Team Canada's path to gold at the World Juniors becomes intriguing

Canada’s 2-1 loss on New Year’s Eve against Russia seemed to sting quite a bit. Although it didn’t drastically change the complexion of the squad’s quest for a gold medal, it did result in them getting the short end of the stick – a tough challenge in the quarterfinals.

Instead of finishing in the top spot of Group A and receiving an easier opponent in Slovakia, Canada’s route to winning the tournament will involve a difficult test early in the medal round against Finland. While the nation has not finished with a medal at the event since winning gold on home soil in 2016, they did defeat Canada 5-2 in the final tune-up game before round-robin competition got underway.

If the host nation were to win their quarterfinal matchup against Finland on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. (ET), they will then play the winner of the Sweden-Switzerland clash. Barring a massive upset that would shock everybody, including the Swiss’ outspoken head coach Christian Wohlwend (probably), Canada will then draw Sweden in a rematch of last year’s gold medal game. In the last 10 years, the two countries have met three times in elimination games, with the Canadian side winning all of them.

And, not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but if the young group of Canadians can string together a pair of wins, they will find themselves playing for gold. And who will that be against? The last one standing out of the United States of America, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Russia.

Although losing to Russia is never fun to endure as a Canadian hockey fan, the tournament is far from over. Sure, the road is tougher, but Canada was bound to play competitive opponents at some point.

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