In the lead-up to the 2021 World Junior Championship, we're taking a look back at each of the 18 Canadian teams to capture the gold medal, culminating Dec. 25 with the start of the latest edition of the tournament.
In the 18th edition of the annual tournament, Canada was seeking its second straight gold medal. The 1994 world juniors marked the second last year using the round-robin format, with no quarterfinals, semifinals, or gold-medal game.
The roster
| Player | Position | Age |
|---|---|---|
| Jason Allison | F | 18 |
| Jason Botterill | F | 17 |
| Curtis Bowen | F | 19 |
| Anson Carter | F | 19 |
| Brandon Convery | F | 19 |
| Yanick Dube | F | 19 |
| Jeff Friesen | F | 17 |
| Aaron Gavey | F | 19 |
| Martin Gendron* | F | 19 |
| Rick Girard | F | 19 |
| Todd Harvey | F | 18 |
| Marty Murray | F | 18 |
| Mike Peca | F | 19 |
| Chris Armstrong | D | 18 |
| Drew Bannister | D | 19 |
| Joel Bouchard* | D | 19 |
| Bryan McCabe | D | 18 |
| Nick Stajduhar | D | 19 |
| Brent Tully* | D | 19 |
| Brendan Witt | D | 18 |
| Manny Fernandez | G | 19 |
| Jamie Storr | G | 18 |
*Denotes returning player
All ages are as of the start of the tournament
The tournament
A repeat after winning gold in 1993 may have seemed unlikely at the time considering Canada had only won back-to-back world junior titles just once in the tournament's history.
The odds seemed to be stacked against this group, too. Canada had five eligible returnees unavailable for the tournament because the NHL came calling: Paul Kariya, Chris Pronger, Chris Gratton, Alexandre Daigle, and Rob Niedermayer. This tournament was a true test of the nation's depth.
Canada got off to a decent start, neutralizing Switzerland with a 5-1 victory to open the tournament before taking down Germany 5-2. Wider margins of victory were ideal against lesser opponents considering goal differential was used as the tiebreaker in this tournament - it's how Canada previously won in 1985 despite sharing an identical 5-0-2 record with Czechoslovakia.
The Canadians were up for the challenge against difficult opponents as well. Despite tying Russia 3-3, Canada bounced back with victories against Finland, the United States, and Czech Republic by a combined score of 20-10. This set up a tournament-deciding contest against the 6-0-0 Swedes.
With a tie on their record, Canada needed a victory to claim gold, while the Swedes - led by Kenny Jonsson, Fredrik Modin, Mattias Ohlund, and Niklas Sundstrom - could play for the draw. In the de facto gold-medal game, Canada led 5-4 late in the the contest and managed to stave off Sweden's comeback attempt, adding an empty-netter to win 6-4 and capture its seventh world junior gold.
The stars
Team Canada was not overly star-heavy compared to other teams that won gold. Not one Canadian was named to the media All-Star team, although Jamie Storr received the IIHF Directorate Award as the top goaltender, sporting a 2.50 goals-against average and a tournament-leading .891 save percentage in four games while splitting time with Manny Fernandez. Fernandez's .877 save percentage was second in the tournament.
Canada still had standout offensive performers, though. Martin Gendron - one of Canada's three returnees - and Yanick Dube led the way with 10 points apiece, one behind tournament leader Sundstrom. Jason Allison - who quietly had 485 points in 552 career NHL games during the dead-puck era - and Rick Girard both had nine points in seven contests.
The fallout
Canada went on to win its third of five straight gold medals in 1995, with seven returnees from the 1994 squad. Murray, Allison, and McCabe finished first, second, and third in tournament scoring, respectively. The 1995 roster was considered a "dream team" thanks to the NHL lockout.
Several players on the 1995 squad went on to have successful NHL careers, most notably Allison, Carter, Friesen, Peca, McCabe, Witt, and Fernandez. A couple of these players continued to shine on the international stage, too. Peca was a member of Canada's 2002 Olympic team in Salt Lake City, and Carter scored the OT winner at the 2003 worlds.
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