CANADA IS GOLDEN FOR FIFTH STRAIGHT TIME
From Globesports.com (Matthew Sekeres):
Late in the second period of the gold-medal game, Sweden was down two goals to Canada and wasting power-play opportunities without even threatening Dustin Tokarski in the home team's net.
At the other end, Sweden's goaltender, Jakob Markstrom, had lost his composure, and the team's collection of gifted offensive players could barely complete a simple pass.
In other words, to steal a line from lippy forward Magnus Svensson-Paajarvi, the Swedes were soiling their pants.
Canada won its fifth consecutive gold medal at the world junior championship Monday night, tying its own record set last decade and adding to its hockey lore with a 5-1 victory over Sweden before 20,380 at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa. After surviving Russia in a semi-final for the ages, the Canadians were relentless and pounded a Swedish outfit that was supremely confident and considered tournament favourites — or at least Canada's equal — after assembling perhaps the country's best under-20 team ever. Canada finished the tournament 6-0, outscoring its opponents 46-12.
The cast of catalysts in the whitewashing of Sweden was fitting.
There was Tokarski, of Watson, Sask., whose penchant for allowing bad goals had been Canada's biggest worry heading into the game, but who emerged with 39 saves, including some important ones early in the third period. The Memorial Cup winner from the Spokane Chiefs bolstered his reputation as a big-game goalie who wins, even if he flashes some shakiness along the way.
There was Cody Hodgson, the mature centre from Markham, Ont., who outshone a more celebrated teammate and Sweden's star, defenceman Victor Hedman.
Hodgson scored the back-breaking goal early in the third period and was the best player on the ice by a wide margin.
There was defenceman P.K. Subban, who became Canada's conscience with his enormous personality and veteran leadership as one of just four players returning from the 2008 gold medal-winning club. Subban of Toronto scored the opening goal, on the power play just 38 seconds in, after Sweden's Mikael Backlund took a retaliatory penalty.
And there was John Tavares, named the tournament's most valuable player, who will battle Hedman over the next six months to become the top pick in the 2009 NHL draft. Tavares, of Oakville, Ont., had an assist yesterday, but his best moment of the tournament came when he almost single-handedly erased a three-goal disadvantage in the preliminary round against the United States.
Meanwhile, Sweden's best players were wilting.
Markstrom twice lost his loosely affixed helmet in collisions with Canadian players Angelo Esposito and Stefan Della Rovere, and embellished several times upon contact. Esposito took some punches from Hedman after his altercation with Sweden's China doll goaltender, but exacted quick revenge with a goal four minutes into the middle period to make it 2-0 Canada.
Hedman, who had a terrible tournament by the high expectations placed on his 6-foot-6, 220-pound shoulders, took bad penalties and cut a telling scene early in the third when he was rolling around the ice clutching his wounded mouth.
The Swedes breezed through the tournament without facing anything close to Canada's scares against Russia and the United States. Perhaps six players on their team could be first-round draft picks next June, and it was considered their finest collection of talent in at least 15 years.
That led Svensson-Paajarvi to comment that if Sweden could take a two-goal lead against Canada in the championship game, the home team would soil its pants.
But there was no evidence of that. Not even after Joakim Andersson scored midway through the third to bring Sweden within striking distance. But Jordan Eberle scored with slightly less than two minutes to play, when Markstrom had finally abandoned his net for real and was sitting on the bench.
Sweden is now 1-8 in gold-medal games, its only championship coming in 1981.
Canada, which was missing eight junior-aged players who play in the NHL, and two more players who would have made the team if not for injury, earned its 15th medal at the tournament, and its 11th in a row. The Canadians will shoot for a record sixth consecutive gold next year in Regina and Saskatoon.
The tournament in Ottawa set attendance records both for a single-game gathering, established last night, and total attendance of 453,282.
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