Jacques in the WJC

[SlapshotWrangler 864]

CALGARY - The World Junior Championships recently ended. In the tournament, the USA ended up taking the gold medal, crowning them as the champions. Jacques Lafontaine and Team Canada ended up taking home the silver as they lost in the finals in overtime with a score of 3-2. The game-winner was scored by none other than __, ensuring the Americans a gold medal. The goaltender for Canada at the time, Lafontaine, was not very impressed with his performance. “Yeah, I definitely could have played better. That was my time to step up and show this team that I could stop the shots for them. Unfortunately, I ended up being the one who let in the game-winning goal for the other team. However, as a team, we played well and I’m glad we made it this far. Jaxx was great for us as well. We were a great tandem and it was fun to play with him. I remember somebody said we were basically screwed and that our goaltending was our only saving grace. Well, look at us now.”

 

Instead of dwelling on that loss, however, let’s look at Jacques Lafontaine’s performance throughout the World Juniors. He and Jaxx were almost impenetrable during the competition.

 

In his first game, Calgary Wrangler’s backup goalie Lafontaine stopped 34 of 37 shots against eventual champions, Team United States of America in a 4-3 win by the Canadian team. Erik Killinger got a hat trick including the game-winning goal, giving him his second, third, and fourth goals in the tournament. Kristopher McDagg opened up the scoring with his second goal of the tournament.

 

Then in his second game, he stopped 27 out of 28 shots as the Canadian team went against the United States of America again, beating the Americans 4-1. Again, the two goal scorers for the Canadian team were Kristopher McDagg and Erik Killinger as they got 2 goals apiece. McDagg got his third and fourth goals. Killinger got his fifth and sixth goals.

 

At the semi-finals, Jacques Lafontaine stopped 45 of the World Team’s 50 shots as Canada routed them in a 7-5 win. Kristopher McDagg and Erik Killinger once again showed their consistency, McDagg scoring 1 while Killinger put up another 2 goal game. Hugh Jass, who arguably has the best name in the World Junior Championships so far, also scored a goal. And Justin Graves scored a goal. Blacker Velvet also had a 2 goal game in that match. Thanks to this, the World Junior Championship final.

 

And then it came to this moment. The United States of America, who the Canadian team beat in the last two matchups, vs Canada. It was the gold medal match. Jacques Lafontaine was in the net. The Battle of North America was close, even making it to overtime. But sadly, despite Killinger’s two-goal effort, Jaxon Walker scored 7 minutes and 48 seconds into overtime. It was over. While Jacques Lafontaine saved 48 out of 51 shots, none of those saves mattered when Walker shot it into the net to end Canada’s run.

 

“Hey, a silver medal isn’t bad, but it isn’t gold.”