Let me start off by stating that I absolutely love the World Juniors, always have since I was a little kid. Watching the World Juniors is a holiday family tradition in the Forman household, and some of my fondest hockey memories growing up happened at this tournament. There's something about the level of intensity and passion that these 16-19 year old kids bring, some on the cusp of their own professional careers, all trying to bring home a gold medal for their country. As I have grown up my passion for the tournament remains, but my attention has shifted towards identifying future NHL talent on all teams rather than just solely focusing on Team Canada. Ofcourse every year the entire nation wants and expects Canada to win Gold, sometimes at at unhealthy rate, and that was created some controversy over the last few years that really casts a negative shadow on the tournament. Before I dive into this, just want to go back and list my favourite World Juniors memories:
2003 World Juniors: At 12 years old my earliest memories of the tournament was watching a guy by the name of Jordin Tootoo buzzing around the ice for Team Canada. The "Tootoo Train" as he was dubbed in that tournament sent fans in a frenzy with his bone-crushing hits and he became an instant favourite for my younger brother Kyle and myself. Canada would lose a close 3-2 game in the Gold Medal to Russia.
2004 World Juniors: Canada loses 4-3 to USA in heartbreaking fashion, with USA coming back from 3-0 down including Marc-Andre Fleury shooting the puck off Patrick O'Sullivan and into his own net for the tournament-winning goal. I remember being in Grade 7 English class and our teacher had a portable radio and gave us live score updates on the chalk board, safe to say we were all devastated.
2005 World Juniors: The Dream Team. With the NHL on lockout Hockey Canada assembled perhaps the best team that you will ever see at this tournament. The names speak for themselves: Sidney Crosby, Patrice Bergeron, Jeff Carter, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Mike Richards, Shea Weber, Dion Phaneuf and Brent Seabrook to name a few. Canada went 6-0 and outscored their opponents 41-7 in the tournament, including a 6-1 stomping of Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin and the Russians in the Gold Medal game. I remember being on my Grade 8 dog-sledding trip in Algonquin park and watching this game in the hotel the night before our trip started with a few of my buddies. This was the first of 5-straight gold medal wins for Canada and one of my fondest memories of the tournament.
2007 World Juniors: The tournament where Jonathan Toews made a name for himself on the big stage, well before he was winning 3 Stanley Cups in 6 years in Chicago. Canada again went undefeated in the tournament at 6-0 including beating the Russians 4-2 in the Gold Medal game, but it was Toews heroics in the semifinals that stands out 10+ years later. With the score tied 1-1 after OT Canada and USA headed to a shootout, Jonathan Toews went 3 for 3 on his attempts and Carey Price stopped Peter Mueller in round 7 to send Canada to the finals. Here's a look at Toews heroics:
2008 World Juniors: Canada wins its 4th straight World Juniors gold in dramatic fashion, as Matt Halischuk scored in OT of the finals to beat Sweden 3-2. While not as stacked as the 2005 Dream Team, the 2008 group was underrated and loaded with future NHL talent: Drew Doughty, Claude Giroux, PK Subban, John Tavares, Brad Marchand, Steven Stamkos, Wayne Simmonds and Kyle Turris to name a few.
2009 World Juniors: The Drive for Five. Probably the peak of my World Juniors obsession, Jordan Eberle became an instant Canadian hockey hero. Canada went undefeated at 4-0 in the preliminary round and outscored their opponents 35-6, but in a tight game with Russia in the semifinals found themselves down 5-4 with under a minute remaining. With just 5.4 seconds left Jordan Eberle sends a backhand into the net and the crowd in Vancouver into a frenzy, with Gord Miller saying his now iconic "CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?" quote after the goal (still gives me goosebumps). Canada would go on to win the game in a shootout and defeat Sweden 5-1 in the finals to win their 5th straight Gold. Here is the famous Eberle goal:
2010 World Juniors: With rivals Canada and USA going head to head for the Gold medal, Jordan Eberle is at it again as Canada comes back from down 5-3 with under 3 minutes left with Eberle scoring both goals. Eberle went on to hit the post in overtime which would have given him a hat trick and the golden goal, but luck didn't go Canada's way and minutes later on an odd-man rush John Carlson ripped one past Martin Jones and USA would end Canada's 5-year gold medal streak in dramatic fashion. What would have been if Eberle had scored in OT...
2011 World Juniors: A year later Canada again finds itself in the Gold Medal game (for the 10th consecutive year) and lead Russia 3-0 after two periods. In stunning and shocking fashion, Russia went on to score 5 unanswered goals in the 3rd and steal the gold medal from Canada. Russia's top line of Vladimir Tarasenko-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Artemi Panarin was absolutely lethal in that comeback and no shock that all 3 guys are NHL stars now.
2015 World Juniors: After 10 straight trips to the Gold Medal game, Canada fails to reach the finals from 2012-2014, picking up just 1 bronze medal in that time. With the boost of phenom Connor McDavid, Canada would go 7-0 and outscore their opponents 39-9 in the tournament, with a close 5-4 win in the Gold Medal game vs Russia. After 5 straight years without a gold medal, Canada finally returned to the top of the hockey world.
