We don’t know what the future holds for Joshua Roy in the National Hockey League with the Canadiens.
Roy is not the fastest skater. Despite a scoring championship in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League last year, he entered the World Junior Championship in a defensive role on a third line.
But he knows how to rise in great moments. The 2021 CH fifth-round pick put an exclamation point on a stellar tournament by setting up Dylan Guenther’s game-winning goal in overtime on Thursday night in Halifax, earning Canada a second consecutive gold medal against tough Czechs.
Guenther took advantage of a puck loss by forward Jiri Kulich in the Canadian zone to relaunch the attack and put it back to Roy, who smelled the game. The Canadian’s hope patiently waited for the opposing defender to lie down in front of him to hand it to Guenther, who pushed the puck into an open net and gave Canada a 3-2 win.
PHOTO DARREN CALABRESE, THE CANADIAN PRESS
The players, smiling, pose with their medals
“It was so stressful, honestly,” Roy admitted to colleague Stéphane Leroux, of RDS, on the ice during the medal presentation. “When we had the two against one, I said to myself: seriously, it has to fit! »
The day before, Roy had four points to allow Canada to eliminate the Americans in a 6-2 victory.
In the shadow of his line partners Logan Stankoven and especially Connor Bedard, to whom he was paired as of the second game of the tournament, Roy, from the Sherbrooke Phoenix, finished the competition with 11 points in eight games, and his assist in overtime allowed him to reach a total of 19 career points at the world junior championships and thus beat Jonathan Huberdeau’s mark for the most points amassed by a Quebecer in this tournament.
Canada seemed to be sailing easily for gold with seven minutes to go in the third period and a 2-0 lead, but the Czechs, winners of Canada in the first game in the preliminary round, managed to score two dramatic goals at the end of the third, those of Kulich and Jakub Kos.
The tension was high late in the frame and in overtime, but Guenther, a regular forward for the Arizona Coyotes, ended the Czech Republic’s hopes of winning a first gold medal since 2001 with his second purpose of the meeting.
“We didn’t panic in the bedroom between the third and overtime,” continued Joshua Roy. We had to be patient. We knew the opportunity would arise. »
PHOTO DARREN CALABRESE, THE CANADIAN PRESS
The Czechs celebrate a goal from Jiri Kulich.
Discreet throughout this Championship, captain Shane Wright played his best match of the competition. He not only scored his team’s second goal in the second period following a nice backhand, but he was also engaged in all three areas from start to finish.
Guenther made a subtle but effective play on Wright’s goal. Stuck along the boards, he managed to push the puck with his skate towards his teammate, who then beat the opposing defender, before beating goalkeeper Tomas Suchanek, the Czech hero. Suchanek stopped 35 pucks.
PHOTO DARREN CALABRESE, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Brennan Othmann and Shane Wright
Closely watched, Connor Bedard was cleared for the first time in a match of this tournament. He nevertheless had three shots and played almost 24 minutes, a peak among Canadian forwards. He finished the tournament with 23 points, including nine goals, in just eight games, a Canadian record.
Unsurprisingly, Bedard was named the Most Outstanding Forward of this World Junior Championship. He finished first in scoring, seven points ahead of his nearest competitor, Logan Cooley of the United States.
“Now is not the time to talk about me, we just won the biggest tournament in the world,” replied the eventual first overall pick of the NHL in 2023 to a journalist who wanted to probe him about his record. Talented and humble.
PHOTO DARREN CALABRESE, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Unsurprisingly, Bedard was named the Most Outstanding Forward of this World Junior Championship.
Now that Canada wins gold again, it’s up to the organization’s bureaucrats to take steps to ensure that scandals like the one in 2018 never happen again, because even if the youngsters of the current team barely made it into adolescence when the events occurred, Hockey Canada has not yet rallied all its fans, and with good reason, since the culprits have never been exposed.
Earlier in the day, another hope of the CH, the American defender Lane Hutson, end of second round choice in 2022, also allowed his team to win a medal (bronze) in overtime. His push into the offensive zone led to Chaz Lucius’ game-winning goal in a wild 8-7 victory for the United States against Sweden.