CALGARY - Canada will have to wait at least one more year for some Russian redemption at the World Junior Hockey Championship.
For the second straight year, Canada's National Junior Team had their hearts broken by the boys from Russia.
This time, it was the Canadians who mounted a furious and wildly improbable third-period comeback, chipping a 6-1 Russian lead down to 6-5.
They got three goals in a 2:39 span by Dougie Hamilton, Jaden Schwartz and Brendan Gallagher. The first two came in a span of 23 seconds.
Then defenceman Brandon Gormley narrowed the gap to 6-5 on a Canadian power play, wristing a slap shot from the point past a screened Russian netminder Andrei Vasilevski at 14:17.
If you were there, to paraphrase the Team Canada slogan, it was by turns painful, stunning, thrilling, inspirational and absolutely unforgettable to witness.
In the end, it was a loss, but Canada did itself proud nonetheless.
Still, one year after Team Canada surrendered five unanswered, third-period goals to lose the final game, Russia ended Canada's streak of gold-medal final appearances at 10 with a thumping, 6-4 semifinal victory at the Saddledome.
The Russians now will defend their 2011 gold medal on Thursday against Sweden, who beat Finland 3-2 in a shootout in the other semifinal. Canada will go for bronze against Finland.
As painful as the Buffalo meltdown was in 2011, failing to get to the final his year in Alberta could be tougher to take for Canada's juniors, who battled back heroically.
Canada entered semifinal play with a 4-0 won-lost record; they had never been behind; they outscored their opponents 26-5; they played just one one-goal game, a 3-2 win over Team USA in their final, round-robin game.
On Tuesday night they fell behind 2-0 in the first period against a Russian team that lost an overtime thriller to Sweden in the round robin, then fashioned a thrilling victory over the Czech Republic in one quarterfinal to earn a semifinal berth against Canada.
Those hard-fought Russian victories didn't hurt the team's energy level, obviously. And the early lead helped quiet a raucous Saddledome sellout crowd.
Canada's Brett Connolly narrowed the margin to 2-1 early in the second period with a splendid individual effort, his fifth goal in five games, during a delayed penalty call against Russia.
The Russians snatched momentum right back, in fact, grabbed the game by the throat - or so it seemed - with three straight goals, two by Yevgeny Kuznetsov, who set up the third one by Alexander Khokhlachev.
At the best of times for the margin for error for Canada at this made-for-TV tournament is so thin as to be microscopic. To a non-participant, the pressure on a group of teenage boys, Canadian or not, seems staggering.
On New Year's Eve, having already clinched a semifinal berth, the script still called for Canada to beat Team USA, an obligatory part of the whole spectacle, a chance for a full-house at Rexall Place in Edmonton to whoop it up for the home team.
TSN reported Tuesday that at least seven million Canadians, an average of 2.8 million for the broadcat, tuned in for a game that was pure ritual, utterly irrelevant as far as the standings were concerned.
Canada's juniors have become surrogates, really, for our men's Olympic team, which only assembles and competes once every four years.
Right or wrong, it is the Canadian reality. But this year, Canada ran into a harder truth. This Russian team, backstopped by the superb Andrei Vasilevski in goal; led by snipers Kuznetsov, who had the hat trick on Tuesday night and Mikhail Grigorenko, was simply too good for them.
In the second period meltdown, Canada lost their composure as they fell further behind. First Boone Jenner, who had been elbowed in mid-ice, negated the impending power play by spearing Kuznetsov.
Minutes later, Jonathan Huberdeau, a nifty set-up man in the tournament for sniper Mark Stone, took a minor penalty late in the period, complained and received a 10-minute misconduct for his indiscipline.
Canada's tournament-long goaltending question proved moot, as both Scott Wedgewood and returning netminder Mark Visentin played.
Wedgewood yielded the first four goals before leaving, but he was hardly at fault. Just as the fourth Russian goal crossed the line, he was hammered by Russia's Khokhlachev who seemed to clip the Canadian goalie in the head with a skate as he slammed into the goal.
Visentin gave up a goal on the first shot he faced, coincidentally scored by Khoklhachev.
To their credit, Canada did not give up, with Dougie Hamilton and team captain Jaden Schwartz adding third-period goals to narrow the margin to 6-3 in the third period.
They went down the way they had played all tournament, like a cohesive team. But a team that ran into a slightly better one.
? Copyright (c) Postmedia News
advanced search personhood amendment haynesworth haynesworth ohio issue 2 ohio issue 2 mississippi personhood
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.