CANADA WINS GOLD

Canada successfully defended its world junior gold medal, capping a stunning run at the 2006 tournament last night with a 5-0 win over Russia before a packed GM Place.
"We came out and played our game," goaltender Justin Pogge told TSN.
"We're in Canada, the gold stays here in Canada."
Pogge, a Toronto Maple Leafs prospect who plays for the Calgary Hitmen, was brilliant in stopping 35 shots -- his busiest night of the championship -- and set a tournament record with his third shutout.
This Canadian team was supposed to be up against a big challenge to win gold for the second year in a row but instead will join past Canadian clubs in a group that dominated like few others.
With 12 players eligible to return for the 2007 tournament in Sweden, Canada was seen by many as being a tad young to earn gold. Yet it did just that, allowing only six goals to set a record for fewest against in the tournament.
Canada, which posted a 6-0 record, has won back-to-back gold medals for the first time since winning five in a row from 1993-97.
But teens such as Pogge, who made nearly all of his stops look easy, Marc Staal and Ryan Parent, the defence pair who relished every assignment of shutting down the top opposition forwards, and forwards Downie and Dustin Boyd, who checked and scored when it was needed, are Canada's new hockey heroes.
With Steve Downie scoring the first goal. Blake Comeau got his own rebound, after a nice feed from defenceman Cam Barker, to make it 2-0 at the end of the first. Then some shenanigans happened in the second period. On what looked like a save from Justin Pogge, further review showed the Russians did sneak one past Pogge. But, unfortunately for the Rusians, play continued and because of the IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) rules the goal did not count. Which will give the Russians something to complain about. Even if that goal did count I don't think it would of changed Team Canada's game plan. Instead we'd all be celebrating a glorious 5-1 Canada win.
Russian forward, Evgeni Malkin, who inexplicably was voted tournament MVP by the media, was a shadow last night. Staal, Parent, Downie and Boyd had their way with him, rendering him fairly useless. Pogge made a nice glove save on Malkin early on and after that the talented Russian did not get a sniff.
Malkin had said if Russia played to its ability, it would "easily" beat Canada. But the Russians never got the chance.
Head coach Brent Sutter, who could get an NHL coaching job if he wanted it, said he is not looking ahead to next season yet. But Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson reiterated after the game Sutter will be offered the job of coaching Canada's juniors for an unprecedented third consecutive season.
Sutter, 12-0, is the only coach to win consecutive gold medals.
Canada worked harder and was more willing to pay the physical price around the Russian net than the Russians were in defending it, and Pogge was better than Russian goalie Anton Khudobin, who showed poor technique on Canada's first two goals.
It was the first time since 1995 in Red Deer that Canada won gold on home soil after losing one-goal heartbreakers to Russia in the finals in Winnipeg in 1999 and Halifax in 2003.
When the players stood on the blue-line with their arms around each other to sing the national anthem, they had more than 18,000 people in GM Place to sing it with them. Then the celebration began.
Attendance at games in Vancouver, Kelowna and Kamloops, B.C., shattered the previous record of 242,173 in Halifax in 2003. Actual attendance was listed at 325,138 although total ticket sales were said to be over 400,000.
Spectators at both Pacific Coliseum and GM Place in Vancouver were loud as expected throughout the tournament.
In addition to cheering for Canada, they adopted whichever country played the United States, particularly when they cheered for Russia in the semifinal between the two countries.
But the chanting of a few spectators became boorish with "U.S. sucks" in the semifinal and "over-rated" chants in the bronze-medal game.
The 2007 tournament will be held in Leksand and Mora, Sweden.
The good news for the Canadian team will be that there are 12 players eligible to return. The bad news is that some of them will be playing in the NHL and unavailable to represent their country again at the international under-20 level.