The World Junior Championships have come and gone and Team Canada is once again standing on top of the hockey summit for the fourth straight year. Canada defeated a surprising surging Team Sweden 3-2 in overtime in an entertaining game that has come to define the tournament.

Coming into the tournament it’s always difficult to handicap teams. Historically, the WJHC is the playground for Canada and Russia and it came as no surprise that they would be pre-tournament favorites.

What of the rest of the pack? Which of the Czech Republic (the host), Slovakia, Finland, the United States and Sweden were capable of rising up?

Finland in recent years has been a formidable challenger but never could quite derail the Canadian-Russian express. The Finns have won four bronze medals since 2002.

After Team USA (a hockey program on the rise) and Sweden won their respective groups, it looked as though this year there was a small window of opportunity for a new champion to be crowned.

Only - surprise, surprise - Canada and Russia stood in their way in the semi-finals. Sweden booked their ticket to the final with an impressive 2-1 overtime win over Russia. However, Team USA was disappointing in a faltering 4-1 loss to Canada.

The stage was set: Sweden versus Canada. Canada blazed to a 2-0 lead only to see the resilient (and talented) Swedes battle back to tie the game at 2-2. They earned the equalizer with less than one minute to go in the game.

 Overtime beckoned.

Would Canada lose for the first time in a final since 2005? Would the Swedes win their first gold since 1981? Incidentally, Sweden was guaranteed its first medal since 1996. Would Czechs care judging by the attendance throughout the tournament? The WJHC has always had a hard time attracting flies outside of Canada and judging by the North American dominated ads on the boards, even Europeans companies stay away.

Oh, the suspense and humanity.

Personally, it was hoped the game would end early in the OT so that it could avoid the dreadful shoot out. Not mention a shot at watching the NFC playoff game between the Washington Redskins and Seattle Seahawks.

That’s exactly what transpired as Matt Halischuk scored 3:36 into the extra frame to give Canada a 3-2 victory.

Team Canada champions once more. Cordially, we congratulate Hockey Canada.