Road to gold always a rocky ride for world warriors
Pressure-packed format: Hickey, Tavares recall their tough treks of 2008, 2009
Thomas Hickey was sitting in a Vancouver restaurant Monday evening with several of his New York Islander teammates, their eyes drawn to the drama unfolding on TV as things started to go sideways for Team Canada’s juniors in the gold medal final.
Even up 5-1 in the second period, the 25-year-old defenceman from Calgary had never once thought the lead was safe.
Safe, in a world junior game? He shook his head, smiling.
The Russians scored to make it 5-2, “and we kind of looked around at each other,” said the captain of the 2009 Canadian team, the last to have won gold before Monday.
“Then it’s 5-3 and then 5-4 and you’ve got your hands over your face.”
Like every Canadian fan who could hardly bear to watch — like Islanders superstar John Tavares, the MVP of that 2009 tournament — he knew exactly how hard it was going to be for the Canadian kids to get to the finish line.
This wasn’t some case-hardened group of professionals. It was teenagers. Gifted ones, yes, but still diamonds in the semi-rough, not perfectly polished into NHL-style automatons, still providing moments of pure brilliance interspersed with overly exuberant gaffes.
And every mistake suddenly seemed to end up in the back of their net.
“You don’t talk about it,” said Hickey, remembering 2008 and 2009 and how razor-thin the difference between triumph and heartbreak had been for each of those victorious Canadian teams. He and Tavares were on both of them.
“It’s the same as in an NHL dressing room when things aren’t going well. Things mount, and I just don’t think people understand how hard it is to win that tournament,” Hickey said.
“We won it two years in a row and couldn’t have been closer to losing it at the same time.
“My first year, we almost lost in overtime, and then the next year we were five seconds away from being knocked out in the semifinals and got a big goal (from Jordan Eberle) to tie Russia. People just assume you’re going to get the job done, but it’s difficult.
“Anything can happen with hockey … but especially with kids. But those guys did a great job yesterday of handling their emotions.”
Monday’s ordeal brought back a flood of memories for Tavares.
“You wish you were out there. It looked like a lot of fun,” he said. “There’s only been a couple of teams, maybe two or three Canadian teams, that have gone through the whole tournament without really facing any kind of adversity.
“But you know, once they faced it yesterday, you could see how strong they were defensively in the third period. The Russians had some puck possession, but they really didn’t give them much.”
Tavares, who was The Next One of his day, identified strongly with Connor McDavid, the 17-year-old presumptive No. 1 pick in this year’s NHL draft.
Tavares figures most people have no idea what kind of pressure the Canadians are under, “especially at home, and especially for a guy like Connor who’s in his draft year and usually plays a lot in all situations.”
As tough as it is to play in a world junior at 17, there’s a whole other level of difficulty dealing with less ice time and playing strictly within a team concept, Tavares said.
“And the pressure to win gold is always there, especially on home ice. But it’s part of what makes it fun, too.
“It’s the best ride you can go on.”
Hickey and Tavares, in town to play the Canucks on Tuesday, didn’t have to tell Vancouver head coach Willie Desjardins or winger Shawn Matthias about it.
Matthias was on the 2008 team. Desjardins was the late Pat Quinn’s assistant coach on the ’09 squad, and returned the following year as head coach of a Team Canada that lost the gold-medal game 6-5 in overtime to the U.S. Desjardins admitted he hadn’t seen Monday’s second-period Russian rally coming.
“I thought when it was 4-1, it was our game,” he said. “But it just shows how quick it can turn. I don’t think the team collapsed, they just started going in. You have to give the Russians credit. It was just a real good battle.
“You’re so lucky, in any country, if you get to be a part of your national program. It’s the best, and all the players feel the same, so you always feel part of it when you see them play, and you’re always hoping for them.”
“It was fun seeing the emotion those young guys showed after the game, and pretty cool to see Toronto light up like that,” said Matthias, who grew up playing against Tavares in Mississauga, Ont., and with him — eventually on the same line — on the 2008 team.
“I wish I was in that rink to see how loud it was. I bet it’s the loudest it’s been in there for a while.”
It’s not as though Canada is the plucky underdog in this tournament. It has won either gold or silver in 11 of the past 14 editions. The only upset is when Canada doesn’t get to the gold medal game.
The fact that we had gone five years without winning, however, added some juice to the final, and the Russian comeback spiced it up even further.
“There’s so many great hockey countries, you look at the talent on that Russian team, Sweden, the U.S., Slovaks …” Matthias said.
“But when you’re in that tournament, and we were the fourth (gold medal team) in a row, you feel the weight of the country on your shoulders.”
So it was up to the Canadians to batten down the hatches against a Russian team suddenly brimming with confidence, and somehow get through the third period without surrendering another goal. They did. Just. “The atmosphere looked tremendous,” Tavares said. “And you know what those moments are like. They faced some adversity and did a great job of handling it. Hats off to them. Great to see them win.”