The biggest hockey game in North America wasn’t the Coyotes/Sharks rematch from Monday and it wasn’t even the Devils visiting Chicago. No, it was a bunch of teenagers from the United States going at it in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan against a bunch of teenagers from Canada. It’s not quite on par with England and Argentina in the World Cup, but the USA/Canada rivalry in the World Junior Championships is what hockey and sports is all about!
Don't worry, I won't score on my penalty shot opportunity either...
Last night, there were 15,171 people in attendance for a preliminary round game when it was -36 degrees outside. The atmosphere surrounding the game and the anticipation everyone felt since the beginning of the tournament show just how important the game was to both sides. Even though people had to fight the elements and the ticket brokers to get a ticket, I’m sure it was worth it to each and every one of them. And just in case there were any doubts, Alex Pietrangelo’s shorthander with 4:15 left in the 3rd period probably erased them.
The last time the US team beat the Canadians in the World Juniors was in the Gold Medal game in 2004 in Helsinki, Finland. Going into this tournament, Team Canada has won the Gold in every tournament since and is going for their SIXTH consecutive World Championship. But as Canada sat on top of the hockey world for the majority of time since the tournament started in 1977, the United States has shown steady improvement.
With the nature of the hockey media, most people would know much more about the Canadian Junior team than they do about the US under-20 team. But anyone who questions the skill level of the Americans should take a look at Jordan Schroeder’s shorthanded breakaway goal or Danny Kristo’s (University of North Dakota) extremely technical move for Team USA’s 4th goal.
It’s not just the high skill level of both teams that makes this such a great rivalry. Of course, the close proximity of the two nations plays into the intrigue—but it’s so much more than that. Many of the players from each country are extremely familiar with their opposition because of the under-18 tournaments. When I think of comparable rivalries, one that comes to mind is the UCLA/USC rivalry in the sense that a lot of the kids KNOW each other and they play against each other. Taylor Hall and Cam Fowler are teammates during the season—yet are two of the best players for their opposing teams in the World Junior Tournament. I’m sure Philip McRae and Nazem Kadri will have some good stories when they go back to London to finish their junior seasons with the Knights.
Players for Team USA come from all different leagues and places. The starting goaltender plays for the National U-18 Development Team. They have defensemen that play major junior hockey in Canada, college hockey in the States and John Carlson even plays for in the AHL for the Hershey Bears. They have players scattered all over North America developing in a multitude of different ways. Judging by the young American talent in the NHL today, it looks like it’s working.
I can't wait for Schenn to do this when he's an LA King-- just not when he's playing against the United States.
Team Canada has guys that are playing in different places as well: the OHL, QMJHL, and the WHL. In other words, they’re ALL playing junior hockey. With so many quality players coming from Canada and the level of play unparalleled in the world, there’s no reason to look elsewhere. But because so many of the high end American prospects play in Canada as well, it creates some interesting dynamics WITHIN the game.
While there can be mixed emotions for the players on the ice, those same mixed emotions can be shared by the fans in the stands. One of the exciting parts of watching the WJC is following some of the younger prospects that have already been drafted by NHL teams. In fact, 21 NHL teams were represented by prospects in the Canada/USA game alone. The Los Angeles Kings single-handedly have 4 players on Team Canada (Schenn, Kozun, Teubert and Jones). That can cause a little bit of conflict when cheering during the game.
Vancouver Canucks fans have been cheering for Jordan Schroeder to score all tournament. But when he scored the second goal for Team USA, I didn’t get the feeling that people were cheering in Burnaby, BC. No, not Coquitlam either. I live in the States and I know that I wasn’t cheering either of Brayden Schenn’s assists, I wasn’t cheering for him as he was tumbling over the Team USA goaltender and I sure as hell wasn’t cheering for Brandon Kozun when he scored Canada’s 3rd goal in the shootout.
This year, the tournament feels like it’s taking the next step in the rivalry. Last season, the United States and Canada were both undefeated going into their final game of the preliminary round. Team USA jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the Canadians came storming back eventually prevailing 7-4. When you add in that the Americans won the Under-18 tournament last season, it certainly seems like they have all of the Canadians’ attention.
In a pre-game interview, the 17-year-old Cam Fowler talked about how they would look to the three guys that were returning for the Americans from LAST year’s team. That team last year went into Ottawa and faced a powerful Canadian team in an insanely intense atmosphere (also on New Years’ Eve). They knew what to expect—it wasn’t going to be like a game against Latvia or Slovakia.
The game lived up to anyone’s wildest expectations. The Team Canada power play was 13 for 24 (54.2%) through their first 3 games. Against the United States, they were 0-5 through the first two periods while giving up not one, but TWO shorthanded goals against. Team Canada had given up two goals in the entire tournament before the game against the Americans. Four goals later, they realized that this was going to be a different kind of game.
After falling behind 4-2, the Canadians stormed back by controlling play for the majority of the 3rd period. A great tip by Jordan Eberle and the shorthander by Pietrangelo forced the already exciting game to overtime and eventually to a shootout. At that point, it almost didn’t matter who won the game. It was a GREAT game between a couple of VERY talented teams that will probably meet one another again on Sunday.
This year also has the added bonus of being in an Olympic year. With Team Canada announcing their team on the Wednesday and Team USA announcing their team during the Winter Classic, international hockey is starting to return to the world’s attention. If these games and this atmosphere is a hint of things to come, the Olympics in Vancouver are going to be amazing.
But that’s getting ahead of ourselves. For now, I’m going to sit back and enjoy the World Junior Championships for as long as I can. In fact, there’s a part of me that might end up enjoying the WJCs a little more. The Team USA vs. Team Canada game was the biggest game in just about every single player’s career. There’s that youthful exuberance that you can’t fake when you’re 18 years old—and can’t replicate once you’ve played professionally for years.
Like Ken Holland said on Thursday night, “It’s the best tournament in the world.” With the emotion between Team USA and Team Canada, I don’t think anyone would argue with him.
Matt Reitz is the Editor-In-Chief here at ViewFromMySeats.com and former NHL Writer for ProHockeyTalk on NBCSports. When he’s not shoving a mic in the face of NHLers or explaining why home teams should wear white, he’s usually trying to figure out what song to play next on his iPod. It’s a never-ending job.
