LEWISTON – It may have been the shortest three minutes of his coaching career.
As time wound down at the World Junior Championships in Helsinki, Finland, Lewiston Maineiacs coach Mario Durocher watched as members of Team U.S.A. skated in and out of players from his Team Canada, playing an extended game of keep-away.
Unable to solve the United States defense, Durocher’s squad watched as seconds ticked away to the United States’ first-ever gold medal at the World Junior Championships.
No, Canada wasn’t favored to win this year, even with the vaunted Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury in the lineup, but Canada DID survive the tougher of the two pools unscathed.
“The teams in our pool finished 2-3-4,” Durocher said. “We had a pretty young team this year, with 13 guys able to come back and play again next year”
With losing, of course, came second-guessing, especially from a nation such as Canada, which is regarded as the first nation of hockey.
“The only way we are not second-guessed is if we win,” Durocher said. “We lost and I will accept the blame for that as the head coach.”
During the game, Durocher was responsible for keeping his excited, young team in check. After playing even with the Americans for one period, Canada ratcheted up the pressure with goals by Nigel Dawes and Anthony Stewart in the second to take a commanding 3-1 lead.
Dejected, the Americans returned to their locker room during the second intermission to recuperate. Canada went in trying to figure out how to minimize mistakes and not lose a lead.
In the third, things started to shift. Patrick O’Sullivan slipped a shot over Fleury’s shoulder from a bad angle, cutting the lead to one.
“If you look at the goals they scored, they weren’t goals you get necessarily by outworking another team,” Durocher said. “The third one, to tie it, they took a shot from the outside and it got tipped like a lob over Fleury, and the last one, what can I say.”
One point of criticism Durocher has endured is his use of 16-year-old Sidney Crosby, who is lighting up the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League this season.
“He is young,” Durocher said. “He is just 16 years old. We had four lines of players and we used all four lines equal. He was on the first power play unit, and he had a solid tournament considering his age.”
Durocher is excited for the team next year, knowing that most of the players he had are eligible to come back and play again.
“I coached 11 first-round draft choices,” Durocher said. “There aren’t many coaches that can say they did that at any level. There were 13 guys under the age of 18 on the team this year. All I know is that I wouldn’t want to be in the face of Canada next year at that tournament.”
jpelletier@sunjournal.com
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