Canada Runs Over Team USA, Aims for Golden Revenge Against Czechs
Joshua Roy #JoshuaRoy
The bigger, stronger Canadians overcame a poor start to bulldoze their arch-rivals in Halifax with a total team effort.
HALIFAX – It certainly wasn’t the start they wanted, going down 2-0 early to the archrival Americans, but once the Canadians found their footing, they rolled over Team USA 6-2 to clinch yet another berth in the world junior gold-medal game.
And yes, top 2023 draft prospect Connor Bedard made an impact, getting Canada’s first goal of the game, but so did another high-end 2023 hopeful in Adam Fantilli – along with outstanding play from undrafted netminder Thomas Milic and left winger Joshua Roy, the Montreal Canadiens pick who has embraced his role as a utility guy on a line with Bedard and Logan Stankoven (DAL).
In fact, one of the defining shifts of the game was a Roy penalty-kill that saw him single-handedly hem the Americans in their own zone for an extended period of time, whipping the Canadian crowd into an appreciative frenzy.
“I can’t believe he’s a fifth-round pick, to be honest,” said teammate Brennan Othmann. ” ‘Roysey’ is such a hard worker. He’s a guy that gets us going when we’re down. He plays hard every shift, every game and knows how to play the right way. Montreal’s got a great player in him and so do we.”
Perhaps the most amazing part of Roy’s shorthanded prowess – which also included stripping star American defenseman Luke Hughes at the blueline and turning it into an empty-net goal for Canada – is the fact Roy has always been seen as an offensive player during his time in the QMJHL.
“I never really played PK before,” Roy said. “I just respect my role – we’re all good players here who can play offensively and almost everyone plays power play on their respective (junior/college) teams so we need people to kill and I think I’m doing a great job so far.”
Along with the heroics of Roy, there was Milic, playing his strongest game of the tournament to date. The Americans peppered him with 45 shots, but he was up for the challenge with some incredible stops, particularly when the game was still tight (two American goals were called back for goalie interference during that stretch too, which certainly could have shifted momentum)
“He’s a great guy and we all love ‘Milly,’ ” Othmann said. “He’s an outstanding goalie and I hope someone picks him up this summer because they’d be getting a good one.”
Overall, Canada really dictated the terms of the game after that early 2-0 deficit. Using their speed and size in tandem, they won most of the battles against the smaller Team USA and physically punished the opposition at every turn. The big question coming into the marquee match-up was which team’s game plan would win out and in the end, Canada bashed its way to victory.
“That’s how Canadians like to play and that’s how we like to play every game,” Fantilli said. “We bring that as much as we can; we have a really big roster and that’s why we built our team the way we did; we’re going to try to use that to take advantage.”
Now, they turn their attention back to the Czechs; the only team to beat Canada in this tournament. While Czechia ticks all the boxes with their roster, the Canadians have plenty of motivation for revenge. Roy said they didn’t appreciate how hard the Czechs celebrated after their round-robin win over Canada on Boxing Day.
And for context, Othmann said that Team USA’s Logan Cooley (ARI) fired up the Canadian bench when he put his hand to his ear after scoring the opening goal in the semifinal. The Canadian kids didn’t appreciate that too much and the end result was a big-time victory.
There’s also the matter of grabbing that gold medal that every kid grows up dreaming of.
“Playing in Canada with a crowd like that – it reminds me of Crosby back in 2010,” Othmann said. “You heard the crowd back then and yes, they’re NHL players and high-profile athletes, but one day we hope to be those players. To play a game against the States at this level; I appreciate it.”