Both the Canada male and female junior hockey teams won the gold medal this year in Halifax. The male team led by 17 year old Connor Bedard had a rough start with a 5-2 loss against Czech Republic, but avenged that by beating them in the finals 3-2 to win the gold in overtime. The female team also won gold, by easily beating Sweden 10-0.

After a 5-2 loss to Czech Republic in its 2023 World Junior Championship opener, Canada was stunned. Coming into the tournament, people were expecting dominance.

 

Instead, Canada had missed assignments on defense, goalie Ben Gaudreau got benched in favor of Thomas Milic, and forward Zach Dean took a five minute major penalty for a hit to the head. However, even after the disappointing defeat, the team remained confident. That was on full display during the rest of the round robin, which included an 11 to 2 thrashing of Germany, an 11-0 shut out of Austria and a lopsided win over Sweden, 5 to 1. 

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In the elimination rounds, Canada had to fight hard in order to beat Slovakia in the quarterfinals, but thanks to some Connor Bedard heroics, they were able to win in overtime. The overtime thriller was followed by a decisive win over the United States by a score of 6 to 2 to reach the finals, against none other than the team who had beaten them in their first game.

 

To say that the gold medal game was exciting would be an understatement. Millions of hockey fans were on the edge of their seat. Canada started off strong with a 2 goal lead, but Czechia responded with two goals of their own to force overtime. Possession went back and forth for over 6 minutes until finally, Joshua Roy made a beautiful pass to Dylan Guenther to set up the golden goal. Halifax went wild.

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 The women’s team won in much less dramatic fashion, winning all their games. They started out with a convincing 8-0 win over Finland and never looked back. Canada beat Sweden 4-2, USA 3-1, Finland 3-2 once again and finally, they saved their most dominant performance for last, destroying Sweden 10-0. A big part of that win was Caitlin Kraemer, who had a terrific game, scoring 4 goals.

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Throughout the tournament, Canada battled adversity and showed the world that they are here to stay, while also providing some exciting games for hockey fans to watch. One thing is for sure, Canada’s future in hockey is as bright as ever.