Edmonton sent three players to team Canada at the World Championships this year and they are coming home with Gold around their necks. Taylor Hall, Connor McDavid, and Cam Talbot all played extremely well for their country, leading the way in the gold medal game.
The Gold medal game was close in score but otherwise it was a smothering affair from the Canadian squad. Ultimately they doubled the Finnish team in shots on net while limiting them to just 16 against Talbot. While the workload was light for Talbot, he was facing shooters like Laine, who won tournament MVP, and was opposite the man named goalie of the tournament.
Talbot did his job, recording a shutout in the tournament’s final match. In total he had 4 shutouts in only 8 games going 7-1. The goalie with the next most shutouts only had 2 of them. He performed admirably for team Canada with his .940 sv% and 1.25 GAA.
Taylor Hall didn’t record a point in the final game, but he did finish with the lead for goals on Team Canada with 6 in the 10 games he played. Connor McDavid was named Canada’s player of the game in the final as he scored the game winner and his first of the tournament. McDavid’s goal scoring wasn’t on display for team Canada, but he did lead the team in assists with 8.
In addition to leading team Canada in goal scoring, Hall’s 2-way play and shot generation was on display in the final and throughout the tournament. Hall had 4 shots on net in the final, and 30 in the 10 games. The next closest Canadian player was Perry with 23 shots on goal. Something that is commonly underrated with Hall is his defensive ability. Because the Oilers are so incredibly bad and have been forever, Hall has been linked with that. The reality is that when Taylor Hall is on the ice, even the Oilers are a competitive team. The problem is the 40 minutes of the game he’s NOT on the ice.
The gold medal game against the dangerous Finn squad highlighted Halls strength in his own end. The plays he was making weren’t sexy enough to make highlight reels, but they were the kind that ensured that smothering victory. Hall’s ability to win battles against the boards and move the puck out of danger helped end Finnish offense before it had time to set up. I hope Team Canada higher ups took notice of the kind of plays that make Hall so effective at both ends of the ice.
As for McDavid, he finally scored and it was a beauty, but his ability to create scoring chances was never in doubt. Many times in every game he showed exactly what makes him special. His skating is on a level very few professionals ever get to and his ability to see scoring opportunities is incredible. I think he sometimes gave up his own scoring chances to set up other people, but in the Gold medal game he asserted himself more, taking 4 shots of his own.
Ultimately, Taylor Hall can now boast about being one of what I can only imagine is an extremely small number of players (the only player?) who have ever won back to back Memorial Cups and back to back World Championships. Meanwhile, McDavid is now the youngest ever Canadian to win the U-18 Championship, the U-20 Championship (World Juniors), and the Men’s World Championship at just 19 years old. All he needs to do is win that Stanley Cup (2017 obviously) to complete his collection. Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy