Canada for the 2012 World Junior Championship, there's no doubt he pushed to have his biggest warrior with him for the tournament.

Gallagher proved his coach right, in six games at the tournament, he put up six points, including a goal and two assists in a 6-5 semi final loss to Russia. That performance was a tale of things to come for the diminutive winger. Even though the Russian had taken a 6-1 lead, he never gave up and tried to get his team back in the game until the bitter end.

With a score of 6-2, Gallagher proceeded to gather three points on his team's next three goals which all came in the space of five minutes. It was tool little too late for the home country, and it failed to make the gold-medal game.

In the bronze-medal game, Canada blanked Finland 4-0 with a great team effort and while it wasn't the medal the country had been aiming for, that last spot on the podium was still better than not being on it.

Gallagher would finish his season in Vancouver with 77 points in 54 games to wrap up his junior career. The following Fall, he started his pro career with the Hamilton Bulldogs while a lockout was taking place in the NHL.

When the big league resumed its activities, he would force his way onto the Canadiens roster and has never lost his spot since. Through sheer will and determination, he would end up forming one of the most effective line at even strength with Philip Danault and Tomas Tatar, until both of his linemates left in free agency.

Today, Gallagher patrols the ice on the third line alongside Christian Dvorak and Josh Anderson, but one thing hasn't change, the dad to be always gives his all on the ice and bleeds red, white and blue.

Related: Canadiens Player To Be First-Time Dad

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