Canada and USA Meet Tonight

That was the headline Canadian hockey fans have been waiting for throughout the current edition of the World Junior Hockey Championships.

It's not that we were bored or disinterested with the first eight days of competition, not in the least. The Canadian powerplay continues to be gorgeous, watching Brayden Schenn pile up points was impressive and the Russians and Swedes both made us fully aware why Canada, for maybe only the third time in the last 15 years, wasn't the overwhelming pre-tournament favourite.

Besides, this is the World Juniors! Hockey Canada and TSN have done a tremendous job building the WJHC into a "monster" and other than Pierre McGuire, we absolutely lovvvvvve this tournament. The Stanley Cup hasn't been won by a Canadian team since 1993 and over the last 17 years this tournament has become our annual reprieve, our appetite growing year after year. For most of us, the WJHC is a chance to tune out our crappy NHL team for a couple of weeks and actually have the opportunity to receive some satisfaction in return for our emotional investment. (Yes, I am looking directly at you Brian Burke.)

However, this year things are a little different. The rabid-dog, crazed enthusiast, World Junior Hockey fever that normally sweeps across our nation...hasn't. It could be that we're still basking in delight from our 2010 Olympic Gold and that victory, combined with years of dominating the World Juniors, has resulted in a fat cat attitude for Canadian hockey fans at the moment. Maybe because there wasn't a Crosby, Tavares, or Hall on the roster, a household superstar that we could rally behind, we were willing to file this year's team under "Can't Win 'Em All" and simply move on.

Or maybe the biggest factor in our collective softened excitement this year is that other than Canada, the U.S.A., Switzerland and maybe Sweden, none of the countries seem to be improving. Actually, they appear to be getting worse. Finland has been at best treading water for years. Russian hockey is a mess. At the turn of the century both the Czech Republic and Slovakia were threats in any tournament, but in recent years they have looked un-organized and over-matched.

On the other hand, after developing a genuine dislike for each others program over the last decade and on the heels of two unbelievable games (Gold medal and New Year's Eve) at last year's World Juniors and the instant classic that was the Olympic Gold Medal overtime battle, the Canada/U.S. hockey rivalry is at it's all-time peak.

All of which means that as of today, after two weeks of tempered enthusiasm for Team Canada, this tournament has our attention. This game matters to us.

We stand on guard for thee.

No Shame

Even if the outcome of last night's World Junior Gold medal game wasn't what any Canadian was hoping for, it hardly puts a blemish on the program that came within an overtime loss of winning six straight championships.

No, there isn't any shame in providing hockey fans everywhere with an instant classic, played at a lightning pace, filled with huge hits and erasing a two goal deficit in the final minutes to force overtime. In this particular edition, the 2010 tournament, the Americans were probably the better team. They won this battle, but Canada continues to win the war.

From my perspective, there are three major reasons why Canada has become the dominant, overwhelming force in under 20 hockey.

1. The Canadian Formula

This team has never been about stars or stats, as evidenced by the big names who are cut every year. This time it was Tyler Seguin, who came into camp as one of the leading scorers in junior hockey and could end up being chosen first overall in this summer's NHL draft. For Hockey Canada, it's about selecting the right pieces to form a team. It's not about the name, the stats, or the hype. Management takes a hard look at the group of players they have to chose from, decides on the game they want to play (determining if we're going to be big, skilled and mean, or big, skilled and slightly mean) and assembles a roster they believe will best execute that gameplan. They don't choose an All-Star team and they don't play favourites.

Since finishing out of the medals in 1998, Canada has two bronze, five silver and five gold in the last 12 tournaments. Since 2004, the Canadian team has gone 44-4 and has produced nine players that were named to the 2010 Olympic team. I'd say the formula is working.

2. Home Ice Advantage

This is a subject that has gained steam ever since the International Ice Hockey Federation announced every third tournament would be hosted by Canada, and really took off when the Swiss backed out of hosting this year and it promptly fell into Saskatchewan's lap. Of course playing in front of 15,000 screaming Canadians wearing red is going to positively effect our outcomes, but how is it our fault that we sell more tickets than every other country, that we support this tournament like no one else, that we have come to love the ten days that follow Christmas more for this particular tournament than for anything else?

Ultimately, home ice advantage does help our cause. But if the IIHF and all of it's supporting European countries want to feed our development system, want to ensure that our junior-aged players continue to become champions by allowing us to host this tournament far more than is probably fair...well, I don't have a problem with that. It's not like Hockey Canada is holding a gun to their head and forcing them to give us the tournament, we continue to earn it by padding the IIHF's coffers.

3a. Few Quebec-born players

Just kidding.

3b. Gatorade

Sorry, couldn't resist.

3c. Heart

Not to go all Don Cherry on you, but it is what it is. Canadians simply seem to want this more than other countries. I know it is nearly impossible to quantify heart, but how else can you explain Canada almost always coming out on the right side of one goal games or their 4-0 record in shootouts in this tournament?

Sweden, Russia, the US and Finland can all match our talent level, they all produce first rounders in every NHL draft, but they can't match our intangibles. Our players never back down, never give up, and always fight for every inch. They don't know any other way.

When you add those three factors up, it equals excellence, and that's what Canadian hockey fans have come to expect from our World Junior heroes.

Only 364 more days until we have a chance to start a new run.

Another Year, Another Gold

As Canadians and sports lovers, we’ll passionately cheer on any national team we can. It doesn’t matter if it’s the alpine skiing, curling, basketball, rowing, water polo, lawn bowling, rock/paper/scissors or any other team…if the Maple Leaf is flying, we’re rooting it on.

Collectively we are sports fans, but more importantly, we’re Canadian sports fans. And we’ll take every, and any reason we can to band together and enthusiastically cheer our teams on—with beer, of course.

But when it comes to hockey it’s a different story (save the beer). We’re not just happy to be there. As fans, we can’t simply have a good time and be our usual awesome selves regardless of the outcome. Because when it comes to hockey, we’re the perennial favorite. It’s a step outside our participation-ribbon comfort zone. Instead of soaking in the experience, rejoicing over ‘personal bests’ and walking around with perma-grins plastered all over our faces, we’re forced to deal with things like ‘pressure’ and ‘expectations’.

It is for those reasons that the World Junior Hockey Championships have ballooned not only into a paramount event in our country, but perhaps also the most satisfying. Unlike the Olympic hockey tournament, which is equally fascinating and terrifying because no one truly knows who will come out on top, the WJHC has become an annual coronation of our country’s ability to produce the best young hockey talent in the world.

Last night’s 5-1 victory over Sweden was the fifth straight gold medal for Team Canada, but that is hardly indicative of the truly over-whelming presence Canada has been for most of the last two decades at the World Juniors. We’ve now won 10 of the last 17 titles, sport a dominating 39-3 record over the last six tournaments, and have failed to finish on the podium just three times since 1988 (1989, 1992, 1998).

We’re a combination of Tiger Woods and Roger Federer. We are the Yankees, Lakers and Canadiens all rolled into one.

And for hockey fans in this country, none of whom have seen their local NHL team win it all since the Canadiens captured the Stanley Cup in 1993, the Juniors have become a welcome reprieve from our usual fruitless hockey calendar.

Only 364 more days till we get to do it all over again. Let the blitz for six begin.