Backup saves the day
Hosts to face Americans for tournament title after weathering storm against Sweden
Carter Hart replaces Connor Ingram in the net and Canada beats Sweden 5-2 in a world junior semifinal. Next up is the U.S. today, for gold.
MONTREAL arely 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.
There was indeed a gloomy vibe in the building hovering over 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 — and, in the end, maybe the entire tournament, too.
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.
“The Americans are a strong team that shoots a lot,” said Hart, who will deservedly get the start against Team USA. “They have a lot of guys with heavy shots, so you have to be ready at any and all times.
“It probably helped me to get a lot of shots right when I came into the game. It doesn’t give you a lot of time to think. You get right into the game quickly.”
Back on New Year’s Eve, the Americans were the better team when the
Btwo clashed, defeating Canada 3-1 in preliminary round action at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
And thanks to Team USA’s dramatic 4-3 shootout victory over the Russians earlier 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 Ducharme, who just one day earlier had boasted when discussing the Swedes that “we can beat them.” He wasn’t done there, however. Asked Tuesday about Canada’s showdown against the Tre Kronor, 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, over the past decade, the Swedes were 40-0 in preliminary round games, but just 11-11 in the knockout stage. After Wednesday night, make that 11-12.
“I don’t think (my comments) affected the game,” Ducharme said after the victory. “We were confident we could beat them by going after them. And we went after them.”
That wasn’t the case in the early going when Ingram had his struggles. First he whiffed on Joel Eriksson Ek’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, the Canadians tied the game 2-2 with just 71 seconds remaining in the first period courtesy of forward Anthony Cirelli.
It would be the first of four consecutive goals by the Canadians with Julien Gauthier scoring twice and Dylan Strome adding a single.
But this was 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.
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. WORLD JUNIORS: