For the first time in five years, Canada has no chance of winning a medal at the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. This result is heartbreaking and the maple leaf has not gotten used to it over the years.
On Tuesday, it was the Czech Republic that ended the adventure of Macklin Celebrini, Jordan Dumais, Mathis Rousseau and their teammates by equalizing with just 11 seconds left in the quarterfinal match.
• Also read: World Juniors: Canada eliminated in quarterfinals
• Also read: United States v. Latvia: Lane Hutson was used extensively in the win
• Also read: World Juniors: a brave performance from Filip Mesar and the Slovaks
Here are the other eight editions where Junior Team Canada did not compete in the medal round.
2019 – Suzuki returns empty-handed
BOB FRID – QMI AGENCY
Like this year, Canada endured a few scares in the preliminary round before losing in the quarterfinals. A narrow 3-2 win over Switzerland and a 1-2 defeat against Russia set the stage for a clash with the unpredictable Finns.
The latter gave everything at the right moment and won the tournament despite six points in the group stage. Canada was their first victim as Toni Utunen scored a 2-1 win in overtime. It was Alexis Lafrenière's first appearance at the World Juniors and Nick Suzuki's only.
2016 – Montembeault warms up the bench
MARTIN ALARIE/AGENCY QMI
Head coach Dave Lowry may have regretted not trusting goaltender Samuel Montembeault in 2016. Canada ended up in a tough group with the United States and Sweden, and it was Mason McDonald and MacKenzie Blackwood who were sent between the posts, not the Quebecer.
It was Finland once again that won this Junior World Championship, defeating Canada in the quarterfinals with a 6-5 victory.
It wasn't until seven years later that Montembeault finally had a real chance with Canada, contributing to his team's gold medal at the 2023 World Cup.
1998 – Invisible Hopes
Portal
After five consecutive gold medals, Canada failed completely in 1998. This eighth place is the worst result the team has ever achieved. Some of the best prospects in the following draft wore the Maple Leaf, but Alex Tanguay (3 points), Vincent Lecavalier (2 points) and Manny Malhotra (0 points) were unable to live up to their talent.
Russia defeated them in the quarterfinals before losing to Finland in the final. In short, when the Finns are in good shape, it is never good news for Canada.
1992 – The defeats pile up
PERRY MAH/EDMONTON SUN QMI AGENCY
The format of the Junior Championship was very different in 1992, with the eight participating teams only forming one group. Each club competed against the other once and the awarding of medals was decided.
After two wins against Switzerland and Germany, Canada's Eric Lindros, Scott Niedermayer and Paul Kariya have not won anything. It drew against Sweden and Finland, then was beaten by the United States, Czechoslovakia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to finish in sixth place.
As a little history lesson: the latter won the tournament. At the beginning of the event, this team was that of the Soviet Union, but since the country's official dissolution was announced during the week, it was renamed CIS on January 1, 1992.
1987 – Disqualification
Those who have been following the World Junior Championships for a long time will remember the general battle of 1987 between Canada and the Soviet Union. Theoren Fleury and Mike Keane were among the main warring parties in a brawl unprecedented in the history of international hockey. Everyone fought for 20 minutes even though the lights were off in the arena in Piestany, Slovakia. The officials had no choice but to cancel the game and disqualify both teams.
Canada was assured of at least a bronze medal and could go for gold if it beat the Soviets by five goals. The Maple Leaf led 4-2 in the second period before the incident.
1979 to 1981 – The catastrophic sequence
Before the Canadians dominated the tournament, they had to eat their black bread at the turn of the 1980s: the bearers of the maple leaf only won one of their three duels in the preliminary round in three editions of the tournament so far.
However, future great National League players such as John Ogrodnick, Brian Propp, Brad McCrimmon, Dino Ciccarelli, Larry Murphy, Dale Hawerchuk and Doug Gilmour wore Canada's colors during these years, but the magic never happened. The Canadians finally won gold in 1982.