No, that's not a misprint. The US completely dismantled and dominated the high-powered Canadian team, 5-1, in the semifinals of the 2013 World Junior Hockey Championships, and now awaits the winner of Sweden vs. Russia in Saturday's gold medal game.
It's hard to really say just how stunning this result was. The US beat Canada a couple of times in big games at the World Juniors, beating them for gold in 2004 and 2010 - but both of those were narrow, one goal victories. To see the US completely beat down Canada, especially a Canada team considered one of the best assembled in recenet history thanks to having extra players available due to the lockout, was absolutely stunning. You can be sure that millions of groggy Canadians will be heading into their offices with shocked faces this morning, and this result will be the source of major consternation in Canadian media.
Where to begin to summarize such a tremendous performance?
Let's start, of course, with our own, Johnny Gaudreau, who is currently trending nationwide on Twitter. After Jake McCabe scored a pair of goals to put the US up 2-0, Gaudreau pulled off a ludicrous dangle to beat Malcolm Subban and extend the lead to 3-0. He then fed a sweet pass to Jim Vesey for the US's 4th goal in the second period. Finally, with the score 4-1 and time winding down, Gaudreau put the icing on the cake, streaking in for a breakaway goal to make it 5-1.
The BC fans (and friends) awake and tweeting about the game were having a grand old time.
JOHNNYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!1
— Grant Salzano (@Salzano14) January 3, 2013
JOHNNY GAUDREAU JUST TOE DRAGGED YOUR FACE #2013wjc
— Grant Salzano (@Salzano14) January 3, 2013
THIS IS LINSANITY #2013wjc
— Grant Salzano (@Salzano14) January 3, 2013
IT IS SO BEYOND INSANITY THAT IT IS *LITERALLY* LINSANITY #2013wjc
— Grant Salzano (@Salzano14) January 3, 2013
WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA GOLASOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO #2013wjc
— Grant Salzano (@Salzano14) January 3, 2013
POUTINE SUCKS AND SO DO YOU #2013wjc
— Grant Salzano (@Salzano14) January 3, 2013
Other Americans are like JOHNNY GAUDREAU and BC fans are like WE ALREADY KNEW THAT
— Amanda (@mandylizz) January 3, 2013
@joegrav Johnny Rocket?
— Heather Y (@lilybraden) January 3, 2013
Yayyy Johnny Gaudreau is trending in AMERICA
— Amanda (@mandylizz) January 3, 2013
AJSKDFLDKS;JGIBSONFJDASODFNAS;F
— Amanda (@mandylizz) January 3, 2013
#cawlidgehawkey + Murica = Gold, Jerry, Gold!! twitter.com/Buccigross/sta…
— John Buccigross (@Buccigross) January 3, 2013
JOHNNY EFFING GAUDREAUUUUUUU AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH #GAUDREAUBEYBAKER #AMERICANHERO
— Austin (@blanksy3) January 3, 2013
@coachscornercbc #cawlidgehawkey
— RWD (@runwiththedogs) January 3, 2013
OH MAMA DON'T YOU CRY
— RWD (@runwiththedogs) January 3, 2013
All five of Team USA's goals were scored by college hockey players. cc: @coachscornercbc
— Chris Peters (@chrismpeters) January 3, 2013
Team #USA wins 5-1!!!!! #USA #USA #USA #USA #USA #USA #USA #USA #USA #USA #USA #USA #USA #USA #USA #USA #USA #USA #USA #USA
— MN State Of Hockey (@MNState0fHockey) January 3, 2013
GAUDREAU ICES IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
— Joe Gravellese (@joegrav) January 3, 2013
Has Ryan Murphy found his jock strap yet? #Gaudreauwned
— Scott McLaughlin (@smclaughlin9) January 3, 2013
This is just a small sampling of the insanity that broke out on Twitter this morning, with patriotic celebrations and trolling of Don Cherry abounding. Poor Don's head has already exploded several times this morning.
Gaudreau leads the WJC with 7 goals and is now one goal shy of tying the American single-tournament record - 8 goals by Jeremy Roenick.
Another important note: As Chris Peters of the United States of Hockey pointed out, all 5 USA goals were scored by college hockey players: Wisconsin, Wisconsin, BC, Harvard, BC.
Finally, a gigantic amount of credit needs to be given to US goalie and Anaheim draft pick John Gibson, who stonewalled Canada with ridiculous save after ridiculous save during Canada's third period attempt to get back in to the game. His tournament save percentage is now a ludicrous .954.
I hope you'll be tuning in on Saturday for Gaudreau & the US's final act in this tournament - a chance to bring home World Junior gold first just the third time in USA hockey history.
HIGHLIGHTS:
USA - Canada 5:1 Semi-final WJC 2013; 03.01.2013 (via LVhighlights)