Humbled Canada opens world juniors with longer walk, familiar foe

MINNEAPOLIS – Coming off its worst back-to-back finishes in program history, Canada’s world junior team has been served some humble pie.

Last year, while playing host the world junior championship in Ottawa, Canada enjoyed full use of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators’ locker room at Canadian Tire Centre, complete with the amenities of a professional hockey team.

What followed, however, was a second consecutive fifth-place finish, after once again bowing out to Czechia in the quarterfinals — this time on home ice in front of more than 18,000 fans.

This year, with the tournament hosted by the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Canada’s holiday digs are far more modest by comparison.

Situated on the University of Minnesota campus, 3M Arena — with a capacity of roughly 10,000 — is one of the two primary tournament venues alongside Grand Casino Arena, home of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild. Of course, the United States has made the Wild locker room its home for the tournament.

3M Arena, home of the University of Minnesota men’s hockey team, will play host to Group B games, including Canada’s first four games.

Finland and Czechia, the silver and bronze medallists from last year’s tournament, have taken up residence in the arena’s primary home and visiting locker rooms. Latvia and Denmark — the latter making its first world juniors appearance since 2019 — are stationed in additional dressing rooms nearby, just steps from the ice.

Long walk to get to dressing room

Canada, meanwhile, is located elsewhere.

To get to its dressing room, players must walk through the Zamboni tunnel, head a couple hundred feet to an entirely separate rink — Ridder Arena, home of the University of Minnesota women’s hockey team — skate across the ice, reach the far-side benches, head down the player tunnel and turn the corner to finally find the room.

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Head coach Dale Hunter couldn’t help but laugh at the arrangement.

“I’m getting my steps in anyways,” Hunter chuckled.

It’s an unusual setup — and one long enough to carve a noticeable, if not significant, chunk of time out of intermissions due to the travel back and forth from the playing surface, Hunter admitted.

For defenceman Harrison Brunicke, it’s something he’s never experienced before in his young career.

“It’s a little bit of a walk,” Brunicke said. “But I guess that’s what happens when you finish fifth.”

Indeed, the longer walk is a direct reflection of Canada’s recent results on junior hockey’s biggest stage — a reality Hunter acknowledged plainly.

“It is what it is,” he said.

Despite the unfamiliar surroundings, Minnesota itself holds positive memories for Canada at the world juniors. The Canadians have played four previous tournament games in the state — all during the 1982 championship — going 3-0-1 to clinch the program’s first-ever world junior gold medal.

More broadly, Canada has historically been comfortable south of the border. In six previous world junior tournaments held on American ice — 1982, 1989, 1996, 2005, 2011 and 2018 — Canada has gone 30-5-2, outscoring opponents 207-79 while capturing four gold medals and one silver.

While players of the current squad expressed that the extended trek to the ice is largely trivial, it hasn’t gone unnoticed — and, in some ways, it’s being used as fuel.

Forget about last year’s mess

“We’ve got to face adversity, and none of us are dwelling on it or anything,” forward and alternate captain Cole Beaudoin said. “We’re excited to just play, and if it has to lead to a little bit of a walk, that’s fine.”

For Beaudoin, hailing from Kanata, Ont., last year’s disappointing experience in Ottawa carried a personal significance that won’t be replicated this time around.

“With the tournament being in Ottawa — obviously my hometown — that was super special to play in front of family and friends,” he said. “Obviously it’s a different atmosphere this year, but it’s almost better that we can have that little adversity of being in the U.S., and like we’ve been saying, being those dream killers and killing other teams’ dreams.”

That mindset will be tested immediately, as Canada opens the tournament against Czechia — the same opponent that eliminated them in each of the past two years.

Historically, the matchup still heavily favours Canada. This will be the 28th meeting between the two countries at the world juniors since 1994, with the Canadians holding a 21-4-2 advantage, including games decided in overtime or a shootout.

Canada’s tournament opener has long been a strength. Through 49 previous editions of the world juniors, the Canadians are 42-6-1 in opening games. That success extends to Boxing Day as well, where Canada owns a 36-3 record, with losses coming only against Sweden in 1998, the United States in 2016, and Czechia in 2023.

That most recent loss adds another layer to the opener, Hunter acknowledged.

“They’re good,” he said. “They’ve been good for a few years now, and they’re well coached. They’ve got structure, and they play disciplined, so we’re gonna have to be smart, too.”

The recent history between the two programs hasn’t been lost on anyone inside Canada’s room.

“They’re the ones that we lost to last year, and nobody likes to lose, so it’s added (motivation),” Hunter said. “That’s why it’s going to be a great game. Both teams are good teams, and when the game starts, fans are gonna appreciate it.”

Still, Hunter stressed that emotion alone won’t be enough.

“Just go play hockey,” he said. “It’s a hockey game, and hard work can get your emotions out of it. When you work hard, you get tired — so then you’re not as emotional because you’re tired. Just go work hard and good things will happen.”

From the players’ perspective, the focus remains firmly on execution.

“After pre-scouting, they’re fast, they’re physical, they’re an in-your-face team,” Brunicke said. “So we’re ready to stick to our game plan right from the jump.”

Asked whether opening the tournament against Czechia provides extra motivation, Brunicke didn’t shy away from the reality — while still emphasizing the team’s approach.

“For sure,” he said. “We don’t focus on who the opponent is. We have a game plan, and we’re ready to stick to that no matter who it is. But there’s definitely motivation from how the last two years went. We’re throwing that behind our backs and just moving forward.”

Beaudoin echoed that sentiment.

“Yeah, obviously,” he said. “But we’re just worrying about our game plan and what we do best. I don’t think we’re worried about the team. We’re just worrying about what we can do and what we can control. Obviously they’re a good team over there — but we worry about ourselves.”