It’s beginning to look a lot like 2006.
That was the last time the Americans were the consensus gold-medal favourites heading into the World Junior Hockey Championship.
The U.S. team featured an impressive group headlined by eventual first-overall pick Erik Johnson, tournament bad-boy Jack Johnson and the enigmatic Phil Kessel.
The 2006 American team was perhaps one of the most talented ever sent by the star-spangled nation. But it won’t be remembered for its star-studded roster, rather its colossal failure. The gold-medal favourites never got the chance to prove their prognosticators right. They never even stood on the podium.
The tournament held in Vancouver ended with a disappointing fourth-place finish for the popular pre-tournament favourites.
Since then, the U.S. world junior team has been able to lay in waiting and use its new title as tournament underdog as a rallying cry. Last year’s U.S. team flew under the radar more than most heading into a tournament and was able to climb back to the top of the world junior mountain with its second gold medal in tournament history.
It was the just rewards for the program’s never-dying belief they can compete with the world’s best.
The American coaching staff evidently never lost faith. Last year’s head coach, Dean Blais, delivered a fiery motivational speech in the pre-tournament camp aimed at (who else?) their biggest rivals: the Canadians.
Blais’ squad shocked the Canadians on home soil in last year’s tournament final with John Carlson’s golden goal in overtime. The team had been considered the underdogs and found a way to prevail in some tough circumstances in Saskatoon.
The American program often seems to hang its hat on a perceived lack of respect and use it as a rallying point, particularly in this tournament.
But there’s no denying the favourite-tag placed upon them this time.
Among the 29 players named to their camp are four pro players: Jeremy Morin, Kyle Palmieri, Jerry D’Amigo and Nick Leddy. Each except D’Amigo has played at least one game in the NHL this season and all, with the exception of Leddy, are returnees from last year.
Morin, Palmieri and D’Amigo are just three of the potential eight returnees from last year, which also includes starting goaltender Jack Campbell.
Not only does this team have the talent on paper, but it is playing on home soil. This, of course, means the pressure placed upon these players will be immense -- which is something that didn’t produce positive results in the past.
While each year and each team is different, no team will feel more pressure than the Americans when the tournament opens on Dec. 26 in Buffalo. Canada no longer has the streak of five straight tournament wins to defend, while the Swedes and Russians are now beginning to fall behind and find that underdog label placed upon them.
It’s been five long years since the American world junior team felt the pressure of being the favourite.
It’s also a subject this year’s head coach, Keith Allain, addressed at the team’s summer camp.
"The pressure that will be on us is pressure we put on ourselves," he said Tuesday. "I think we’re all very competitive people. We all want to be the absolute best we can be and we’re going (with the mindset) to win the gold medal.
"I don’t think (pressure is) a factor for how we’ll operate as a group and how we’ll approach our task on a daily basis."
Similar to 2006, this year’s Canadian team is receiving far fewer in the way of gold-medal expectations from external sources. Obviously, Canada always has a "gold or bust" mindset in this tournament, but the lack of hype it is receiving heading into its selection camp is also reminiscent of five years ago.
Justin Pogge was the main catalyst in Canada’s second of five consecutive gold medals in 2006. The surprising Canadian team seemingly used the lower-rated expectations to help lift them in the tournament.
Expectations don’t always translate into results.
There’s no denying the U.S. team warrants the label of tournament favourite. This team should come out on top due to its experience and talent, particularly since it will be playing on home ice.
If the Americans win this year’s world junior tournament, it won’t come as a surprise nor will it be a feel-good story of David beating Goliath, as it was last year. The only way this team will be remembered in future years is if it has a similar fate to that of the 2006 team.
Now that all the expectations and pressure are back on the host Americans, we’ll have one more look at how this team handles pressure.
For the first time in a long time in the world junior tournament, the U.S. team has so much to lose and so little to gain.
