"Here We Go Again"
Sunday, April 24, 2005

Posted by Kerrzy

It’s one of the biggest rivalries in all of sports, and these days one of the more frequent; Canada vs. USA in the finals of a tournament; and these two teams are again set to face off against one another in the Gold medal final of the World Under-18 Championships on Sunday.

After going 4-1 thus far in the tournament and beating the host Czech Republic team 3-2 in the semi-finals, the Canadian boys are looking to grab their second Gold medal in four years on Sunday, but don’t expect it to be an easy one.

The Americans went 5-0 and are led by a young man named Phil Kessel (7g, 5a in 5 games) who is considered by many to be the hottest junior prospect out there next to Canadian Sidney Crosby of the Rimouski Oceanic. The last line of defence for Team USA, goaltender Jeff Frazee, will also make things tough for the Canadian charge as he leads the tournament with a 1.00 goals against average and a .959 save percentage. One goal is all it takes though.

When the puck drops on Sunday morning, who’s going to score that winning goal? Well, seven Canadian players have at least two goals, with Dan Bertram, Devin Setoguchi and Ryan O’Marra each notching four, so there is really no telling where the goals will come from. Casey Price will get the call from Canadian coach Shawn Camp, after going 2-1 with a 2.22 GAA and playing some very impressive hockey.

When all is said and done, this will no doubt be another one for the books, and Coach Camp and the boys should be proud of what they’ve accomplished. Having said that, I hope whoever sings the national anthem remembers the words!