World Juniors 2009 Rewind: Unbelievable Scenes And Future NHL Stars In Ottawa

With the world juniors returning to Ottawa for the first time since 2009, Canadian hockey fans are hoping that the end result in 2025 will be the same: gold.

Sixteen years ago, Team Canada capped off a five-year run of supremacy with one of its most iconic performances.

This year, the tournament will be held in the same two venues — although both now have new names. Scotiabank Place and the Ottawa Civic Centre are now known as the Canadian Tire Centre, the Ottawa Senators' home barn, and TD Place, the 9,862-seat home of the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s and the PWHL’s Ottawa Charge.

Here’s a look back at Ottawa’s 2009 event.

The Rosters

Coming off four-straight gold medal performances, Canada went into Ottawa as the top seed in Group A. Returning defenseman Thomas Hickey of the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds was named captain, with John Tavares, Cody Hodgson, Zach Boychuk and P.K. Subban as the alternates.

Also in Group A: the United States, Czech Republic, Germany and Kazakhstan.

The Americans were coming off a fourth-place finish in 2008 and were captained by California native Jonathon Blum. Kevin Shattenkirk and Colin Wilson were the alternates.

The Czechs had finished fifth on home soil in 2008. Only a handful of players from the 2009 roster ever played NHL games, and just one is still in the league — Anaheim Ducks captain Radko Gudas.

Making his world juniors debut in net for Germany in Ottawa was Philipp Grubauer.

Group B included Sweden, Russia, Finland, Slovakia and Latvia.

The Swedes came into the tournament as the second seed after a silver-medal performance in Czechia, while the bronze medallists from Russia were seeded third.

Jacob Markstrom was the No. 1 netminder for the Swedes, with Erik Karlsson and Victor Hedman on defense and Mikael Backlund up front. The Russians were captained by 2008 No. 6 overall pick Nikita Filatov. Evgenii Dadonov and Dmitry Kulikov are the only players from the Russian roster who are still in the NHL.

The most notable player on Finland's 2009 squad was Mikael Granlund — making his world juniors debut at just 16 years old. Tomas Tatar is now a familiar name from the Slovak roster.

Related: World Juniors 2025: The Hockey News Predictions

The Preliminary Round

The Canadians and Swedes swept their round-robin games, earning byes into the semifinals under the tournament’s format at that time. The Canadians outscored their opponents 35-6 over four games, with almost half their goals coming in a 15-0 win over Kazakhstan. Their tightest contest was their 7-4 win over the Americans on New Year’s Eve.

The Swedes outscored their opponents 21-3 in their round-robin games. They feasted on Latvia, winning 10-1, and shut out the Russians 5-0 while logging 3-1 wins over the Finns and Slovaks.

The Quarterfinals

In the crossovers between the second and third-place teams in each group, Russia took down the Czechs 5-1, while Slovakia got up 3-1 in the first period on the way to a 5-3 upset of Team USA. Slovak goaltender Jaroslav Janus was the difference, as the Americans outshot their opponents 47-19.

The Semifinals

Here’s where things got really interesting.

In the early game, Slovakia put a scare into Sweden by opening the scoring and holding a 2-1 lead through two periods. Backlund’s second of the game, scored on the power play, ignited a four-goal third period that sent the Swedes to the gold medal game for a second-straight year.

In the late game, Canada leaned into its opportunity to play for a fifth-straight gold, leading Russia 3-2 after two periods on goals by Brett Sonne, Patrice Cormier and Jordan Eberle.

Less than a minute into the third, the Russians tied the game. Canada replied with a shorthanded marker by Angelo Esposito. Then Subban took a tripping penalty to put Canada two men short, and Sergei Andronov made the score 4-4 with 13:38 to play in the third.

The next 10 minutes were tense. Then Dmitri Klopov beat Dustin Tokarski to give the Russians the lead with just 2:20 left in regulation.

Coach Pat Quinn pulled Tokarski with 1:24 left to go — and you know the rest.

With more than 19,000 fans holding their breath in the building and millions more on the edge of their seats at home, Eberle cemented his status as a Canadian legend when he beat Vadim Zhelobnyuk with just five seconds left on the clock.

“Can you believe it?” asked Gord Miller. The Drive for Five was alive, and when overtime solved nothing, Eberle stepped up again with the shootout-winner.

The Medal Games

By comparison, the tournament’s final games on Jan. 5, 2009, were relatively tame.

In the bronze medal game, Russia got up 2-0 early on Slovakia and cruised to a 5-2 win.

Then, in a repeat of the 2008 gold medal game, the Canadians never wavered on the way to a 5-1 win over Sweden. They also claimed a piece of history by winning five-straight golds for the second time in world juniors history, following in the footsteps of Canada’s teams from 1993 to 1997.

Related: 2025 World Junior Championship: Full Roster List

The Award Winners

Fueled by two goals and four assists against Kazakhstan, Vancouver Canucks prospect Cody Hodgson led the 2009 tournament in scoring, with 16 points in six games. Tavares was right behind him with 15 and was named best forward and tournament MVP, while Eberle finished with 13 points.

The other IIHF Directorate award winners were the goalie Janus, who continues to tend the twine for Kosice in the Slovak league, and future three-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson of Sweden.

The media selected Markstrom as the top goalie for their all-star team, with Karlsson and Subban as the defensemen and Tavares, Hodgson and Filatov as the forwards.

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