Golden Memories – 1993

Golden in Sweden

By Aaron Bell

After winning gold in three out of four previous World Junior tournaments, the Canadians turned in a disappointing sixth place finish in Germany in 1992. It was up to the Canadian squad heading for Sweden to reclaim their country’s place among the hockey elite.

Charged with guiding the group of teenagers was Perry Pearn, the coach of Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and an assistant with Canada’s gold medal teams in 1990 and 1991. He was named to the post in June after Alain Vigneault resigned the position to become an assistant coach with the Ottawa Senators.

One thing that his experience with the National Junior Team taught Pearn was that it was not always the most talented group of players that came out on top at the World Juniors, but the team that works best together.

“As opposed to individual talent, we have to find what is going to work in terms of team chemistry,” he said before embarking on the team’s final selection camp in Kitchener in mid-December.

Lesson Learned

Despite an abundance of potential NHL stars, including Eric Lindros, Martin Lapointe, Scott Niedermayer and Paul Kariya, Canada was hammered 6-1 by Czechoslovakia and the 7-2 by the CIS (formerly the Soviet Union) the year before and finished ahead of just Germany and Switzerland. The poor showing left Canada with a difficult schedule to start the tournament in 1993, including a Boxing Day opener against the U.S.A., who won the bronze medal in Germany.

“We learned a lot from last year and made some adjustments,” said Bob Nicholson, then vice-president of the CAHA and now the president of the CHA. “It was a learning experience.”

The final selection camp was stocked with blue chip talent, including Alexander Daigle (Victoriaville – QMJHL), who was the consensus number one pick for the NHL draft the following June. Returnees Lapointe, Kariya and Tyler Wright (Swift Current – WHL) were locks to make the team, but Chris Gratton, a 17-year-old forward from the Kingston Frontenacs, was also making a name for himself with thunderous body checks and a snipers touch around the net.

“I don’t think age is a factor at all,” said Pearn about Gratton and Daigle, who had two years of eligibility remaining. “Having players like Chris gives us tremendous flexibility as to how we can respond to different situations in a game over there.”

Gratton made the final cut, along with OHL’ers Jeff Bes (Guelph Storm), Jason Dawe (Peterborough Petes), Ralph Intranuovo (Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds), Nathan Lafayette (Cornwall Royals), Chris Pronger (Peterborough Petes), Brent Tully (Peterborough Petes) and goaltender Manny Legace (Niagara Falls Thunder).

Leaving his Legace

Legace, a 19-year-old native of Alliston, Ontario, came into the camp as a relative unknown after being passed over in the NHL draft, but was outstanding in the final camp.

“I like our team speed and overall mobility,” said Pearn. “Our goaltending and defence have something to prove and we’ll have to wait and see what our experience factor amounts to.”

The Russians, missing several key players including Alexei Yashin, who was playing with Moscow Dynamo in the Europa Cup, would be hard pressed to repeat their gold medal performance of one year ago. The overwhelming favourites going into the tournament were the Swedes, who were playing on home ice and boasted one of the top players in the world outside of the NHL – forward Peter Forsberg.

Forsberg was part of the highly publicized trade between the Quebec Nordiques and Philadelphia Flyers for Eric Lindros and was the leading scorer in the Swedish Elite League.

“He’s the best player in Sweden,” said then Toronto Maple leafs scout Anders Hedberg. “There are not too many things he can’t do. For a European, he is unusually competitive.”

North American Showdown

Canada opened the tournament on Boxing Day against the Americans, who were coming off their first medal performance in six years. Jim Carey backstopped the team that included Adam Deadmarsh, Todd Marchant, Brian Rafalski and Pat Peake, who was the leading scorer in the OHL with the Detroit Ambassadors (now Plymouth Whalers).

Legace made 31 saves to give Canada their first shutout over the Americans in the history of the tournament. He nearly lost the shutout bid in the final minute when U.S. forward Brian Rolston ringed a shot past Legace’s blocker and off the post.

Any doubt about the Canadian goalkeeper was quickly erased. “It was not only a confidence booster for me, but for the whole team,” Legace said after the game.

