Canada's Brayden Schenn (2nd L) is seen after his team was defeated by Team USA in their gold medal game at the 2010 IIHF U20 World Junior Hockey Championship in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan January 5, 2010. REUTERS/Shaun BestSHAUN BEST/Reuters
All the talk is of a Canada-U.S. revenge match-up at the world junior hockey championship, but national team head coach Dave Cameron doesn't want to hear about the Americans just yet.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here and anoint a Canada-U.S. final," said the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors coach who served as an assistant on the 2009 gold medal team and last year's silver medallist squad. "Let's slow it down.
"We've got a lot of good teams to play prior to that, so I'm not excited to talk about the U.S. and us and blah, blah, blah. We've got a lot of work to do before we get there."
It starts with the Russia, which Canada plays on the opening day of competition at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, N.Y., on Sunday (TSN, 4 p.m. ET), where there no doubt will be a strong contingent of Canuck fans from just across the border.
The tournament officially known as the IIHF World Under-20 Championship has become a holiday season staple for Canadian hockey fans, and TSN drew a record 5.4 million viewers for last year's final.
That's when a speedy American squad ended Canada's five-year run of world junior gold as defenceman John Carlson, now with the Washington Capitals, scored the winner for the U.S. after Jordan Eberle's two late goals tied the game and forced overtime.
With eight players returning from last year's squad, including goalie Jack Campbell, the oddsmakers have the United States rated slightly ahead of a Canadian team that has only four returnees - centre Brayden Schenn and defencemen Ryan Ellis, Jared Cowen and Calvin de Haan.
The Americans will also be looking to fix a hole in their world junior record - they have hosted the event four times before but have never won a medal of any kind on home ice, while Canada won gold in the United States in 1982, 1996 and 2005.
The North American rivals are in different preliminary round groups this time and can only meet each other in the medal rounds.
This time Canada is in the tougher of the two groups with Russia, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Norway. The Americans open Sunday against Finland, then play Slovakia, Germany, and Switzerland.
However, the Canadians feel the tougher competition may be a good thing.
"It's a bonus for us," said head scout Kevin Prendergast. "Last year they ended up with too many easy games and then when they had to get going, it's not that they weren't ready for it, but little things started to fall apart.
"If we get off on the right foot, I'm sure it would be a springboard for us."
Added Schenn: "Last year, it wasn't as good for our team that we were beating teams 8-1 and 10-1. This year, with Sweden, the Czechs, Russia in the pool, plus Norway, those will be three pretty good games that will prepare us for the later rounds."
Russia posted a 4-2 record in a series of exhibitions against all-star teams from Canada's junior leagues this season and will have several players returning from last year, including right-winger Vladimir Tarasenko, a first-round pick of the St. Louis Blues who plays regularly in the KHL for Novosibirsk.
The Swedes are without talent like Magnus Paajarvi, Mathias Tedenby and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, but have two of the top prospects for the 2011 NHL draft - Gabriel Landeskog and Adam Larsson. They also got a boost when Ottawa freed up goalie Robin Lehner for the junior squad.
"We have put this team together to have the best chance to beat (Canada, the U.S., and Russia) on a small rink," said Swedish head coach Roger Ronnberg. "When we're following our game plan, we feel that we can control these teams, for sure.
"We have respect for Canada but we also feel we have a way of playing that can control the picture of the game and can help us win."
The Swedish players expect to do exactly that, too.
"We're going for gold," said Landeskog. "Nothing else is acceptable for us."
The Canadian team is without seven players still eligible for the tournament who have been kept by their NHL teams, including stars like Taylor Hall, Evander Kane, Matt Duchene and Jeff Skinner, while the Americans are missing only rearguard Cam Fowler, now with the Anaheim Ducks.
So Canada goes in as a bit of a mystery.
Cameron and Prendergast both spoke of a "blue collar" team that, in the absence of any well-known scoring stars like Hall last year, John Tavares in 2009 or Sidney Crosby in 2005, will rely on balanced scoring and strong team play.
There are proven offensive weapons from the junior leagues, notably Schenn, who is back after a stint with the Los Angeles Kings, stocky winger Jaden Schwartz, fourth overall draft pick Ryan Johansen, rugged winger Zack Kassian and flashy scorers Louis Leblanc and Cody Eakin.
Ellis, who anchors the power play, is back for a third straight world junior championship on a team with plenty of big men on defence, including Cowen and third overall pick Erik Gudbranson.
The goaltending is an unknown factor, but Olivier Roy and Mark Visentin have both had strong moments in pre-tournament play.
"Underdog is a media term," Cameron said of his team. "It is in the U.S., against the defending champs who have a lot of returning players, yes, but we're not looking at that.
"Each of these tournaments is unique. We're going in there confident that we're a really good hockey team and we're going to do our darndest to bring back the gold."
Added Ellis: "There are some pretty good players, a lot of guys with a lot of points in their leagues. It'll be a different team from last year but the scoring should be there."
No one wants another crack at the Americans more than the Windsor Spitfires veteran.
"If we're fortunate enough to play them it would be huge," he said. "Obviously, we want revenge.
"It was pretty emotional. We lost in overtime and to lose like that in such a big tournament was heartbreaking. Now that we get a second chance we have our eyes set on them, but we can't look past any other team. If that rematch happens, it'll be a great game."