Once Upon A Time At The World Junior Championship

The Montreal Canadiens picked franchise icon Carey Price fifth overall in the 2005 draft. Before joining the organization, he led Team Canada to a gold medal at the 2007 World Junior Championship and gave one of the best performances in the tournament's history.

The goaltender had an immaculate record, winning his six games and posting excellent numbers with a 1.14 goals-against average and a .961 save percentage. While he was on duty for the gold medal game, his most talked about performance was in the semi-final against Team USA.

On Jan. 3, 2007, Canada and the USA locked horns in a thriller. The Americans took 35 shots and Price's net but could only beat him once in regulation, just like Canada could only beat Jeff Frazee once, when blueliner Luc Bourdon tied up the game with less than eight minutes to play. Nobody knew then, but Bourdon would meet an untimely death in a motorcycle accident a year and a half later.

Nobody was able to solve either goaltender in the overtime period, even though the USA tested Price 12 times. It set the table for a 7-round shootout showdown. Jonathan Toews scored three times in the skill test for Canada and was the hero of the game, but while he did that, Price stopped soon to be Toews teammate with the Chicago Blackhawks Patrick Kane twice and made the clinching stop on Peter Mueller.

The normally even keeled Price looked ecstatic as he booked his country's ticket for the gold medal game. Two days later, he would make 25 saves on 27 Russian shots to backstop Canada to a 4-2 win.

Price was deservedly named best goaltender in the tournament and selected to the Media All-Stars team alongside Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Alexei Cherepanov, Jack Johnson and Kristopher Letang. What a star-studded tournament that was.

If anyone was still doubting Price's selection by the Canadiens at that stage, the goaltender put them on notice that he was the real deal. He would go on to play 15 season in the NHL with the Canadiens, dominating his position and being recognized by his peers as the toughest goaltender to play against several times.

Unfortunately, he would never win hockey's ultimate prize, coming up short in the one Stanley Cup Final he made. One has to wonder what would have happened if Price had had better offensive support.

On the international stage, Price would also go on to win a gold medal for Team Canada at the 2014 Olympics and the World Cup of Hockey in 2016.

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