Heartbreak City

For my Canadian readers, Tuesday night was probably a roller coaster of emotions. I'm speaking, of course, about the gold medal game of the World Junior Hockey Championships. In one of the most entertaining hockey games I have seen in a long time, the United States triumphed over Canada 6-5 in overtime. The action was back and forth, played with almost reckless abandon. As Canada, or more correctly Jordan Eberle, completed a furious comeback from two goals down to tie the game at 5 with time winding down in the third period, the rink in Saskatoon was about ready to explode. The game went into overtime, and ended the way it had been played: with the U.S on an odd-man rush. Everyone I was watching the game with went silent. Less than a minute earlier, you couldn't hear yourself think. Heartbreak City indeed. (Link is to Gus Johnson's classic call of the end game from UCLA-Gonzaga in the NCAA tournament a couple years back. Wait for it. Trust me.) But why are we so drawn to the event?

There's something uniquely Canadian about our obsession with the World Junior Championships. No other country cares about the tournament in even remotely the same way. The attendance figures support this, the incredible amount of media coverage dedicated to the event support this, the completely insane viewership numbers support this, and especially the way that bar, that is normally so dead, was hopping the other night support this. Our obsession with safeguarding the game as our own plays a big part. I can't think of another major sport with a worldwide following where the dominant country is so consumed by the notion of owning the game. No one European or Latin American country claims to own soccer in the way we claim to own hockey. Even the Americans aren't nearly as protective of baseball. So when our national pride is on the line, it only makes sense that emotions would run high.

We also love the unpredictable nature of the games. Though the players chosen are the elite of their age category, they are still just kids. They make mistakes. A lot of them. One of the reasons the gold medal game was so thrilling was exactly because the players were amateurs. Even with a two goal lead and less than 5 minutes remaining in the third period, the Americans suddenly found themselves running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Where was the dominant performance of the first 30 minutes? I hate to speculate on intangibles like pressure and momentum, but it sure looked like having 15,000 fans screaming and pounding the boards had something to do with Canada getting back into it. This turn of events would never have taken place in the NHL. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes, sheer excitement can make up for a sloppily played game.

Still, the tournament has its problems. For the Canadian team, they only played two competitive games throughout. In particular, there was one game where they obliterated the poor Latvians 16-0. And that scoreline isn't the only one of its kind. Look at some of the scores from the rest of the tournament. Lopsided doesn't even begin to describe it. Obviously Canada, and probably the Russians despite their weak showing this year, will routinely beat up on at least a couple of teams every tournament. It would be a mistake to reduce the number of participating teams to 4 or 6, but the complete lack of competition until the semi-final round is certainly a negative.

The fact that the tournament is basically a Canadian event is also somewhat of a negative. It barely even registers as a sporting event outside of the True North, Strong and Free. When the tournament is held in European locations, the empty seats speak volumes to that fact. So, sure, we get really excited about it, but almost no one else does. That's something of a problem for a tournament called the World Junior Hockey Championships, and not the Canadian World Junior Invite (through it sure feels that way sometimes).

As Canadians, we will overlook all the warts. The problems that plague the tournament are merely endearing qualities to us. Canada won 16-0? Good for the boys, who cares about competitive balance? We will build up all of our heroes to a staggering degree; Jordan Eberle will never have to pay for a meal in Canadian restaurant for the rest of his life. And when we win, we'll throw parties like no other country would. But when we lose, it'll hurt worse than it would for everyone else too. Heartbreak City indeed.