2007-Super-Series IIHF World Junior Championship

#4
1991 IIHF World Junior Championship, Round Robin
January 4, 1991 – Saskatoon, SK

- CANADA 3, USSR 2 -

Heading into the final day of the 1991 IIHF World Junior Championship, Canada’s mission was clear: beat the USSR and a second consecutive gold medal would be theirs. A tie or a loss, and it would be the Soviets celebrating on the ice in Saskatoon.

A tie with the USA and a loss to Czechoslovakia put the Canadians in the unenviable position of needing a win to clinch the gold.

It looked promising through 20 minutes, as Pierre Sevigny and Steve Rice to give the hosts a 2-0 lead after one period. The Soviets began to chip away in the second period, cutting the lead to one, and poured it on in the third, getting the tying goal from Sandis Ozolinsh four minutes into the final frame.

Despite being outshot 17-3 in the third period, Canada still needed just one goal to clinch the goal, and got it from one of the most unlikely sources.

John Slaney, who hadn’t scored yet in the tournament, got a seeing-eye point shot past Soviet goaltender Sergei Sviagin with just 5:13 to go, setting off a raucous celebration in Saskatoon and clinching gold for Canada.

Slaney was so excited after his game-winning goal, a goal that made him a household name across Canada and a celebrity in his home province of Newfoundland, that he sprained his ankle jumping in the air during the celebration, and was unable to play the final five minutes.

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