Most surprising Gold winners in the World U20 Championship history

[alko]

Sweden in 1981?
Finland in 1987 or 1998?
Double for Czech in 2000 and 2001?

Was there any unexpected Canada Gold? Russia? USA?

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[Gold Standard]

Canada gold?

2006 Vancouver.

didn't expect that result at all.

 

[FinPanda]

2014 Finland. Sweden was dominant during that tournament but Saros and Teräväinen carried us to gold.

 

[jj cale]

Canada gold?

2006 Vancouver.

didn't expect that result at all.

1993 has to be up there, very young team carried by draft eligibles and Manny Legace in a tournament against a loaded veteran Peter Forsberg led juggernaut that most pundits (and peter himself) thought could not possibly lose. That team proved them all wrong.

My fave Team Canada junior team ever with the possible exception of the greatest wjc team ever in 2005.

 

[Gold Standard]

1993 has to be up there, very young team carried by draft eligibles and Manny Legace in a tournament against a loaded veteran Peter Forsberg led juggernaut that most pundits (and peter himself) thought could not possibly lose. That team proved them all wrong.

My fave Team Canada junior team ever with the possible exception of the greatest wjc team ever in 2005.

'93 ranks up there as well. There has been a few surprising gold medal results in our long and decorated history. A few that went the other way as well. It's why we love the tournament.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Probably 2014 Finland. One has to wonder if that was the best one man performance by Teräväinen.

 

[JackSlater]

Canada gold?

2006 Vancouver.

didn't expect that result at all.

Indeed. Most impressive performance by a Canadian team given the talent. My favourite Canadian WJC team. Within the contexts of their tournament the 1990 and 1991 Canadian wins were very hard to believe as well. USSR was very unlucky.

 

[Star Ocean]

1993 has to be up there, very young team carried by draft eligibles and Manny Legace in a tournament against a loaded veteran Peter Forsberg led juggernaut that most pundits (and peter himself) thought could not possibly lose. That team proved them all wrong.

My fave Team Canada junior team ever with the possible exception of the greatest wjc team ever in 2005.

1993 team had paul kariya and chris pronger.

Not an underdog win at all. Sweden only had one line of hockey.

 

[Gold Standard]

Indeed. Most impressive performance by a Canadian team given the talent. My favourite Canadian WJC team. Within the contexts of their tournament the 1990 and 1991 Canadian wins were very hard to believe as well. USSR was very unlucky.

on a personal level I would have to give a honorable mention to 2018. considering for years I trash talked the 1998 birth year. kicked them up and down all over this forum. and then Makar happened and saved our maple bacon.

 

[jj cale]

1993 team had paul kariya and chris pronger.

Not an underdog win at all. Sweden only had one line of hockey.

It was most certainly an underdog,especially with it being such a young team(Kariya and Pronger were draft eligibles not 19 year olds ) everyone had Sweden pegged as the clear favourites going into that tournament.

 

[jj cale]

on a personal level I would have to give a honorable mention to 2018. considering for years I trash talked the 1998 birth year. kicked them up and down all over this forum. and then Makar happened and saved our maple bacon.

We underestimated that team, not a lot of stars but 4 lines of good players that were coached well and played the system balls out.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

1993 team had paul kariya and chris pronger.

Not an underdog win at all. Sweden only had one line of hockey.

Sweden was an overwhelming favourite that year and Canada beat them off the back of an other worldly performance by Legace. To act like it was anything other then this is judging the tournament with the use of hindsight and the lack of reality.

 

[Star Ocean]

Sweden was an overwhelming favourite that year and Canada beat them off the back of an other worldly performance by Legace. To act like it was anything other then this is judging the tournament with the use of hindsight and the lack of reality.

To be fair, the format sucked.

Sweden and Canada tied the points with one loss each. Kinda ridiculus way to hand out medals on.

 

[86Habs]

To be fair, the format sucked.

