VANCOUVER — New Year’s Eve against the Russians.
It’s not about whether or not that sentence makes a Canadian hockey fan’s heart beat a little bit faster. Of course it does. It’s about where you checked in. How far back your memory takes you.
Was it 1975? The "Greatest Game Ever Played," when the Red Army and the Montreal Canadiens tied a game 3-3 at the Montreal Forum?
Let’s open up the parameters. Was it September of 1972, the Summit Series that Nick Suzuki’s dad Rob would plug into the video system when he took the kids on the highway to a tournament?
Was it 2005, when Dion Phaneuf and a stacked Team Canada ran Alex Ovechkin out of the gold medal final in Grand Forks, N.D., as the greatest World Junior team ever assembled flexed its muscles at the expense of Mother Russia?
Was it 2009, when Jordan Eberle scored with 5.4 seconds to play in a semi-final game, then sniped again in the shootout as Canada won?
Or, as former NHLer Igor Kravchuk used to say, "Why don’t Canadians ever talk about 1974? We beat you in in 1974. You remember?"
Do any of us remember when a World Hockey Association All-Star team came up short in defending our honour from 1972? (Crickets.)
We’re not about war, or occupation, here in Canada. We get along with pretty much everybody. We’re simply about world domination in the hockey rink, that’s all.
The Americans, they’re trying to figure out what Vladimir Putin has on Donald Trump. Here in Canada, we like to think Putin is trying to figure out how we came to own his boys — even if the darned Russians manage to beat us now and again.
"Every time you play a team like that," said Canadian forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan, "you want to come out on the right side of the game. For your country."
After some pre-tournament games, and then preliminary round meetings with Denmark, Switzerland and the Czech Republic, Monday’s game marks that beautiful intersection between history and histrionics. Canada meets Russia, with both teams at 3-0, in the final game of the preliminary round in Group A.
A loss won’t kill you — literally. Only figuratively.
"Really cool," said Suzuki. "I’ve been dreaming of playing in the world juniors my whole life, and that New Year’s Eve game is a huge one for Canada. This game is going to decide who’s going to finish first… and we know we’ll have the support of the whole country behind us."
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"I remember car rides to different tournaments," he continued. "I’d be riding with some of my teammates and my Dad would have the Summit Series on in the backseat for us. It started there, and then watching world juniors every time Canada played Russia. Pretty intense games."
There should be somewhere around 2.5 to 3 million viewers Monday. Inside a sold-out Rogers Arena, a boozy New Year’s brood is looking to take the buzz from this 5 p.m. local start all the way into 2019.
"It’s everything you wanted, watching the tournament. Every Canadian dreams about playing in the world juniors, so we’re pretty lucky to have the opportunity to do that," said Anderson-Dolan. "I’ve watched since ever since I can remember, with my Mom Fran and Nancy. Every Boxing day it’s our tradition to watch the first game, and throughout the tournament we’d watch every game. It’s the same way for most Canadians. There are lots of memories — when they were in Calgary we went to quite a few games. And then I got to go in Toronto when they won gold there."
Canada’s Jaret Anderson-Dolan (11) is checked by Denmark’s Daniel Baastrup (8) as he skates with the puck. (Darryl Dyck/CP)
Now, he’s got better than a front row seat for the latest edition, the kind of game that — no matter what happens in a 19-year-old’s hockey career — you’ll remember when you turn on that Canada-Russia game in 2060 and a young voice asks, "Have you ever played against the Russians, grandpa?"
"I don’t know if they realize how many people are watching (on TV)," said Canadian assistant coach Brent Kisio, Kelly’s son who is the head coach of the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes. "I don’t know if that hits home with these guys. But they’re elite athletes — they step up in those moments."
Suzuki, who at 19 has become a 45-goal centreman for OHL Owen Sound, doesn’t have a tuck here in Vancouver yet. Oh boy, wouldn’t it be sweet to score one of those goals that the next Nick Suzuki could reference, the way he does.
"As long as I can remember… every big goal, with Eberle, (John) Tavares… Those moments stand out for me. To be able to be in this tournament now is pretty surreal.
"I haven’t scored yet this tournament. Hopefully I can get a big one. (That) would be a good time, that’s for sure."
The nervous player doesn’t want the puck in a game like this.
"Exactly," said Kisio. "Our guys? They’re toe-dragging."
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