A sparkling performance

Canada proved to be too much even for a motivated Swedish squad who fell short in the fight for Gold for the second year in a row to the same adversary. For Canada, it was its fifth consecutive Gold Medal, a feat they accomplished twice now, having also won Gold in years 1993-1997.

Canada wasted no time opening the scoring with a goal just 38 seconds into the game. The game remained close until the lead widened to two in the second period. Despite having six or seven opportunities with a man advantage, including two short stints with a two-man advantage, the Swedes could not capitalize.

Finally, an even-strength Swedish goal midway through the third period made it Canada 3 Sweden 1. When Sweden pulled out all the stops, vacating the net in favour of an extra forward with more than two minutes left in the game, Canada scored two empty-net goals, clinching the Gold Medal.

What's just below Gold?

National disgrace. This is the reality that every Canadian national hockey team (not to be confused with Canadian NHL team, who have been a national disgrace for longer than I care to remember) must contend with every time they step on the ice. Despite the tremendous pressure, team after team--junior, Olympic, World and women's teams keep coming through with the goods. The current World Junior Hockey tourney is no exception.

The Canadian machine has sputtered on the way here--they allowed the Americans to build a 3-goal lead on New Year's Eve, but fought back to win 7-4 and then in an even more remarkable match this past Saturday night, the boys scored on Russia with five second left in regulation to send it into overtime, where the Canadians won in a shoot-out.

So, tonight they go for Gold for the fifth time in as many tournaments. They face a very talented and determined Swedish team and it should prove to be a highly exciting and entertaining game. And once again, nothing less than Gold is acceptable.