SAN JOSE – San Jose Sharks rookie centerman Macklin Celebrini is aware of what the gamers on this yr’s Canadian World Juniors workforce are going by.
A yr in the past, on the IIHF World Junior Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, Celebrini and his Canadian teammates, together with Sharks prospect defenseman Jake Furlong, misplaced within the quarterfinals to Czechia, ending the hockey-mad nation’s hopes of seeing its workforce medal for a fifth straight yr.
The identical state of affairs occurred Thursday night time. However as a substitute of it going down abroad, like final yr, the deciding recreation was held in entrance of over 18,000 folks on the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa and televised coast to coast north of the border in prime time.
Enjoying in a single-elimination quarterfinal recreation, once more in opposition to Czechia, Canada rallied again from a two-goal deficit solely to surrender a power-play purpose with lower than a minute left in regulation time.
Czechia received 4-3, leaving Canada with no medal in back-to-back years within the under-20 occasion for the primary time since 2013 and 2014. It’s additionally the primary time Canada has misplaced within the quarterfinals in consecutive years.
Celebrini, from North Vancouver, had eight factors in 5 video games to guide Canada final yr. Fellow Sharks rookie Will Smith had 9 factors in seven video games, as he and Sharks prospect Eric Pohlkamp helped Group USA win the gold medal.
“It’s tough, especially in Canada,” Celebrini mentioned. “I can only imagine the pressure and the media attention that they were getting. We lost the exact same way last year. So I know what they’re going through, and it sucks.”
The stress on Canadians to win gold on the World Junior Championships could be immense.
Individuals should cope with excessive expectations in worldwide basketball, significantly on the Olympics, and Brazilian soccer gamers endure the identical on the FIFA World Cup each 4 years.
The distinction is that whereas the Individuals and Brazilians are older and are normally professionals, the Canadians on the World Juniors are primarily between 17 and 19 years previous.
“People don’t realize they did everything they could to win,” the now 18-year-old Celebrini mentioned of the Canadian workforce. “Sometimes that’s just the way it goes.”
Since Canada’s loss Thursday, followers and pundits in that nation have accomplished loads of second-guessing. This consists of deciding who to ask to the workforce’s choice camp (a number of high-profile prospects had been neglected) and the teaching employees’s resolution to have minimal on-ice observe time throughout the occasion to preserve the gamers’ vitality.
In the end, the Canadians simply didn’t rating sufficient targets – 13 in 5 video games, together with a mixed three in losses to Lativa and the USA – and had been shorthanded far too usually with a tournament-high 113 penalty minutes.
“Who do you blame? You can blame me,” mentioned Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada’s senior vice chairman of hockey operations, on Friday. “In our country, you’ve got to win way more often than you lose, and that’s what we sign up for.”
Earlier than the 2024 World Junior championships in Sweden, Canada had received gold in three of the previous 4 years, a string of success solely interrupted by Group USA’s win in 2021 in Edmonton. Nonetheless, given what’s occurred the final two years, Celebrini was requested if Hockey Canada ought to do something in another way.
“I don’t know. That’s not kind of what I worry about,” Celebrini mentioned. “There are people that get hired that have done that in the NHL and do that for various organizations that get hired for those jobs, to build those rosters, and in a short tournament, you’ve got to kind of pick the guys you think will help you get there.
“That’s just kind of way it’s always been. It’s the exact same way that every other country approaches it.”
Sharks ahead Ty Dellandrea was on the victorious Canadian workforce that received gold throughout the 2020 match within the Czech Republic.
“We had a really good team, a close team, good coaches (with Mark and Dale) Hunter brothers,” mentioned Dellandrea, who had 5 factors in seven video games in that match. “There’s a lot of pressure, especially in Canada. That’s a tough element, too. We were in the Czech Republic, which kind of feels a bit away from it, even though all the fans there are Canadians, even in the Czech Republic.
“A lot of pressure on those kids. You’re still at a young age where you’re learning and growing. So Hockey Canada does a good job of kind of dialing it in and making sure you’re away from all the distractions.”
The match continues with the 2 semifinals on Saturday, with Sweden enjoying Finland in a single and Czechia taking over the USA within the different. The gold medal recreation is Sunday at 4:30 p.m. (PST). Kasper Halttunen is enjoying for Finland and fellow Sharks prospect Brandon Svoboda is competing for the American workforce. All video games will probably be televised on the NHL Community.
Initially Printed: January 3, 2025 at 4:31 PM PST
