GOLD!!!

Best Canadian Junior Team Ever?

This team just blew me away - I have never in all my life seen a more cohesive group of players. The offense was on, the defence was on, the goaltending was on. At all times, there were at least two guys working in tandem - one for the body, one for the puck. Canadian's were the first on the puck 99% of the time. They were physical - and not just along the boards - in open ice they would forecheck, and then strip the puck from the Russians. They formed walls of red. At times it seemed like there were 10 red jerseys on the ice (and I'm not talking about that one time . . . y'know, when they had too many men . . . oops).

I'm so impressed by them all, but a few notables: Richards (true leader), Bergeron (patience with the puck), Phaneuf (heads up when he's around), Carter (Mature), Crosby (Talent), MacArthur (stepping it up big-time), Stewart (checked his ego after the put down and came back strong), Glass (steady in the net in the face of few challenges to keep him on his toes), Getzlaf (hard, hard worker) . . . okay they were all notable. But I'm also very impressed with Coach DeBoer and Coach Sutter. Excellent job. They obviously have a voice that connected with this group, and Sutter seemed to be a very steady, but intense, influence.

They were the very definition of a team.

I'm still sitting here in awe. Awesome, awesome job. Wow. That is why I love this game. It's art in sport-form.

(For more pics, see here.)