Going into the World Juniors there was very little doubt in the minds of most that Canada was going to come into the tournament and clean house. We have all the NHLers, Malcom Subban would be the difference in goal, and we would get that whole pesky losing in the very end thing off our backs and win with some laughs in Russia's very cold backyard.
Well a shaky pre tournament and some (gasp) goals allowed against Slovakia and Germany gave the Canadians a scare heading into crucial weekend tilts with the Americans and Russians, but the Canadians stepped up when the games got big and a 2-1 win over the United States (extremely early) Sunday morning and an impressive 4-1 victory of Russia have the Canadians riding high going into the medal rounds.
In a three week tournament momentum is everything, one sixty minute game sets the narrative for an entire year, but the Canadians going into their semifinal meeting with the United States extremely early Thursday morning look like they are the favorites. The Russians have stumbled, losing to the Canadians and needing a shootout to get past the Swiss, Sweden won their group, but that group didn't have the level of depth that the group Canada was in. It seems that everything is coming up roses for the Canadian contingent in this tournament.
Four lines of forward depth and a blue line of Canada's should be a favorite in any game, the NHL lockout has probably benefited the Canadians the most in this tournament, the Russians did get Nail Yakupov back and have a sparkling cast of goal scoring forwards, but only during the first lockout did we see such a balanced group of NHL ready talent put on the Maple Leaf for Canada.
A rematch between the United States will likely be the trap game for the Canadians, with the inevitable risk of looking ahead to the final and chasing the guarantee of the gold medal, the Canadians will still have to beat a United States squad that pushed Malcolm Subban to his limit in goal in the third period of their 2-1 loss to the Canadians during the round robin. Seth Jones gives the Americans a draft eligible star of their own to match Canada's Jonathan Drouin and their forward play would match any other non-lockout year's top lines, the US will be ready and see Canada as their closest rivals which is going to make for a challenge in itself.
But the Canadians just seem like the favorites on depth alone, usually the Canadians seem like the favorites on hype alone as TSN will always focus on making Canadians believe that Canada is a lock for the final in its annual quest to dominate the ratings during the holiday season, but this Canadian squad is the real deal.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins himself is a game changer that has yet to be contained, but then when you add the exploits of Schiefele, Ryan Strome, Drouin, and Jonathan Huberdeau and you have goal scoring abilities that are untouched. Nathan MacKinnon has yet to explode into the tournament yet, and seems due even on Canada's fourth line to make his presence felt on this tournament as one of the 2013 NHL Draft's top prospects.
Two straight years of heartbreak have made Canadians hungry for this gold medal, a medal that once was expected is now feverishly desired, it has Canadians waking up at ungodly hours, the semifinal will be played at 3:30 am Saskatchewan time, to cheer on their country. A tournament that once was often considered to be a trophy that only the Canadians and Russians cared about is now a tournament that has the attention of almost every country in the knockout stages, and even though an American win in the semifinals probably won't make the sports pages down South, you can be sure that the Americans know how important that game is no matter where the headline sits.
All the story building aside, the next few days will once again set the script of an entire year for Canada Hockey, two wins and Canada is back ontop of the hockey world, a sixty minute upset by the Americans, Swedes or Russians, and we are back to asking what went wrong and pointing fingers for another year. The thing that makes this tournament so great, is why making predictions is so hard to do, anything can happen and there is no rematch in the medal rounds. Sometimes being good or even great is not good enough, it has been seen before. In a weekly column I am often hesitant to make predictions that will stick for an entire week if I am wrong, but going into crucial semifinal and championship games, I feel that this is the year for Canada. A golden crop of future NHL stars, a hot goaltender who thrives in the spotlight in Malcom Subban, and just a little magic will propel the Canadians to the gold medal and bring smiles to many extremely tired eyes watching from home. A golden December in Russia, it just sounds so sweet for the Canadians. Canada over the USA then Canada over Russia in the final in two classic World Junior meetings is my prediction and I am sticking with it. Go Canada Go. Now to set my alarm - 3:30 is awfully early.
