OUR JUNIORS GOLDEN AGAIN
Canada tops Sweden in nail-biter
They saved the best for last.
Best indoor crowd (17,544). Best game. And, for Tyler Steenbergen and Team Canada, best finish.
Canada, which lost 5-4 in an overtime shootout to the U.S. in last year’s world junior championship final, redeemed itself in a dramatic 3-1 win against Sweden in Friday’s gold-medal game.
It was Canada’s second gold medal in four years — the team won in Toronto in 2015 — and the fourth straight time the Canadians defeated Sweden in a final.
“I’ve dreamt about this all my life,” said Steenbergen, whose first goal of the tournament was obviously his biggest. “It’s pretty surreal to score that goal and win the game for your team.”
While Steenbergen was skyhigh in the post-game celebration, Sweden captain Lias Andersson showed his frustration by tossing his silver medal into the crowd, where a fan caught it and put it around his own neck. There were initial reports that the medal was retrieved, but Andersson denied he got it back.
Not that he wanted it. “I have a silver medal from the U-18 and I haven’t checked it in two years since I lost the last time,” said Andersson, when asked if he might regret his decision. The game was that emotional. Like last year’s back-and-forth final, this one was a nail-biter the whole way. After a scoreless first period, the teams traded goals in the second period before Steenbergen, who was the only Canadian forward without a goal, redirected a slap pass from Conor Timmins for the winner with 1:40 remaining in the third period.
Alex Formenton put the game out of reach with an empty-net goal seconds later.
“(Timmins) made an unbelievable pass through about two guys and at that point I knew all I had to do was get my stick on the ice and tap it in,” said Steenbergen. “After that happened, I kind of blacked out. I still don’t know what happened.”
That it was Steenbergen who became the modern-day John Slaney was fitting.
Passed up in his first year of draft eligibility then selected in the fifth round by the Arizona Coyotes, the 19-year-old was the highest scorer of any Canadian heading into the world juniors. But for most of the two weeks, he had been nailed to the bench as the odd-man out up front. That is, until the final two minutes of the third period.
“I had a feeling,” head coach Dominique Ducharme said of why he put Steenbergen on the ice. “I thought he was moving and doing little things. It worked out pretty well.”
For most of the two weeks, the tournament has struggled to fill even half of KeyBank Center, blaming poor weather, high ticket prices and oversaturation of an event that was jointly held in Toronto and Montreal in 2015 and 2017. On Friday, the fans finally showed up and they were treated to easily the most compelling game.
For Canada’s seven returning players, including Carter Hart, it was redemption after last year’s bitter loss to the U.S. For the rest of the team, it was a just reward for a tournament where Canada was the most dominant team.
And yet, this will likely not go down as one of the better Canadian teams.
Canada, a team of secondliners that led the tournament in overall scoring, did not have a single player on the team who was drafted in the top three and were also without a single draft-eligible prospect. What the Canadians lacked in star talent, however, they more than made up for in depth.
It was therefore fitting that Steenbergen, a 13th forward who received only seven minutes and 16 seconds of ice time, would score the game-winning goal.
“I think that explains everything,” said captain Dillon Dube, who had the game’s first goal. “Sounds so cliche, saying four lines deep, but it really shows that. I couldn’t be happier for any other guy to get it … we got that goal and he is a champion forever.”
Against undefeated Sweden, Canada faced its toughest opponent. And, early on, it showed.
Projected No. 1 draft pick Rasmus Dahlin, who carried the puck up the ice with the confidence of Erik Karlsson, was a handful all game. Most of the Swedes were, as Canada was outshot 16-9 in the first period and struggled at times to generate offence.
Neither team scored in the first, though the chances were certainly there. If not for goalie Carter Hart, who didn’t have much to worry about in the previous three games, this one could have gone differently.
Instead, Canada struck first when Jordan Kyrou split the defence with a pass to Dube, who fought off a check and found the top corner to make it 1-0.
Sweden’s penalty kill, which scored two short-handed goals against the U.S. in the semifinal, struck yet again courtesy of Tim Soderlund at 13:07 of the second period to make it 1-1.
In the third period, the nailbiter of a game looked like it was heading for overtime. But with time winding down, Steenbergen answered his critics and struck gold.
“I was getting a little bit of grief by the media for not scoring,” he said.
Like everything else, it was better late than never.