WJC Countdown: United States wins first-ever gold medal after bizarre own-goal

 The 2004 World Junior Championships in Helsinki, Finland was supposed to be the coming out party for the next wave of hockey superstars. But instead, all of that was just a precursor to perhaps the greatest game in United States junior hockey history. 

A 16-year-old Sidney Crosby had his first opportunity to represent Canada at junior hockey’s biggest stage, while Alex Ovechkin was projected to become just the second Russian ever to be selected first overall at the NHL draft. Ovechkin led Russia to a gold medal over Canada in Halifax the year prior, but it would have been a dream come true if Canada and Russia, Crosby and Ovechkin, a soon-to-be NHL rivalry, could meet in a gold medal game. 

Then there was the United States. The country had never won a gold medal at the World Juniors and hadn’t even won a medal since 1997. But the American squad in 2004 was loaded with some elite-level talent in Zach Parise and Ryan Suter and the team had become familiar with one another after winning a gold medal at the U-18 championship the previous year in Ann Arbour. 

Everyone knew the American team was good, but most were expecting a Canada and Russia re-match in the gold medal game. That’s the thing with the World Juniors. It’s hockey’s version of March Madness. With it being a high-stakes, single-elimination setting over a short period of time, there’s an inherent anything-can-happen randomness to the tournament. That was on full display in Helsinki 2004. 

Canada bombed through the tournament. They went 4-0 in the group stage and outscored their opponents 25 to four. They got a bye to the semifinals where they hammered the Czech Republic 7-1 to reach the gold medal game for a third year in a row. The United States were also flying. They went 4-0 in the group stage and outscored their opponents 21 to four, including wins over Sweden and Russia. 

Russia matched up against Finland in the quarterfinal. Ovechkin scored in the third period to give Russia the lead. It seemed like they were on their way to facing the United States in the semifinal, but Finland tied the game and then pulled ahead with 13 seconds remaining when a flub shot from Valtteri Filppula fooled Konstantin Barulin. There would be no Crosby vs Ovechkin dream gold medal game. 

The United States’ path to the gold medal game became much simpler. They dispatched Finland in the semifinal 2-1 to earn a berth in the gold medal game for the first time since losing to Canada in 1997. 

The two teams exchanged goals in the first period, but Canada pulled ahead with two goals in the second. Canada appeared to be well on their way to gold, but American goalie Al Montoya made a few huge saves to keep the United States in the game. In the second intermission, American head coach Mike Eaves challenged the team to play its best hockey.

“Before the game, the message was to continue to play the way we had been,” Eaves said. “But when we got behind 3-1, I remember talking with our coaching staff to determine what the message should be, and it was, ‘You know what guys, they haven’t seen our best hockey yet.’” 

Patrick O’Sullivan, an American forward, said that the team completely flipped in that intermission.
“We weren’t ready to play that game. We were watching too much. In that second intermission, we knew we hadn’t played our best and yet we were only down 3-1 and Fleury had to make a couple big saves. We were calm. We just wanted to have a strong period. We were able to flip the table on them and made them nervous.” 

O’Sullivan scored a goal a few minutes into the third, then soon after that, Ryan Kesler tied the game at 3-3. With just over five minutes to go and the United States clearly the more confident team, O’Sullivan scored one of the most bizarre goals in tournament history. He took an outlet pass from Drew Stafford at the Canadian blueline, but couldn’t control the puck. Marc-Andre Fleury skated out of the crease to play the puck and fired it off of Canadian defenceman Braydon Coburn and into the back of the net. 

The Americans would hold on to the 4-3 lead and earn their first World Juniors gold medal in country history. O’Sullivan figured that the win changed the tides for American hockey.

“Up until then, the U.S. program hadn’t had much success”, he said. “When we won, I think we helped turn that program around and started to attract better players. Now, 12 years down the road, you can see how many good, young American players enter the NHL every year.” 

The gold-winning American team in 2004