Wednesday night Russia disposed of Team Canada in the gold medal game in what many are calling the greatest collapse in World Junior Hockey Championship history. With Canada up by a score of 3-0 entering the third period, few hockey fans were giving Russia any kind of chance of beating the mighty Canadians, who, while not perfect through 40 minutes, had dominated the Russians to that point. Artemi Panarin and Maxim Kitsyn scored just 13 seconds apart to start the third period and, by the 04:56 mark of the third the Russians had tied the game at three, stunning the almost all-Canadian crowd and the nation in the process. After Russia tied the game, Canada looked to have lost a step, lost it’s ‘mojo’ and, in some people’s minds, just plain stopped skating. Inevitably, Russia outplayed the Canadians, went ahead

The moment Team Canada dropped a 6-5 decision to the United States in last years gold medal game at the 2010 World Junior Hockey Championships there was one thing on the players and the nation of Canada’s minds—revenge. It’s not often Canada loses a game at the WJHC, even rarer that they should lose a gold medal game, so Canada would have to be excused for having a hate on for their neighbors to the south. Heading into the 2011 WJHC the United States were to prohibitive favorites to repeat as gold medal champions, a feat the US had never accomplished at the WJHC. On the other hand, Canada had defended it’s gold medal performance five times (2005-2009) coming into last years final against the American’s, a feat Canada had accomplished on one other occasion (1993-1997). While it’s never easy

Anyone who watched last years World Junior Championships doesn’t need a reminder as to which nation won the tournament, especially if you are a Canadian. Heading into the tournament Canada had won five straight gold medals (2005-2009), tying the mark they set in the mid-90’s (1993-1997). For some, the World Juniors was becoming a bit of a bore. Canada had medaled 18 out the the previous 20 years, accumulating 12 golds, four silver medals and two bronze medals along the way. The looming question for many, was Canada’s dominance at the WJC hindering interest from the other countries, or, more importantly, was Canada’s dominance hindering the interest from the United States? Don’t get me wrong, Canada lost the gold medal to the United States in the 2004 edition of the WJC in Helsinki, Finland, but the win failed to spike

With the preliminary rounds behind them Team Canada finished with a 3-0-1 record, with their overtime loss coming at the hands of Sweden. Canada has been hampered by a number of injuries (including forward Calvin De Hann, Cody Eakin and Jaden Schwartz—who will not be back), the questionable suspension of power forward Zach Kassian and some truly spotty goaltending from Olivier Roy—who has been guilty of going down into the butterfly position far too early, leading to a number of short side high goals from the opposition. With all this in mind, as much adversity as Team Canada has had to endure, they are still 3-0-1, in position to compete for a medal game and have played some inspired hockey along the way. Even after the loss to the Swedes, there does not seem to be a sense of panic

As Team Canada gets set to take on the Russians this afternoon just about every Canadian on the planet will be watching. The World Junior Championship has become a Christmas tradition for many Canadians and for some is bigger than the Stanley Cup. Canada’s record at the WJC is astounding. Since it’s inception in 1977, Canada has brought home a total of 26 medals, including 15 gold, seven silver and four bronze—second all-time to Russia’s/Soviet Union’s 28 medals. Canada is the only team to win five consecutive gold medals, a feat they accomplished twice—1993-1997 and, most recently, 2005-2009. The 2010 WJC ended with Team USA defeating Team Canada 6-5 in overtime. John Carlson’s overtime winner will not be forgotten by those that donned the red and white for Canada last year, nor does it sit lightly with this years Team.

If you call yourself a hockey fan you either watched or have heard of the 1972 Canada—Russia Summit series. For many hockey fans, the Canada—Russia series is still widely regarded as the best hockey ever played, for Canadians the series helped shape the Canadian culture and still serves as one of the proudest moments in Canadian history. Recently, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting of the Russian Government, where, amongst other things, Putin opened up a forum of discussion on celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1972 summit series with a modern day Summit series against Canada in 2012. During the meeting it was brought to the attention of the Russian government that the Russian Hockey Federation has proposed the idea of organizing a new hockey series between Canada and Russia to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the