Canada’s Hart hopes to save his best for last
The stakes were significantly lower. And the game was being played outdoors in a snow-filled football stadium — not in an NHL rink. But the ending looked eerily familiar.
Once again, a shootout was needed to determine a winner between Canada and the United States at the world junior hockey championship. And once again Carter Hart was on the losing end.
The 19-year-old goalie might not have been the reason why Canada lost 4-3 to the U.S. Friday at New Era Field. In fact, he was named Canada’s player of the game after stopping 32 of 35 shots. But when the game was on the line and Canada needed a big save — either in the third period or in the shootout — Hart couldn’t keep the puck out of the net.
“Yeah, there was a couple of nice moves, but at the same time I have to do my job. I didn’t do that obviously,” said Hart, his cheeks reddened from playing in -10 C weather. “But like I said, it’s the past now and I got to learn from it and get ready for tomorrow.”
It’s unclear whether Hart will be in net today when Canada plays Denmark, where a win in their final preliminary round game would clinch top spot in Group A. What is clear is as Canada heads into the playoff round, its goaltending will have to be better.
On Friday, it was good. But as Hart knows from last year’s bitter defeat in the gold-medal game, good will not win gold in this tournament.
The Sherwood Park, Alta., goalie needs to steal a win. At the least, he needs to be a difference maker. Based on pedigree — Hart is a two-time WHL goalie of the year who entered the tournament with a .961 save percentage with the Everett Silvertips — he is capable of it. It’s just a matter of putting it all together.
“You see how good he’s been for us,” said defenceman Victor Mete. “Even tonight, he was really good. It’s probably tough to be a goalie playing in that game, so I thought he did a really good job. The visibility, it’s cold, there’s so much snow on the ice, just everything.”
A year ago, he played well enough to advance Canada to the final, where a back-and-forth game against the U.S. saw him twice blow two-goal leads and then lose 5-4 in a shootout.
One year later, the scene nearly unfolded in the same dramatic fashion — albeit with blizzardlike conditions.
In the shootout, U.S. goalie Jake Oettinger was perfect on all four shots he faced. Hart, meanwhile, was beaten between the legs on a shot from Kieffer Bellows and then slid right as Brady Tkachuk snuck a wrist shot over his glove hand.
“I’m not really too worried about the gold-medal game,” Hart said of being unable to avenge last year’s loss. “We just have to be worried about what’s going on now. Last year is last year and it’s done. It’s been almost a year now. We’re in the middle of another world juniors, so it’s past news, really.”
It’s the past. And yet, from Mark Visentin allowing five goals to Russia in the 2011 final to Marc-Andre Fleury banking the winning goal off his own defenceman in 2004 final against the U.S., past performances are something that have haunted Canada’s goalies.
Hart still has a chance to change that.
“He’s arguably one of the best goalies in junior hockey right now and he’s going to be really strong for us,” said captain Dillon Dube. “I have a ton of confidence when he’s in between the pipes.”