World Junior Hockey Countdown: Canada's Golden History Part Two—The '90s

1999: Heartbreak in Winnipeg

The 1999 tournament was played in Winnipeg, Manitoba and while Canada had an inconsistent round robin, they managed to get past Kazakhstan, and rolled past the Sedin led Sweden team to reach the finals.

Their foe, as it has been so many times before and since, was the Russians. Always a talented group, the Russian's challenged Canada on home soil, and Canada responded, pushing their opponents to the limit.

A tremendous effort from Roberto Luongo carried the Canadians into overtime of the gold medal game, but he simply couldn't do it all, as Artem Chubarov slid a loose puck past the prone Luongo, to sink Canada's gold hopes.

Still, a silver was a respectable finish for this young group of players, who weren't necessarily tournament favourites going in.

Aside from Luongo, Canada featured a lineup that included Simon Gagne, Brenden Morrow, Jason Chimera, and Blair Betts among others at the forward position.

On D, they were a tough, fast group led by Andrew Ference. The back end also featured future NHL stars such as Brian Campbell, Brad Ference, Mike Van Ryn, Brad Stuart, and Robyn Regehr.

1997: Canada Edges USA to Claim Gold

Again, not the most talented team Canada has ever sent to the competition, but a hard working group. They struggled a little bit in the round robin, but bounced back with two close wins over rivals Russia, in the quarters, and USA in the gold medal game to the win the 1997 championship.

A strong defence led Canada, who were anchored by Chris Phillips, Corey Sarich, Brad Larsen, and Richard Jackman among others.

The forwards weren't all that spectacular but had a penchant for scoring timely goals. Some of Canada's standout's from that tournament included Boyd Devereaux, the gold medal game hero, as well as future NHL stars Danny Briere, and Joe Thornton.

For the second straight year Canada was backstopped by Marc Denis. You see, watching Denis wilt away in Tampa and then Montreal, you may not realize how much talent this guy once had. It was Denis' second year in the tournament, and he ended up with a combined record of 7-0-2 with a 1.67 save percentage.

1996: Canada Wins Fourth Consecutive Gold

The 1996 tournament was held in Boston, and once again Canada came to play. Canada pummeled Sweden 4-1 in the gold medal game, but for those who were too young to remember the tournament, it may be remembered as the "who?" tournament.

You see, every year there is at least one player on team Canada that may be a serviceable AHL'er and may even get into some NHL fourth line action. Except this year in Boston, looking back at the roster it was like "who are these guys?"

Of course leading the Canadian attack was someone we all know very well. A certain former Rocket Richard winner by the name of Jarome Iginla, who scored 12 points in six games for the red and white. His future Calgary teammate Daymond Langkow was on the team too, nipping at Iggy's heels for the scoring lead throughout the tournament.

The defense was big and solid as always. Led again by Chris Phillips, who was joined by future Senators teammate Wade Redden, Denis Gauthier, Nolan Baumgartner, and Rhett Wharrener.

For every player that has gone onto some great things in the NHL from the World Junior Canadian roster, there are simply some who haven't. Especially in 1996.

With all due respect, this particulars list of "he made the team?" includes Jason Podollan, Hnat Dominichelli, Robb Gordon, Jason Holland, and Mike Watt.

But hey, they may not have made it in the NHL, but were a big part of the team back then. All of them tallied at least one point, and were big checkers that help Canada set the tone.

Canada was solid in goal as well, led by Jose Theodore and Marc Denis, who split time in between the pipes.

1995: Lockout, Part Two

Much like the lockout in 2005, the 1994-1995 work stoppage also aided Canada's efforts in gunning for gold. With the NHL idle, Canada was able to field a team of young stars who normally would have been in the NHL at the time.

Canada dominated the competition that year, cruising undefeated and scoring at least four goals in every game of the tournament.

In goal for Canada, sharing the pipes were Dan Cloutier and Jamie Storr. I don't remember much, but from what my dad tells me every year, Jamie Storr sounds too much like "Score" so whenever the Canadian goalie would make a save where announcer Paul Romanuk would shout his name, my dad evidently thought Canada had given one up.

Canada's defense was a cast of new guys and returnees, but weren't very solid. They allowed 22 goals against in seven games, but the offense helped them out. Among those on the back end for Canada that year were Bryan McCabe (who scored 12 points in seven games) Wade Redden, Ed Jovanovski, and Nolan Baumgartner.

Up front Canada had a laundry list of forwards who went on to NHL careers. Some of those names include Jason Allison, Eric Daze, Jeff Friesen, Ryan Smyth, Jeff O'Neill, Todd Harvey, Darcy Tucker, Shean Donovan, and the infamous Alexandre Daigle.

1994: Balanced Attack Nets Gold

In 1994, Canada had a low-scoring, well balanced attack, and it was more than enough to lead them to their second straight gold medal.

Led by tournament leading scoring Martin Gendron (yeah I know, I don't know him either) and solid goaltending from Jamie Storr and a young man who at that time was still going my Emmanuel Fernandez, who now tends net in Boston, Canada cruised to a 6-0-1 record at the tournament.

Although a lot of players on this team were the hard working, tight checking type who weren't big names, there were some players who left this team to go onto pretty big things in the National Hockey League.

There were nine first round draft picks on the team, including defenseman Bryan McCabe and Brendan Witt, as well as forwards like Jason Allison, Anson Carter, and Mike Peca.

1993: First of Five

After an embarrassing showing in 1992, Canada roared back in '93, and challenged the high powered Swedes for the gold in the tournament.

Canada won six of their seven games, which back in the era where it wasn't a knockout tournament but a points total, was just enough.

It wasn't easy however. They tied Sweden in the standings, but won the head-to-head match-up 3-2 in a World Junior classic to take the tie breaker.

Sweden was led by Peter Forsberg and linemates Markus Naslund, and Niklas Sundstrom. Forsberg set a world junior record with 31 points in seven games. Naslund also set the record with 13 goals (which I think has since been broken.)

Canada outlasted Sweden 3-2 on the strength of its goaltending. Manny Legace went 6-0-0 and sported a 1.67 save percentage to go with it.

Canada had some future NHL players on the team that year that included defenseman Chris Pronger, Mike Rathje, Jason Smith, and Adrian Aucoin.

Up front they were led by Paul Kariya and Martin Lapointe. The foreard corps also included the likes of Dean McAmmond, Rob Niedermayer, Chris Gratton, and again Alexandre Daigle.

1991: The Big E's Big Moment

In 1990, Canada and the world got a glimpse of what Eric Lindros was capable of. One year later, with more ice time and more confidence, Lindros exploded for 17 points in seven games as Canada went 5-1-1 en route to another gold medal.

Aside from Lindros, future NHL'ers Mike Sillinger, Kris Draper, Scott Thornton, and Brad May led another gritty balanced attack.

On defense there wasn't too much of a household name to be found save for Patrice Brisebois, although the tournament did allow Canada to see the early stages of what turned out to be a great career for Scott Niedermayer.

Trevor Kidd, who was a junior hockey sensation, and Felix Potvin shared net duties for Team Canada.

It's the countdown to the 2009 World Junior Hockey Championships! It all stars on Dec. 26 live from Ottawa, Ontario.

Be sure to join me from now all the way through the end of the tournament for stories, features, game recaps, interviews, previews, and more.