MAKE IT FIVE IN A ROW FOR CANADA AT WORLD JUNIORS

by Alan Adams

KANATA, ON – Let’s recap: gold, gold, gold, gold and gold.

Canada won its fifth straight IIHF World Junior Championship crown on Monday night, beating Sweden 5-1 in an emotion-filled gold medal game before an electrifying record crowd at SBP Arena.

P.K. Subban (Toronto, ON/Belleville, OHL) scored in the first minute of the first period and Cody Hodgson (Markham, ON/Brampton, OHL) tallied in the first minute of the third to help Canada tie its own record for consecutive gold medals won, originally set between 1993 and 1997.

It was Canada's eighth straight appearance in the championship game and marked the 11th consecutive year the Canadians have won a World Junior medal.

"There is nothing like this," said John Tavares (Oakville, ON/Oshawa, OHL). "This is five Canada, five. We wanted to bring it home for you."

Angelo Esposito (Montreal, QC/Montreal, QMJHL) also scored and goalie Dustin Tokarski (Watson, SK/Spokane, WHL) was brilliant in goal, making 39 saves. Jordan Eberle (Regina, SK/Regina, WHL), the hero in Canada's dramatic 6-5 overtime win over Russia in the semifinals, added an insurance goal at 18:07 after the Swedes pulled their goalie for an extra skater. Hodgson made it 5-1 with 32.5 seconds left before the final buzzer.

Tavares was selected the tournament MVP and top forward, while he and Subban and Hodgson were named to the media all-star team, along with Sweden's Erik Karlsson, Russia's Nikita Filitov and Slovakian goaltender Jaroslav Janus.

"Look at the support we have," Tavares said as he looked up into the stands and saw a sea of people dressed in red and white. "Five in a row … you can't say enough about this. There is nothing better than this. Being at home, there is nothing better than this."

"It feels unbelievable," said Subban. "We came to Ottawa as one team on one mission and it is an unbelievable feeling right now."

Sweden's Mikael Backlund was sent off for roughing just seconds after the opening face-off, and Subban jammed the puck past netminder Jacob Markstrom on the ensuing power play to send the crowd into a frenzy just 38 seconds in.

The lead lasted until the early minutes of the second period, when Esposito snapped a backhand past Markstrom for his third goal of the tournament to double the lead.

The vaunted Canadian power play, which finished at a remarkable 50% (21-for-42) in the tournament, struck one final time in the opening minute of the third period, as Hodgson snapped a shot past Markstrom from the high slot.

The Swedes finally beat Tokarski for a goal midway through the period, bringing back memories of the 2008 gold medal game in the Czech Republic – a game in which the Swedes trailed 2-0 in the third period but rallied to force overtime.

But it was not to be in 2009, as Eberle and Hodgson counted empty-net goals in the dying minutes, setting off a raucous celebration among the 20,372 red-and-white-clad fans at SBP Arena.

As for six in a row? The 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship begins on December 26, 2009 in Regina and Saskatoon, SK.