Golden Memories – 1985
Canada Returns to Gold in 1985
By Aaron Bell
After winning their first gold medal in 1982, Canada’s National Junior team turned in third and fourth place finishes in 1983 and 1984 respectively while Russia claimed two more gold medals. 13 years after the Summit Series that defined international hockey to that point, Canada sought to reclaim their title as the top hockey playing country. They won the Canada Cup the previous September, and the World Junior Championships provided the perfect opportunity to hammer the point home.
For the first time, Canada’s National Junior Team turned the head coaching reigns over to an assistant coach from the previous year, a strategy that is still used by Canada today. Head coach Terry Simpson was an assistant under Brian Kilrea of the Ottawa 67’s in Sweden in 1984.
Canada held their final selection camp in Belleville, where the Bulls played their OHL games on an international 200 by 100 foot ice surface. Sherry Bassin, then of the Oshawa Generals and now general manager and managing partner of the Erie Otters, was once again responsible for selecting the players who would represent Canada in Helsinki.
Canada’s camp featured a solid, but unspectacular, roster of defencemen. They would once again rely on goaltending and a strong two-way game from their forward lines. Craig Billington of the OHL’s Belleville Bulls, a second round pick of the New Jersey Devils in the previous June’s NHL Entry Draft, would be Canada’s number one netminder.
Other OHL’ers who made the final cut was defencemen Jeff Beukeboom (Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds) and Greg Johnston (Toronto Marlboros) and forwards Brian Bradley (London Knights), Shayne Corson (Hamilton Steel Hawks), Adam Creighton (Ottawa 67’s), Dan Gratton (Oshawa Generals), Jeff Jackson (Hamilton Steel Hawks) and Jim Sandlak (London Knights).
Team Bonding
After a pair of exhibition wins over the Ottawa 67’s and Hamilton Steel Hawks, Canada traveled to Finland to begin their team bonding process and final preparation. Most of the European countries brought teams who played together all year while the Canadian entry was made up of players, who in many cases, knew each other for no more than a couple of weeks. The bonding process is an important part of Canada’s approach that is still used today.
“We did everything together,” said Gratton. “The players got to know each other better every day and a really good team feeling developed there.”
Canada opened the tournament against Sweden on December 23. Creighton scored twice and added an assist and Bradley and Corson added singles in an 8-2 win. Billington made 21 saves in his international debut.
Canada returned to the ice on Christmas Day with a 12-1 thrashing of Poland, who were playing in their first World Junior championships and were beaten 10-0 by Russia two days earlier. Beukeboom opened the scoring in the first minute of the game. Corson and Bradley each had a pair of goals and two assists and Creighton scored a goal and three assists.
Bradley, with two goals, and Creighton, with one, continued their prolific scoring, leading Canada to a 6-0 win over West Germany on Boxing Day. Canada outshot the Germans 41-19, including a 16-2 advantage in the second period.
Next up for Canada was their North American neighbor from the United States. The Americans, who were winless in the tournament, featured future NHL stars Mike Richter, Brian Leetch and Craig Janney. Canada scored four straight goals in the third period, including Creighton’s second and third of the game, for a 7-5 come-from-behind win.
Shutout against Russia
Canada’s next test was against the Soviet Union, who they had beaten just once in their 10 previous meetings at the World Junior Championships.
Bradley and Creighton each scored third period goals and Billington needed to turn aside just 17 shots as Canada shutout the USSR 5-0. Canada kept offensive star Valeri Kamensky off the score sheet and handed Russia their first loss of the tournament.
Canada would face their toughest challenge to date on New Year’s Eve against Finland, who were undefeated (4-0-1) and were looking for their first World Junior gold on home ice. Finland had won the silver medal four times in the tournament, including the previous year in Sweden where they opened the tournament with a 4-2 win over Canada.
Terrific Trio
Finland’s line of Esa Tikkanen, Mikko Makela and Esa Keskinen combined for a then World Junior record with 52 points, including 24 goals, during the tournament.
Bradley opened the scoring in the first period with his seventh goal of the tournament. Corson added a second period assist before Finland tied the game on a powerplay marker by Makela in the third period. The game ended in a 4-4 tie, leaving three undefeated teams (Canada, Czechoslovakia and Finland) heading into the final day of the tournament.
Canada entered their final game against Czechoslovakia knowing that for the second time in four years, a win or tie would likely clinch the gold medal. There was an outside chance that Finland could win the gold if Finland beat Russia by eight or more goals.
Czechoslovakia was led offensively by Michal Pivonka, who was named the tournament’s top forward, and future NHL MVP Dominic Hasek, who allowed a tournament-low 11 goals in six games.
Going for Gold
After a scoreless first period in which Czechoslovakia outshot Canada 14-10, Ladislav Lubin opened the scoring with 6:03 remaining in the second period. Sandlak, who was cut from the training camp in Belleville but called back from London as an injury replacement before the team left for Finland, tied the game 36 seconds later.
Pivonka gave Czechoslovakia the lead again in the third period before Wendel Clark, who was playing his first shift at left wing after starting the game on the blue line, tied the game with 6:17 remaining.
Sandlak, Clark and Bob Bassen of the Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL) combined as the team’s fourth line and Coach Simpson said the trio provided Canada with inspirational play throughout the tournament despite limited amounts of ice time.
“After we had picked the team in camp, we talked to some players and asked them to take on roles that were a big departure from the way they’re used by their own teams,” said Simpson. “Many of them play 40 minutes a game with their own teams and we wanted them to be spot players for us. A big part of the victory was the way our players adjusted in many areas and how they blended together into a real team.”
Czechoslovakia pulled Hasek in the final minutes of the game but weren’t able to put another one past Billington. The game ended in a 2-2 tie and Billington was named the top goaltender in the tournament after posting a 3-0-2 record with a shutout and 13 goals against in five games.
“He didn’t give up a bad goal in the entire tournament,” said Simpson. “He just refused to give anything away.”
Canada watched Russia edged Finland 6-5 in the finale, to officially give Canada their second World Junior Championship in four years, and their second international win of the year.
Tomorrow – 1988: From Russia with Gold
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