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.
Canada completed its three-peat at the 1995 world juniors, winning gold with a perfect record at the tournament held in Red Deer, Alberta. The roster was one of the most dominant the tourney has ever seen, loaded with first-round picks and players who went on to have impressive professional careers.
This edition of the world juniors was the last one to rely solely on a round-robin format. The IIHF implemented two groups and a medal round in 1996, which is still used today.
The roster
| Player | Position | Age |
|---|---|---|
| Shean Donovan | F | 19 |
| Alexandre Daigle | F | 19 |
| Marty Murray* | F | 19 |
| Todd Harvey | F | 19 |
| Darcy Tucker | F | 19 |
| Larry Courville | F | 19 |
| Jason Allison* | F | 19 |
| Eric Daze | F | 19 |
| Denis Pederson | F | 19 |
| Ryan Smyth | F | 18 |
| Jeff O'Neill | F | 18 |
| Jason Botterill* | F | 18 |
| Jeff Friesen* | F | 18 |
| Jamie Rivers | D | 19 |
| Bryan McCabe* | D | 19 |
| Lee Sorochan | D | 19 |
| Nolan Baumgartner | D | 18 |
| Ed Jovanovski | D | 18 |
| Chad Allan | D | 18 |
| Wade Redden | D | 17 |
| Jamie Storr* | G | 19 |
| Dan Cloutier | G | 18 |
*Denotes returning player
All ages are as of the start of the tournament
The tournament
The 1994-95 NHL lockout gave Canada a big advantage, as several players who would be vying for jobs in the big leagues were available for the junior squad. The 1995 Canadian roster featured 13 first-round picks, eight of those chosen just six months prior in the 1994 draft.
Canada came storming out of the gates and beat up on their first three opponents, winning 7-1, 9-1, and 8-3 against Ukraine, Germany, and the U.S. From there, Canada's games got tighter, but four consecutive wins over Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, and Sweden clinched a flawless tournament for the Red and White.
Canada's high-powered offense carried it the entire way, as its 49 goals were 13 clear of second-place Russia.
The stars
Although Canada was ripe with future NHL stars, Murray was one of the most productive players on the roster and led the tournament, along with Allison, with 15 points. McCabe, Daze, and Daigle each had double-digit points as well.
McCabe was named the tournament's top defenseman by the IIHF and media, while Allison, Daze, and Murray were the three forwards making the post-event media All-Star team.
The key moment
Since there was no medal round at the time, Canada clinched gold off the ice. After Canada topped Russia 8-5, it set up what could have been a gold medal game versus Sweden - their final opponent. However, Finland scored a pair of late goals to tie the Swedes 3-3. As a result, Canada was three points ahead in the standings with just one game to play.
The fallout
Canada cruised to its three-peat and eventually ran its string of consecutive gold medals to five. None of the players that carried the country in 1995 went on to have Hall of Fame careers, but a remarkable 11 skaters played at least 500 NHL games.
No members earned any significant individual hardware either, but Smyth and Jovanovski were part of Canada's gold-medal squad at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Perhaps the most famous name on the team is Daigle, considered one of the worst draft busts in NHL history. He was selected first overall in 1993 - ahead of Chris Pronger and Paul Kariya - and struggled to live up to the hype.
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