Let’s discuss some of the heroes that made USA once again champions and a team(that was predicted to finish seventh)worthy of the world’s respect.

1.) John Gibson - Gibson made 26 of 27 saves in his victory over Sweden.  This game brought his tournament save average to .955. (A new record for an American goalie at the World Juniors.)  Gibson’s average breaks the previous record held by Al Montoya. (.944, set in 2004) With a GAA of 1.36, Gibson was named the best goalie and MVP of the tournament.  “He’s the definition of the backbone of this team.” said teammate Seth Jones. “He led us all the way. …Even in the 2-1 losses to Canada and Russia, he played his heart out.”

2.) John Gaudreau- Gaudreau was the team’s leading scorer. The 2011 Draft Pick of the Calgary Flame scored seven points and nine points overall.  The American winger scored twice and added an assist in a 5-1 rout over Canada in the semi-finals. Gaudreau was picked 104th overall. and the Flames saw something that a lot of other teams missed. He was second in overall scoring(behind Canada’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins) and was named to the WJC All Star team.

3.) Jacob Trouba- Trouba was also elected to the WJC All Star team. He was tied with Gaudreau for the most points scored. His four goals, including scoring the only goal against Canada in the preliminary loss to Canada, he was one of the leading defensemen in the tournament, and showed the world the meaning of two-way hockey.

The United States fought hard and overcame two early losses to Canada and Russia to get their way into medal contention. The US had to face Canada again, and they redeemed themselves with a 5-1 victory. For all us hockey addicts who needed our fix, the World Juniors were a fair dose of methadone. Team USA brought back the Gold to our country, and showed the world that US hockey was worthy of respect. I doubt that any of the members of Team USA will read this, but thank you from all of us for making the biggest hockey upset since the ‘Miracle on Ice’ happen.

The United States started out strong with a 8-0 victory of Germany. (I just assumed it was their punishment from the hockey gods to wear a uniform that looked a lot like the old Canucks jersey.) Then the Americans lost two matches against Canada and Russia. Both were 2-1 losses, and were both due to some silly mistakes that the opposing team capitalized on. This forced the Americans into an all-or-nothing fight against Team Slovakia to stay in the hunt for the medals.

When faced with imminent removal from the tournament, Team USA responded with a vengeance! Team USA was all over the Slovaks handing them a 9-3 rout. The defense had new life in them, the cut their errors by an order of magnitude.  The Americans then blasted the Czechs in the quarter final in order to face their friendlier rivals (and tournament favorite) Team Canada.

Then there was John Gibson. John Gibson (whose coach of the Kitchner Rangers is Team Canada’s head coach Steve Spott) is having one of the best competitions a crease policeman could ever have. Gibson is currently rocking a .954 save percentage (best performance of an American ever in the tournament.), and a jaw dropping 1.42 goals against average (third best all time.) Got to love a guy that has a half-American/ half-Canadian helmet and wore it the entire time.

As a Bruins fan, it is a little sad to see your future goalie get pulled after a “bad performance”. Malcolm Subban stopped twelve out of sixteen shots on goal before Coach Spott pulled him off the bench in favor of Jordan Binnington. Binnington stopped twenty five of twenty six in an attempt to save Canada from one of its most lopsided defeats. To be fair to Subban, it was hard to tell if the Canadians were on the ice, or it was Team Germany in Canadian colors. Their offense was sluggish, and the defense were making the mistakes that cost the Americans dearly in the previous match. I still believe Malcolm Subban will have a bright future in Boston. (As soon as his countryman stop blaming him for this catastrophe.)

With Canada and Russia battling for the bronze, the Bruins will have no prospects battling for Gold. It’s a shame, but its really awesome to see Team USA (who was predicted to finish seventh) get a medal this year. To me, it doesn’t matter if it is silver or gold. That medal will be a validation for USA hockey, and the strength of character in its players.

Nov 6, 2012; Sochi, RUS; Workers outside Fisht Olympic Stadium and ice hockey complex during construction preparations for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games during the costal cluster venue tour at the world press briefing. Mandatory Credit: USA TODAY Sports

This was predicted to be a rough year for American hockey in the WJC. The pundits had the USA placing seventh this year. Among the teams they had placed above them was Canada, Russia, and Germany. I don’t know if the American team was reading the same list that I was, but if they are they’re treating it like their own personal hit list. It took longer for a referee to change his skates in the penalty box then it did for America to score its first goal. Sean Kuraly put one in the net in the first nineteen seconds. Technically, it was the game winner.

Jacob Trouba scored a few minutes later at 8:30, and Alex Golchenyuk fired a missile at 9:54 to bring the score to 3-0. The second period was more of the same. It only took fifteen seconds for Riley Barber to put one in the net to bring it to 4-0. Shayne Gostisbehere put up the teams first power play goal at 6:33. Ryan Hartman put the next sinker in the net at 7:55, and the rout was on. Two third period goals by J.T Miller and Seth Jones brought the total score to a 8-0 blow out of team Germany.

The only problem team USA had was staying out of the “sin bin”. Three times in the course of the game, team USA penalties left them in a very dangerous 5-on-3 situation. Magnificent crease policing by John Gibson (nineteen saves in two periods) and Jon Gillies kept Germany from ever getting into the game. This team has impressed a lot of us writers, and certainly their coach. “Trying to get off to a good start was a focus going into that game against Germany,” said USA coach Phil Housley. “Our guys did a great job, and played hard and we got a lot of scoring from different lines and the defense contributed and our goaltending was good, particularly on the extended 5-on-3 power plays. It was the game we were looking to have going into the game against Russia.”

Russia and Canada are the teams to beat if the USA wants to score gold this year. The players know it, and they’re doing everything in their power to make sure they can do it. Jacob Trouba, who racked up the second goal of the game mentioned them in a post game interview. We have not watched them yet, but all of the Russian teams I’ve played always have a lot of skill,” Trouba said. “And we know they have a good goalie. They will be a big test for us.” Trouba wasn’t just looking right ahead at Russia, but down the line towards Canada. “We don’t have the big guns like Canada does and some of the other teams,” Trouba said. “So we are going to need balance throughout the tournament, but I also thought our defense was very good [against Germany].”

They may not have the biggest guns in the arsenal, but this team is going to make themselves heard.