Offensive Explosion

Next up for Canada were Sweden and their explosive line of Forsberg, Niklas Sundstrom and Markus Naslund. Forsberg set tournament records with 24 assists and 31 points and was named the tournament’s top forward.

The talented centre told the Toronto Sun the day before the game that he didn’t think Canada was a very good team and that the Swedes were better.

Forsberg looked like he was right in the opening period. The Swedes killed off three early powerplays before Forsberg set up Sundstrom for the opening goal at 6:43.

“You would never know we were the better team by the first period,” said Pearn, whose tirade in the first intermission lit a fire under his troops. “I challenged them to show me different in the second.”

Lapointe evened the score at 5:04 of the second before Sundstrom gave the Sweden back the lead n the powerplay. Intranuovo and Bes replied to give Canada a 3-2 lead after two periods. Each team scored twice in the third period, including an unassisted effort by Forsberg midway through the period, giving Canada a 5-4 edge.

“I though we were a better team,” said Forsberg, who finished the game with a goal and three assists. “But obviously they were the better team. But we are still going to win the tournament anyway.”

Russian Blowout

With wins in their first two games, Canada turned their attention to the Russians, who didn’t allow a goal in a pair of one-sided wins against Japan and Germany.

“This is always a big game for us,” said Pearn about the Russians. “Every game is really a gold medal game. You never know which game in this short tournament has won the gold medal for you until it’s over. The winner of this game will control its own destiny.”

Pronger opened the scoring at the eight-minute mark of the first period. Intranuovo, shorthanded, and Gratton on a powerplay added first period markers for Canada. The teams traded second period goals before Canada poured in five straight in the third period for a 9-1 win, the worst loss Russia suffered in the history of the tournament.

Canada was perfect through three games and knew that a win against Finland the next day would give them a golden opportunity to win the tournament.

Canada scored twice in the opening period, including a powerplay goal with 16 seconds remaining, to enter the first intermission with a 2-0 lead despite being outshot 26-16.

Canada killed off four powerplays in the second period, including a delay of game penalty for not being ready in time to start the second period. Finland scored with 4:36 left in the period to pull to within one goal.

Motivating Factor

Pearn knew that a solid third period against the Finns would give Canada the inside track at the gold medal. He walked into the dressing room in the intermission and put his ring from the 1990 World Juniors on a table in the middle of the room. Pearn didn’t say a word, but his message came across loud and clear.

The teams traded goals in the third period and Canada escaped with a 3-2 win. Legace faced 60 shots and was clearly the difference in the game. “I’ve always though of Manny as a big-game goalie,” said Pearn. “He is the type you want in there when you need a win.”

Canada needed wins against Germany and Japan, the two weakest teams in the tournament, to clinch the gold medal.

“We haven’t won the gold medal yet,” Pearn said before their New Year’s Day game against Germany. “But we sure do have our hands wrapped around it.”

Coasting to gold

Germany opened the scoring in the first period before Canada knocked in four unanswered goals, including a short-handed marker by Lafayette that proved to be the game-winner. Canada’s 5-2 win gave them a 5-0-0 record and left them one win away from the gold medal.

Bes scored two goals and set up another pair as Canada slaughtered Japan 8-1. Dawe also scored two goals as Canada outshot Japan 67-20. The win gave Canada their sixth World Junior gold medal and fourth in the past six years.

“It feels like I’ve just won the Stanley Cup,” Dawe said. “It’s just the best feeling I’ve ever had.”

Canada finished the tournament with a disappointing 7-4 loss to the Czech/Slovaks, whose country was separated just three days earlier. Canada missed an opportunity to become the first Canadian entry to finish the tournament undefeated, but with the gold medal locked up, showed little passion. Backup goaltender Philippe DeRouville (Verdun – QMJHL) made his first start of the tournament.

Making a name for himself

Legace, who won all of his six starts and gave up just 10 goals, was named the tournament’s top goaltender.

“I didn’t even know who he was at the summer camp,” said Wright. “I’d never even heard of him before. He’s been the best goaltender in the tournament and you could say he’s been the best player.

“All I know is we wouldn’t have won it without him.”