CANADIAN JUNIORS TOP SWEDES

Will face U.S. for gold medal tonight

Barely eight minutes into Wednesday night’s world junior semifinal between Canada and Sweden, things looked bleak at the Bell Centre for the hosts, both in the stands and between the pipes.

Look up into the upper deck of the cavernous Bell Centre and you saw seas of empty seats, hardly the rabid support the Canadians had hoped to get in their quest to reach Thursday’s gold medal tilt against the U.S.

Look across at the Canadian net and you likely found Connor Ingram fishing a puck out of it, the aftermath of another questionable goal allowed by Canada’s starter. It all looked gloomy for the Canadians, who found themselves trailing 2-1 just 8:05 into the game, thanks in part to some weak play by Ingram who allowed a pair of goals on just three shots.

Having seen quite enough of this nonsense, coach Dominique Ducharme quickly gave Ingram the hook in favour of Carter Hart, who had not played in almost a week. It proved to be the turning point of the game.

As the minutes clicked off the centre ice video screen, the attendance and atmosphere inside the building quickly improved. More importantly, so did Canada’s goaltending, with Hart acrobatically leading his team back from such a horrible start.

And now, thanks to Canada’s 5-2 victory over the Swedes, that much-coveted gold medal matchup between the hosts and rival Americans will take place Thursday evening with world junior supremacy on the line.

Back on New Year’s Eve, the Americans were the better team when the two teams clashed, defeating Canada 3-1 in preliminary round action at the Air Canada Centre thanks to two early power play goals that put the hosts into a 2-0 hole before the contest was even 10 minutes old. That was then. This is now. And thanks to Team U.S.A.’s dramatic 4-3 shootout victory over the Russians earlier in the afternoon on Wednesday, the gold medal showdown most fans in this country were hoping for has come to fruition.

Perhaps the most satisfied, if not relieved man in the rink Wednesday night was Canadian coach Ducharme who, just one day earlier, had boasted when discussing the Swedes that “we can beat them.” He wasn’t done there, however. Asked about Canada’s Wednesday night showdown against Tre Kronor at the Bell Centre, the Canadian coach candidly replied, “They’re a good team. They showed in the last 10 years that they’re really good in the first round but they have ways to lose when things get tougher and we want to make it tough on them.”

Ducharme was referring to the fact that, over the past decade, the Swedes were 40-0 in preliminary-round games, but just 11-11 in the knockout stage.

“We hope to prove them wrong,” Swedish coach Tomas Monten said Tuesday when informed of Ducharme’s comments.

And in the early going Wednesday, that’s exactly what it appeared the Swedes would do. Of course, they were helped out by Ingram, who whiffed on Joel Eriksson’s wrister from the high slot just 6:05 in, then was beaten by a puck off the stick of Carl Grundstrom two minutes later that was going as slow as a curling rock. Exit Ingram, enter Hart. It would prove to be the boost the Canadians needed.

With Hart stopping a barrage of rubber that was being fired his way by the Swedes, the Canadians tied the game 2-2 with just 71 seconds remaining in the first period courtesy of forward Anthony Cirelli. Cue the momentum change. Indeed, the Canadians came out flying in the second and were rewarded when Julien Gauthier poked a puck over the goal-line that had seemed to be wedged between the goalpost and the right pad of Swedish goalie Felix Sandstrom to put Canada up 3-2. It was a lead the Canadians would never relinquish. Goals by Dylan Strome and Gauthier in the third sealed the deal and punched Canada’s ticket to the gold medal game against the Americans.

But this was, above all else, about Carter Hart, who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat by stopping all 28 shots he faced. In fact, he was named Canada’s player of the contest and received his award in a post-game ceremony from Martin Brodeur, the NHL’s all-time winningest goalie.

Canada’s goaltending has been an issue in recent times. That’s hardly a secret.

From 1982 to 2009 — a span in which Canada won 15 gold medals — a Team Canada puckstopper won the award for the best tournament goalie 12 times. That’s no coincidence.

Fast forward to recent rocky times, a period where there were zero best goalie awards and just one gold for Canada since then.

Carter Hart couldn’t care about the goalie award. He just wants that gold. And so, too, does this entire country.