Mike Brophy

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy writes Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday on Sportsnet.ca and appears regularly on Hockeycentral.

Team USA's Jason Zucker and Chris Kreider celebrate.

While Canada missed out on glory at the WJHC, USA's win was fine for the game as a whole.

From a U.S. point of view, it was a monumental victory in the world junior championship and great tee-up to their playing host to the tournament in Buffalo next year.

From a Canadian perspective it was obviously a huge disappointment to not win a sixth consecutive title with the eyes of a nation upon them.

In the end, as my pal R.J. Broadhead likes to say, it didn’t cause the price of beer to go up, so let’s just chill.

For Team USA, winning its second world junior hockey championship on the heels of the USA’s under-17 team capturing its tournament title, is absolutely huge. It bodes very well for the future of hockey in America, especially since USA Hockey has decided to go with a much younger team in Vancouver this year, rather than rely on the veterans who have carried the program the past few Olympic Games.

The youngsters who will represent the U.S. at the Olympics in Vancouver can look over their shoulders and see help on the way. John Carlson, who has played three games with the Washington Capitals this season, certainly raised his profile by scoring twice -- including the overtime winner -- against Team Canada in the gold-medal game.

Canada, as a nation, will lick its wounds and take solace in the fact it had nine WJC-eligible players playing in the National Hockey League. I think it goes without saying had John Tavares, Steven Stamkos, Matt Duchene, Tyler Myers, Michael Del Zotto, Ryan O’Reilly, Evander Kane, Jamie Wright and the injured Cody Hodgson been available to Canada, the outcome might have been different.

Nonetheless, it is what it is. Canada should take pride in falling just one goal short of winning a sixth WJC gold medal and Team USA should use the championship as a jumping-off point for better things to come in the future.

In the end, the game prospers.

JAKE’S BLUES

It was not a good evening for Canada goaltender Jake Allen. Furthermore, I think Team Canada coach Willie Desjardins erred in not pulling his starting goaltender after he allowed his third weak goal, rather than allow him to stay in and give up that killer fourth goal -- the one in which he dropped a pop fly only to have the rebound deposited behind him -- a goal very reminiscent of the one a young Marc-Andre Fleury allowed at the 2004 WJC that cost Canada a gold medal.

What Allen must come to understand is, it’s not the end of the world. And he can look no further than to Fleury for inspiration. Fleury recovered from that faux pas to eventual lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Stanley Cup championship and has been selected as one of the goalies for Team Canada at the Winter Olympics this year.

NEXT NHL COACH

Why is it, when NHL coaching jobs become available, David Letterman is never mentioned as a leading candidate? I think he did a splendid job leading Team USA to the gold medal at the WJC.

Uh, that wasn’t David Letterman coaching the Americans. It was Dean Blais?

Never mind.

KEEP THE CHANGE

If Patrick Kane and the Edmonton Oilers have taught us nothing else, it is to pay your bill. Kane, the young Chicago Blackhawks star, got himself into a heap of trouble last summer when after a night out with a cousin, he squabbled with a Buffalo taxi driver over 20 cents. Given the bad publicity he and his organization received in the fallout, my guess is he wishes now he had simply paid the bill.

Same goes with the Oilers. Some Oilers, along with their significant others, dined out in a Calgary restaurant New Year’s Eve, but when presented a bill for $16,796.39, refused to pay the entire freight. The matter has since been cleared up to the satisfaction of both parties, but the incident was a horrible public relations nightmare for a team that is struggling and isn’t likely to make the playoffs for the fourth straight year.

Remember, just pay the damn bill.

OIL RELIEF

It’s not all bad news for the Oilers. Fans of the faltering team have to be thrilled at the prospect of Jordan Eberle joining the club next season. For the second straight year the Oilers’ No. 1 pick in the 2008 NHL entry draft sparkled for Team Canada, scoring huge goals when it seemed as though his team was sunk.

Eberle is not the biggest player in the world, but he competes like he’s six-foot-four, 235 pounds. He has a drive to succeed that will certainly benefit the Oilers, who haven’t exactly been thrilled with the performance of their young players the past two seasons.