Golden Memories – 1982

Canada has won World Junior gold 10 times in the 30-year history of the tournament. We look at each of Canada’s gold medal performances during the next 10 days while this year’s edition of Team Canada looks to strike gold on home soil in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Canada’s Junior Tradition of Excellence Begins in 1982

by Aaron Bell

It’s no exaggeration to say that Canada’s tradition of excellence at the World Junior Championships began in 1982.

While most of the European countries developed all-star teams comprised of their country’s top players under 20 years old to represent them at the World Juniors each year, Canada sent their major junior champions, along with a select few players added to the roster.

Canada enjoyed moderate success, including three consecutive silver medals in the late 1970’s, but they were no match for the Russians, who dominated the fledgling tournament with seven consecutive first place finishes, including the first event which was held in Leningrad, USSR in 1974.

After a seventh place finish in 1981, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (now CHA) developed an entirely new strategy to ensure Canada’s success in future events.

The “Program of Excellence” initiative was developed to identify Canada’s top junior-aged players and give them the opportunity to play together to prepare for the international championships.

For the first time, Canada held a pair of selection camps, first in Kingston in August and the final camp in Winnipeg in December. The camps gave the players and coaches an opportunity to get to know each other on and off the ice.

Dave King was the head coach and Sherry Bassin, the current general manager and managing partner of the Erie Otters, who won their first OHL championship last season, was part of the management team that would select the players who would travel to Minnesota to open the tournament three days before Christmas.

First True Team Canada

Among the players selected to the first true Team Canada were OHL stars Moe Lemay of the Ottawa 67’s and Dave Morrison of the Peterborough Petes, along with the goaltending tandem of Mike Moffat (Kingston Canadians) and Frank Caprice (London Knights). Two of the OHL’s biggest stars, Brian Bellows of the Kitchener Rangers and Oshawa Generals’ sniper Tony Tanti weren’t able to play due to injury.

Canada opened the tournament against Finland, who was coming off a silver medal performance from the year before. Canada jumped out to a three goal lead before the first period was over and held the Fins to one goal, scored midway through the second period, in a 5-1 win. Moffat turned aside 35 shots, including 14 in the third period to set the tone for the tournament in net for Canada.

Canada’s second game proved to be a better test. They found themselves down by a goal against Sweden, the defending champions, who went undefeated in the tournament the year before. Canada tied the game in the second period before giving up the go-ahead goal on a powerplay midway through the third period. Captain Troy Murray tied the game a little over a minute later and Carey Wilson scored the winner with 5:19 left in the third period to lift Canada to a 3-2 win and a 2-0-0 record.

The Canadians celebrated Boxing Day with a 7-0 romp over the Russians. Moffat faced just 21 shots and recorded Canada’s first shutout in four years.

Next up for Canada was the U.S.A. Despite never finishing higher than fifth in the World Juniors, the Americans were 2-1-0 in the tournament and were led by future National Hockey League stars Chris Chelios, Phil Housley and current Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds’ coach and general manager John Vanbiesbrouck in net.

The Americans jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period before Canada responded with three straight goals to start the second period. The teams traded powerplay markers in the second period before Saskatoon Blades (WHL) forward Marc Habscheid, who will coach Canada at the World Juniors this year in Halifax, scored the game-winner 26 seconds into the third period.

Gold Medal Bound

Canada coasted past West Germany 11-3 and Switzerland 11-1 to set up their final game against Czechoslovakia on January 2 for the gold medal. Canada needed to win or tie against Czechoslovakia to win the gold. A loss would leave them with the silver.

The success of Canada’s new strategy was paying off much quicker than anticipated. “I never thought we would come this far,” said CAHA president Murray Costello. “I had hoped it would be a recovery year, maybe fourth or third place after the seventh last year. This is terrific. These kids deserve a lot of credit.”

Vladimir Ruzicka scored on a powerplay with a little more than a minute left in the first period to give Czechoslovakia a one goal lead. Canada tied the game 35 seconds later and was fortunate to escape the first period in a 1-1 deadlock despite being outshot 13-5.

Moffat was spectacular in net, keeping Canada in the game despite being heavily outplayed. Czechoslovakia struck again in the final minute of the second period, and went into the second intermission with a 29-10 lead in shots and a one goal lead on the scoreboard.

Canada came back with a pair of goals in the third period. Habscheid and Mike Moller, Canada’s leading scorer with 14 points in seven games, gave Canada their first lead in the game. Czechoslovakia tied the game with 4:30 left in the game, but couldn’t put the winner past Moffat, who was named the tournament’s top goaltender. The final buzzer ended the game in a tie and gave Canada their first gold medal in the World Junior Championships.

The historic win wasn’t lost on the young players who represented their country with pride and passion. “I wanted to win this so badly,” said Morrison, who was selected from the Petes by the Los Angeles Kings in the second round of the 1980 NHL draft. “I’ll always have this gold medal and there’s not one Canadian junior who has one of these except us 20 guys.”

Tomorrow – 1985: Canada strikes gold in Helsinki