World Juniors - Great but Disappointing Finish

Our media center with the Swiss play by play man in the forefront. I worked one game with him.


The referees warming up prior to a game.



Team USA warming up prior to the Gold medal game


Again the people of Saskatchewan and in particular Saskatoon showed the world that we know how to host a major sporting event. Although the hockey Gods (Hockey Canada) say the event will never return to a non NHL city thats something that they may want to rethink.
What did Saskatoon accomplish? Well start with the third largest attendance in the history of the event? Add to that near capacity crowds that player after player related how much fun it was to play in front of hockey knowledgeable crowds. Add to that first class treatment of players, dignataries, and add to that record setting 50/50 draws with the winner of the pot in the final game taking home almost 150,000 dollars. Close to a million in 50/50 earnings will find its way into minor hockey programs because of the generosity of Saskatchewan fans. And then finally add to that almost 1500 volunteers who worked tirelessly to make the Junior championships a success.
It's disappointing that Canada could not pull out the championship but in my role as a media host, I had the opportunity on more than once to mingle with the American gold medal winning team and what a class act they were. Going into this tournament it was generally thought that Russia, Sweden, the USA and Canada were the best hopes to win. Russia bowed out early when they were upset 3 - 2 by the Swiss. The Swiss then had their bubble burst in the bronze medal game when Sweden literally coasted to an 11 - 4 win. I was assisting with the TSN broadcast for that one and Miller and McQuire did their best to make a boring game sound exciting.
Then the gold medal game. Unfortunately for Canada their suspect goaltending went south during the game and the USA ended the gold medal streak at five. Disappointing but how can you knock the Canadian effort and any true sports fan would agree that beyond a shadow of a doubt Team USA were deserving winners of the Gold medal.
I enjoyed my volunteer work with the media. It brought back many memories of the years I spent doing hockey play by play. It was a great life and many times, mostly on days the end in y, I found myself wishing that I had stayed in the broadcasting game. However such was not the case and I must say it was fun to be involved with the world juniors this year. This was actually the second world juniors I have had the pleasure to watch. In 1991 Tim and I watched here in Saskatoon as Canada defeated the Soviet Union 3 - 2 in overtime to win the gold medal. Great memories from that one and now new memories to add from the 2010's