By Mike Beasley /
Canada’s national Junior team will be gunning for their sixth consecutive World Junior Championship and 16th overall when the 2010 tournament gets underway on Dec. 26 in Saskatchewan.
Here’s Hockey Now’s look at Canada’s 15 previous gold medal victories.
2009: Canada Survives Semi-Final Scare in Ottawa
In semi-final action, Jordan Eberle’s second goal of regulation with seconds on the clock enabled Canada to tie the game against Russia. Eberle scored again in a shootout to give his squad an exciting 6-5 victory. Canada moved on to face Sweden in the gold medal game, winning 5-1.
2008: Canada Wins OT Thriller in the Czech Republic
Matt Halischuck scored for Canada in overtime on a goalmouth scramble minutes into extra time against the Swedes who had tied the game 2-2 late in the third period.
2007: Canada Knocks off Russians in Sweden
Team Canada won the gold medal with a 4-2 victory over Russia but it took a lengthy 2-1 shootout win against the Americans in the semi-finals to get there. It was the Jonathan Toews show as he and Jack Johnson from the U.S. went back and forth trying to beat each other’s goaltenders. Canada’s goaltender Carey Price put an end to the drama by stopping Peter Mueller and sending the Canadians into the final.
2006: Canada Wins on the West Coast
Team Canada shutout the Russians 5-0 in the gold medal game in front of a packed house at GM Place in Vancouver, B.C. Canada went undefeated throughout the tournament and was led by the strong goaltending performance of Justin Pogge. Canada’s defence was the core of the team with Marc Staal, Ryan Parent, Luc Bourdon, Kris Russell, Kristopher Letang and Cam Barker.
2005: Canada wins first gold medal since 1997
It was the year of the lockout so every Junior-aged hockey player in Canada was eligible and ready to play. Head coach Brent Sutter was coaching the cream of the crop with names like Sidney Crosby, Patrice Bergeron, Dion Phaneuf, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Mike Richards, Brent Seabrook, Cam Barker and Shea Weber on the roster.
Canada breezed through the championship in Grand Forks, North Dakota winning the gold medal game with ease over Russia by the score of 6-1.
1997: Canada shuts door on U.S. in Gold medal game
At Geneva, Switzerland, Team Canada shutout the Americans 2-0 in the championship final for their fifth world crown in a row.
Canadian D Chris Phillips and C Christian Dube are named to the tournament All Star team. G Marc Denis is named the Best Goalie of the tournament.
1996: Canada Dumps Sweden at 18th World Juniors
Team Canada edged the Russian 4-3 in semi-final action before defeating Sweden 4-1 in the gold medal game.
Canada’s Jose Theodore, Nolan Baumgartner and Jarome Iginla were named to the tournament All-Star squad.
1995: Another NHL lockout gives Canada the edge
Team Canada’s roster was stockpiled with young talent that year: Jason Allison, Marty Murray, Alexandre Daigle, Ryan Smyth, Wade Redden, Darcy Tucker, and Ed Jovanovski.
Canada went 7-0 in the round robin format to win the gold medal in Red Deer, Alta.
Canada’s Bryan McCabe earned a spot on the All Star team and was named the Best Defenceman.
1994: Canada wins championship by one point
Canada finished the eight-team round robin tournament with a 6-1-0 record and 13 points compared to Sweden’s 12 points courtesy of their 6-0-1 finish.
Canada and Russia played to a 3-3 tie on Dec. 29 of that year.
F Martin Gendron led Canada in scoring. Jamie Storr was named the Best Goaltender.
1993: Canada wins first of five straight world titles
Canada and the host Sweden finished the seven-game round robin portion of the tournament with identical 6-0 records. Ties in the standings were broken by head-to-head results. Thus, Canada’s win (5-4) over Sweden gave it the gold medal.
Manny Legace, Brent Tully, and Paul Kariya were named to the All Star team.
1991: Canada triumphs in Saskatchewan
Canada needed a win against the Soviet Union on the last day of the tournament to capture gold after both teams finished with identical records.
Mike Craig and Eric Lindros were named to the tournament All Star team.
1990: Thirteen proves to be lucky for Canada
All teams played a round robin in one division. A tie in the standings between two teams was broken first by the result of a game between the two: Canada beat the Soviets 6-4 on New Year’s Day.
Stephane Fiset and Dave Chyzowski made the All-Star Team.
1988: Canada Back on Top in World Junior Hockey
Canada edged the Soviet Union in the final standings by one point to win gold. Canada defeated the Soviet Union 3-2 in the round robin.
Jimmy Waite, Greg Hawgood and Theoren Fleury were named All-Stars.
1985: Scoring More Goals Enables Canada to win Gold
Canada and Czechoslovakia were deadlocked with identical 5-2 records after seven games. The two teams played to a 2-2 draw in Helsinki, Finland on New Year’s Day. Team Canada earned the gold medal because of a better goal differential. Only Bobby Dollas made the All Star team for Canada with Craig Billington being awarded as the “Best Goalie.”
1982: First gold of many
This year featured the emergence of the “Program of Excellence,” which meant that for the first time, the team representing Canada would be made up of the finest group of Under-20 players from around the country (rather than a club team representing Canada). Canada came out on top with a 6-1 record and 13 points. The team had representation from all three CHL leagues and included names like Mike Moller, Marc Habscheid, Scott Arniel, Troy Murray, Garth Butcher, James Patrick and Gord Kluzak.. |