U-S-A! U-S-A!

The IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship was held in Saskatchewan this year, holding games in Saskatoon and here in Regina. The World Juniors is a pretty big deal in Canada and the fact that Saskatchewan was hosting the tournament made it even more exciting the last few weeks. It's junior level hockey which means players must be under 20 years old.

But last night Team USA defeated Team Canada in overtime, 6-5, to win the gold medal! Wooo-hooooo! That's only the second time the US won gold in the tournament, the first being in 2004 in Helsinki --coincidentally the same time C was there doing research for Sisu. The Canadians had won every gold medal since.

C and I watched the game at home, and man was it ever a great game. Probably one of the most exciting hockey games I'd ever watched. The lead kept changing hands, until the US took a 5-3 lead with 15 minutes left in the 3rd period. The two teams had met just a few days before on New Years Eve when Canada erased a 2-goal lead with 10 minutes left in the game to tie it and then ultimately won in a shoot out. And they did it again, with Jordan Eberle --a Regina native by the way, and who plays for the Regina Pats-- scored twice in the last 3 minutes of regulation to force overtime. The crowd in Saskatoon was going nuts!

Thankfully the US won it in OT. C wasn't too happy, she was pulling for Canada. Oh well. Hey 5 straight gold medals in the tournament is enough, give someone else a go.

The World Juniors will be held in Buffalo, NY next year.

Anyway, congrats! U-S-A! U-S-A!

R-