A bitter pill to swallow
Going home empty-handed wasn’t part of the plan when Canada arrived in Helsinki
HELSINKI — Mackenzie Blackwood’s face was red as the maple leaf on his sweater as he walked into the mixed zone and faced a crush of reporters.
He looked equal parts angry and embarrassed. As though he was fighting off tears or an urge to say something he might regret. Moments earlier, the Canadian goaltender had allowed six goals en route to the team’s worst finish at the world junior championship in nearly 20 years.
So when a reporter asked him how he felt, Blackwood snorted. And then he blurted out the F-word.
“Terrible,” he added. “It’s the worst thing ever, losing. I hate it. Just got to learn from it and move on.”
For many of these players, the 6-5 loss to Finland which capped a tournament where Canada finished sixth — ahead of only Denmark, Slovakia, Switzerland and Belarus — will stay for them for a while. It might never leave.
Never mind if Canada actually was good enough to win a gold medal, that was the expectation heading into the world juniors. It was the reason why hundreds — if not thousands — of Canadians made the trip to Helsinki to cheer on the team. And why so many watched from home.
To not only stumble but fall on their faces was something that the players were still grappling with moments after their tournament ended.
“Don’t feel really good,” said forward Dylan Strome, who had four goals in the tournament and was named one of Canada’s top players. “A little frustrating. We’ll come back. We have to keep our heads held high. We battled for our country. For our families and for everyone supporting us. I know we had the country supporting us. It sucks, but we have a potential returning team that could be pretty good next year.”
Some will get at least another shot of redemption next year when Toronto and Montreal play host to the 2017 world junior championship. Nine players, including Strome and Mitch Marner, are eligible to play in that tournament, although some will likely be playing in the NHL. And after this disappointing result, some might not be invited back.
“This is a learning experience moving forward career-wise for a lot of these guys,” said head coach Dave Lowry. “For the guys that have the opportunity to play in this tournament next year, remember this feeling. Remember how hard this competition is. And remember how important every night is.
“We talked about this tournament and experience and how critical it is. Next year, there’s a lot of potential returning players. If you can take this experience, turn it into a positive, and get the outcome you want, then moving forward, it will be a benefit.”
“There is always next year. But right now,” said Canadian captain Brayden Point, “It sucks.”
Vancouver prospect Jake Virtanen, who was one of four returning players from last year’s gold medal team — Point, Joe Hicketts and Lawson Crouse were the others — added that he was “pretty devastated.” The Canucks had loaned Virtanen to Canada for the world juniors in hopes that it would benefit his development as a young player.
Instead, he is heading back home with the extra baggage of letting his teammates and country down.
“We wanted to come here and win gold,” said Virtanen. “We really talked as a team.
“We kind of let the round robin games go. We wanted to win games starting tonight. Go all the way. It’s tough to lose tonight.”
Though Canada won last year’s tournament and has dominated the world juniors in the past, early exits and heartbreaking losses are becoming more common.
Canada failed to medal in 2013 and 2014, losing in the bronze medal game to Russia both times.
There have been five different champions in the past five years, so this is a difficult tournament to win and it is becoming even more difficult.
As Strome had said, there are no “slouches.”
The days when the sight of a Canadian jersey seemed to put opponents in a 0-1 hole before the puck was even dropped are no more.
Every team is a contender. Every team is capable of winning just games, but medals.
Canada had one easy game in the entire tournament, a 6-1 win against Denmark; the same Denmark team that took a top-seeded Russia team to overtime in a quarter-final game on Saturday.