2018 World Juniors: After a frustrating tournament loss to Patrik Laine and Finland in the quarterfinals in 2016, followed by a shootout loss in the Gold Medal game to USA in 2017, Canada returned on a mission in the 2018 tournament. In the first ever outdoor game at the World Juniors, Canada would lose 4-3 in a shootout to USA but that would be their only loss of the tournament. Canada would defeat Sweden 3-1 in the finals with Tyler Steenbergen scoring the game-winning goal with under 2 minutes left, the only Canadian forward who hadn't scored yet in the tournament.
While I do have a lot of fond memories of this tournament, the main purpose of this post is to also highlight some of the negative activity surrounding it the last few years, with particular emphasis on this year. After losing to Finland in the quarterfinals, Canadian Captain Max Comtois was sent death threats and hurls of insults on his Instagram and Twitter accounts for missing a penalty shot in OT. There are so many things wrong with this situation I don't even know where to begin, but at it's core people often forget that these are just kids competing in the World Juniors. I truly believe that Canadian hockey fans have been spoiled with talented teams of the past (as mentioned above) and it has grown to the point of unrealistic expectation that Canada HAS to win the Gold every year. For the purpose of this post, I have broken this down into three categories which cast a negative shadow on the tournament:
"These are Kids"
People often forget with how exciting the hockey is that the World Juniors is an UNDER 20 tournament. These are kids who grow up dreaming of representing their country and having a chance to win a Gold Medal, you can imagine the pressure and nerves that they already have to begin with. It's why every year you see such genuine reactions of heartbreak of players when their country doesn't win, something that most people are able to sympathize with. But in recent years with the influence of social media, players have been the targets of harassment and bullying and quite frankly its pathetic.
Any parent would be appalled if their own kid was treated this way, just because these are kids who are training to become professional athletes that doesn't entitle people to threaten and insult them like this. The social media influence on professional sports has enabled "fans" to say whatever to whoever they want, often times can be pretty horrible stuff. Which is why it makes me sad as a Canadian to think that people would send Max Comtois death threats because he missed a penalty shot, the kid played the tournament with a separated shoulder and laid everything he had on the line for his country. Let's also not forget that hockey is a just game...
Keyboard Warriors/Cyber Bullying
As I mentioned above about social media, often times the negative stories outweigh the positive ones in the sports world. With this Comtois situation, what in any way, shape or form does this kid (who's 19 years old!) deserve to be threatened and treated like this? Individuals who hide behind their computer screens anonymously are some of the scummiest people on earth, and my guess in this situation the people threatening Max are probably people who haven't played a second of hockey in their lives and would never think of saying anything in person.
It's a pathetic culture that we live in today where people believe they have the freedom and are entitled to say whatever they want online, often times without realizing the potential consequences. Whether it be a professional athlete or a teenager at the World Juniors, being in the spotlight doesn't enable fans to say whatever they want, and it's quite sad where it's gotten to that point. There's a fine line between being critical and being threatening, fans are allowed to be disappointed but making it personal and attacking players for not winning is not right. Period.
Competition and Unrealistic Expectations
When Canada won 5-straight gold medals, appearing in the finals 10 straight years, it reached a point in Canada where we expect to win every year. While there's no question we field the most talent year in year out, it's fairly obvious how significant some of the other countries have improved over the last 10 years. While it would be nice for Canada to win every year, the reality is that its not possible anymore as the talent level continues to rise in other countries:
-USA has grown into a powerhouse with the help of their National Development program, pumping out elite high-end prospects like Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel and Jack Hughes in recent years
-Sweden has won 48 straight preliminary games (12 years) at the tournament and has produced elite defensive talent the past few years in Rasmus Dahlin, Erik Brannstrom, Timothy Liljegren and Adam Boqvist.
-Finland reached the finals for the 3rd time in 6 years, and has developed elite high-end talent like Aleksander Barkov, Patrik Laine and Kappo Kakko in recent years.
-Russia seems dangerous every year and has produced high-end goalie talent the past few years with Ilya Samsonov, Ilya Sorokin and Igor Shestyorkin.
-Switzerland is competing for their 1st medal since 1998 this year and their program has really seen a resurgence in the past few years under eccentric coach Christian Wohlwend.
-Czech Republic had the top line at the tournament in 2018 with a trio of 1st round picks Martin Kaut, Martin Necas and Filip Zadina leading the way.
I think that as ugly as the Comtois situation is, this is a great learning experience for Canadians to lower their expectations and maybe take the World Juniors just a notch less serious. It's also important to note that these "keyboard warriors" don't speak for all Canadian fans, there are many more good then bad ones but it reflects poorly on us as a country when these things happen. Hockey is our in bloodline as Canadians and we are allowed to be passionate, but we must not allow our emotions to get the better of us and realize that these are still just kids every year...
-Joel Forman - The Forman Faceoff
