Was great to win. TSN and Tardif mentioned this often but this sort of tournament, even if Canada has lost, was what the tournament needed. I'm not going to dwell on the negative things at the moment but there has been a lot of bullshit surrounding this tournament for a few years and Hockey Canada in particular. TSN took its head out of its ass and did a proper job broadcasting the tournament and Hockey Canada also acted reasonably for a change with tickets. Halifax and Moncton by all accounts did a great job - the arenas were full to record degrees and people were thrilled to have the tournament. This was a big deal in Nova Scotia, and I'm sure New Brunswick as well, in a way that it cannot be in NHL cities. I do not expect every WJC in Canada to be in a large junior hockey city, but I do hope that a lesson was learned with this tournament compared to the other recent Canadian tournaments.
This Canadian team was at the very least exciting given its offensive firepower and defensive... play. It was overhyped at the beginning but settled in as a good team that could score goals in bunches and always played in a fairly loose manner. It was not Canada's best hockey but it was memorable. At the very least the Slovakia game will be replayed on TSN in years to come.
As always the players deserve the bulk of the credit. The NHL loaned forwards, Wright and Guenther, took a lot of flak but they at the very least always provided a respectable effort, including defensively, and were critical in the gold medal game. I the end Canada loses without them. I really like Othmann's throwback game, from the big hits to the yapping at the other teams, and think that Canada needs more players of that type going forward. Stankoven carried over his great play from the summer tournament. Roy is a memorable WJC player to me for his calmness with the puck, surprising versatility, and how he kept pushing his way up the lineup both years. When it was time to make a critical pass in the overtime of the gold medal game there is no player I would have preferred to have the puck. Gaucher and Ostapchuk were both fast and physical players who caused problems with their size and speed in each game and were consistently an effective line for Canada. Both could be good NHLers if their hands can improve. I liked Dean's doggedness and consider his play underrated. Fantilli deserves credit for completely buying in when he was moved down to the fourth line. Not every young star can be moved to the fourth line (think MacKinnon in 2013) and still make a difference, but Fantilli did. Beck, the lock himself, also deserves credit for coming in so late and looking as if he had been there all along. Not much to say about Bedard, he put up the best ever performance for a player of his age and the most memorable performance by a Canadian at the WJC.
The maligned Canadian defence did have some high points. Zellweger wasn't as good as he was in the summer, but he was a reliable puck carrier on a team that needed it and overall has had a very successful WJC career. Clarke was very frustrating most of the time due to the decisions he made, but the fearlessness that sometimes led to stupid decisions was an asset in the gold medal overtime. He, along with the other NHLers, was critical in that game. Del Mastro was the best of Canada's big but relatively slow defencemen and deserved the big minutes that he received. Hinds was the biggest surprise on the team for me, just a good all around defenceman who was at least good at everything and bad at nothing. Finally, Milic is yet another in the line of recent Canadian goaltenders who are not big names but provide good enough goaltending at the WJC. Canada still needs to improve goaltender development. You'd hope that he gets drafted this year.
Anyway, after a successful tournament it is on to 2024 and hopefully another gold.
