BUFFALO, N.Y.—Before the game, one year after Canada’s thrilling heartbreak loss to the Americans in the final, Team Canada head coach Dominic Ducharme was asked how he dealt with the pressure of these moments, and how he dealt with the pressure on his players. It’s Canada, and hockey. There is always pressure.“Preparation,” said Ducharme, his lupine eyes sharp and bright. “Preparation. We talked about it with the players: when you sit down at the exam and you studied, you know, you’re like ‘bring it on. I know the answers.’ And we all have that feeling. And when you’re sitting down and you’re not sure and you’re hoping the teacher is going to ask you the few questions you know, then you get nervous. Then you feel the pressure. “On our side, we know what to do. We know how to play.”They needed to. In the world junior hockey championship final Sweden on Friday night, was the better team, but with five minutes left it was a 1-1 game and the moment was coming. Maybe that’s all Canada can reasonably ask out of this event, is that chance. The days of generational dominance have abated, and in this tournament the best you can hope for is getting a chance to play for gold, to see what you have in that moment. It was coming. Canada’s Taylor Raddysh hit a post with 4:45 left in the third; Sweden’s Jesper Sellgren had already done the same. Sweden killed two penalties; Canada couldn’t finish. And when the moment came, it belonged to Canada. Drake Batherson won a puck battle along the boards. Connor Timmins, so good all tournament, slipped a calm pass from the point through traffic to the stick of Tyler Steenbergen. With 100 seconds left, Canada was up 2-1. Alex Formenton added an empty-netter. Carter Hart, who was crushed after losing the final last year, stopped 36 shots. And Canada won 3-1 for just its second gold medal since 2009. Nobody had anything to be ashame ...
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