Oh Canada! Proud to be a Canadian
The young boys in red and white proved why Canadian hockey is no joke as they brought home their fifth consecutive world title
Even if you don't follow the IIHF World Juniors, or hockey in general, and whether or not you're an avid sports fan, it would've been pretty hard to miss our under-20 men's team take home Canada’s 15th - and fifth consecutive - world title on Monday night.
Each year, the holiday season serves as a time to follow an initiation of future NHL stars, and revive old rivalries in a tournament for the ages.
Coast to coast, Canadians have been patriotically wearing their maple leaves, and proudly waving their flags in support of our countrys greatest and most respected pastime.
Sure enough, our junior boys gave the rest of the world a pleasant reminder of why we're the number one hockey nation, and a force to be reckoned with.
Canada entered the tournament with three easy wins: over Czech Republic 8-1, dominating Kazakhstan 15-0, and finally defeating Germany 5-1 leading them to face longtime rivals, the USA.
The puck dropped on New Year's Eve, and the US quickly maintained a three-goal lead. But, as skill would have it, the Canadians came back to win it 7-3.
This sent Team Canada to the semi-finals against an even larger archenemy - the Russians, in a rivalry that dates back to the '72 Summit Series.
With their raw skill and speed, many feared this would be the end for the Canadians. But yet again Canada pulled through, barely, in arguably one of the best games in IHF history.
Flirting with disaster, it wasn't until 5.4 seconds remaining in the game that Jordan Eberle scored the tying goal. After ten minutes of overtime play, the game went to a shootout.
Goal-scoring phenomenon and overall MVP of the tournament John Tavares, and the hero himself Eberle, scored on the Russians. Canadian netminder Dustin Tokarski maintained his posts and ensured a 6-5 Canadian victory.
The drive to five remained alive and well, with an underrated veteran coach like Pat Quinn (the oldest in IIHF history), wild personalities like that of PK Subban and pure determination and hunger as seen in Angelo Esposito, having finally made the team after his fourth vear of trying out.
Then you have Tyler Myers and Keith Aulie maintaining a strong defence, each towering over 6'6”, as well as a slew of top-notch power forwards like Zach Boychuk and Cody Hodgson.
Canadians should be particularly pleased with the team's success against the Swedes, who had quite the theatrical performance in the gold-medal game.
Diving goaltenders, choke holds and finger-biting made for an entertaining game.
This would be the second year Canada beat out Sweden in the final, winning last year 3-2 in overtime, and this year 5-1.
Overcoming the adversity, especially on home soil in the nation's capital in front of a sold out, record-breaking crowd, made the success that much sweeter.
An arena transformed into a sea of red and white, fans old and young cheering, chanting and breathing hockey spirit and a team - rather a brotherhood - sharing blood, sweat and tears for the glory of all Canadians.
Really, who wouldn't want to be a Canuck on a night like this?
