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The year 2008 in Ottawa didn't just go out with a bang.

It went out in a blaze of goals and heaps of hate as Canada and the United States poured gunpowder onto an already intense hockey rivalry. It was a junior contest worthy of the 1975 "greatest game ever played" on New Year's Eve, between the Montreal Canadiens and the Soviet Red Army.

"I'm not sure I dreamt about being down three goals in a game like that and having to come back, but I have dreamt about playing in a game like that in front of 20,000," Canadian defenceman P.K. Subban said. "This is what you live for."

Even the off-ice officials contributed to the theatre — and the controversy — with a clock gaffe that left the Americans fuming.

In the end, Canada emerged with a 7-4 victory and a bye into the semi-finals, where it will face the winner of a quarter-final between Russia and the Czech Republic. The United States will play Slovakia in the other quarter-final.

Superstar forward John Tavares iced the victory with a pretty empty-net goal — a one-handed effort from the blueline to the crease — for a hat trick.

Until last night, the 2009 world junior hockey championship had been a ghastly series of blowouts by the big four — Canada, Sweden, Russia and the United States — over six European minnows. But when the North Americans stepped on the ice last night, they changed the story.

"It must have been a fun game to watch," Canadian head coach Pat Quinn said. "You cannot, for a moment, question any passion because there was lots of passion."

The 20,223 fans at ScotiaBank Place — a record for the tournament — got their money's worth in a spectacular first period that featured six goals and a nasty incident that left two players with battle scars. The Americans stunned the capacity crowd by opening a 3-0 lead thanks to Canadian penalties, before a roaring comeback tied the score after 20 minutes.

The catalyst was Tavares, the prodigy from Oakville, Ont., who put the country's insecurities on his 18-year-old shoulders and scored two goals during a three-minute barrage. Cody Hodgson potted the game-winner nearly seven minutes into a scintillating second period.

After Tavares's second goal, emotion turned to ugliness.

As the Canadians skated single file past the American bench, seated forward Eric Tangradi clipped Canada's Chris DiDomenico with his stick and touched off a near-melee. Stefan Della Rovere, who later drew a 10-minute misconduct with antagonism somewhere between Claude Lemieux and Sean Avery, retaliated by hitting U.S. star James van Riemsdyk between the benches. Quinn benched Della Rovere in the third period.

"My emotion ran, obviously, a little too high," Della Rovere said. "My New Year's resolution is to stop taking bad penalties."

At the same time, a star-spangled fan in the lower bowl was being forcibly removed by three police officers. He didn't go quietly either.

The teams combined for nine goals on the first 26 shots, but Canada's Dustin Tokarski ensured that goalies would not be pinatas all evening. He made a bicycle-kick save midway through the second period that would have been his Mona Lisa if not for a glorious glove save later. In the final moments, Tokarski made two more game-savers.

"As a goalie, sometimes you can't be technical or fancy, you just have to find a way to make the stop," Tokarski said. "That's what I did."

Tempers cooled in the middle frame, but one bench went ballistic after a goal by Canada's Zach Boychuk just 37 seconds in. A Canadian penalty was scheduled to expire after 33 seconds, but when the scoreboard clock did not start when the puck was dropped, it appeared that the Canadians should have been short-handed and instead had five skaters when the goal was scored.

American head coach Ron Rolston was angry and demanded a conference with the officials.

"I thought the refereeing was severely inadequate," Rolston said. "The Canadian player left the penalty box early, basically. With four or five seconds on the clock, they let him out the door … you can watch it on the video. It's clear as day."

Fifteen minutes before the game, the crowd was doing the wave and flashbulbs were popping as though it was Times Square. A giant Canadian flag, which covered an entire section of seats, was being passed around the lower bowl and was coincidentally behind the Canadian net just as the players hit the ice.

"I'm a veteran and I had butterflies going at the start of the game listening to the crowd," Quinn said. "It was full of emotion."