Sweden and Canada tied the points with one loss each. Kinda ridiculus way to hand out medals on.

The Canadian loss to Czechoslovakia on the final day was meaningless as - because they had already beaten Sweden and Russia - they were guaranteed the gold medal.

The round robin produced interesting results when the top teams vying for the gold medal were matched up on the final day. 1991 and 1994 come to mind. The previous year's gold and silver medal winners were traditionally matched up on the final day. This was not the case in 1993, as Canada beat Sweden on the second day of the tournament and just needed to take care of the business the rest of the way through.

 

[Star Ocean]

The Canadian loss to Czechoslovakia on the final day was meaningless as - because they had already beaten Sweden and Russia - they were guaranteed the gold medal.

The round robin produced interesting results when the top teams vying for the gold medal were matched up on the final day. 1991 and 1994 come to mind. The previous year's gold and silver medal winners were traditionally matched up on the final day. This was not the case in 1993, as Canada beat Sweden on the second day of the tournament and just needed to take care of the business the rest of the way through.

Imagine handing out the stanley cup on round robin.

It was a bad format.

 

[Albatros]

It was most certainly an underdog,especially with it being such a young team(Kariya and Pronger were draft eligibles not 19 year olds ) everyone had Sweden pegged as the clear favourites going into that tournament.

Canada's average age was one month younger than Sweden and Kariya had been one of the best players in the tournament already the year before.

 

[Czechboy]

Just food for thought but is Canada ever really an underdog at the Junior's?

 

[JackSlater]

Canada's average age was one month younger than Sweden and Kariya had been one of the best players in the tournament already the year before.

Kariya was decent but nothing more in 1992.

Looking back at names in retrospect is not the same as viewing the tournament as it was happening. Sweden was a sizable favourite in 1993. It had the best goal differential even when accounting for the massive blowout of Japan. Sweden also beat Canada 8-5 in a pre-tournament exhibition without Forsberg, and brought back an experienced team with plenty of players who had lost the tournament by just one goal in 1992.

 

[Albatros]

Kariya was decent but nothing more in 1992.

The team was doing badly, but he was above ppg as a 17-year-old.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Just food for thought but is Canada ever really an underdog at the Junior's?

Never an underdog to the extent of other nations. I think the 2006 team is about as big of an underdog as Team Canada can get...not a ton of star power there.

 

[JackSlater]

The team was doing badly, but he was above ppg as a 17-year-old.

He had two points in six games.

 

[jj cale]

Canada's average age was one month younger than Sweden and Kariya had been one of the best players in the tournament already the year before.

One of the best players in the tournament the year before? I don't remember him even getting much ice time on that Lindros led disaster. 2 points in six games is one of the best players in the tournament? I think not.

But changes nothing, Sweden was the clear favourite going in. Perhaps some more Canadian fans can chime in with their memories of what the general feeling was going into that tournament. I definitely remember TSN and bob Mackenzie raving about the swedish team and Forsberg and how Canada was a darkhorse having to rely on the undrafted guys as their key players.

No question, it was an upset.

 

[jj cale]

Kariya was decent but nothing more in 1992.

Looking back at names in retrospect is not the same as viewing the tournament as it was happening. Sweden was a sizable favourite in 1993. It had the best goal differential even when accounting for the massive blowout of Japan. Sweden also beat Canada 8-5 in a pre-tournament exhibition without Forsberg, and brought back an experienced team with plenty of players who had lost the tournament by just one goal in 1992.

Exactly.

They were the clear favourite going into that tournament.

 

[JackSlater]

Exactly.

They were the clear favourite going into that tournament.

It seems clear that he checked eliteprospects to see Kariya's stats and then concluded that Kariya was one of the best players in 1992, but they erroneously copied his 1993 stats in for 1992.

 

[Paralyzer008]

Not gold, but 2015 Slovakia winning the bronze off the back of Denis Godla