Guenther is Golden As Canada Wins Back-to-Back World Junior Titles

HALIFAX - Before he left Arizona for the world juniors, Coyotes rookie Dylan Guenther had a chat with his NHL coach, Andre Tourigny - a former Team Canada bench boss and gold-medal winner. Tourigny excitedly told Guenther about the atmosphere of the games, with the crowds on their feet like nothing the typical NHL game would feature, and the wave of congratulatory texts you get in the wake of victory. Now, thanks to Guenther's golden overtime goal in a 3-2 win over Czechia, the youngster is no doubt scrolling through his own blown-up phone.

While Canada came into the 2023 world juniors as favorites, this is a tournament composed entirely of teenaged talent and the age group can be volatile and unpredictable to say the least. So a lot of work was needed to clinch that gold medal and perhaps it was no coincidence that the three players loaned out by their NHL teams - Guenther, Seattle's Shane Wright and Los Angeles' Brandt Clarke - scored or got points on all of Canada's goals.

"It's hard to win games and it's hard to have the opportunity to compete for a championship," Guenther said. "When you get the chance to compete best-on-best, it was something I wanted to do and something the Coyotes wanted me to have as an experience, too."

Coming into the tourney, Guenther wanted to bring the pro mindset that he has been absorbing from his older teammates in Arizona: being reliable all over the ice and playing hard in all three zones.

Wright, who scored a beauty of a goal himself, has always been known as a two-way player but got rewarded in the gold-medal game - and on his birthday, no less.

"He played a lot of minutes and his faceoffs were a lot stronger tonight," said coach Dennis Williams. "I thought, for a lot of the tournament, he had played a lot of good hockey, it just happened to not go his way. But tonight - and it being his birthday - it all fell into the right hands. That play he made on his own showed what an elite athlete he is."

Clarke had just as an important role on the OT-winner, coralling a puck that had drifted away from a charging Jiri Kulich and quickly snapping it up the ice to Guenther, who then passed over to Joshua Roy and buried the return feed for the championship score. So did the NHL experience help the trio in such a high-pressure situation?

"For sure," Wright said, cradling the trophy in his arms. "That's as high as pressure gets: a gold-medal game in overtime. It definitely helped me a lot and it was definitely nice playing with guys my own age and gaining confidence here."

Wright played on a line with former U-16 teammate Brennan Othmann and Guenther, where he certainly appreciated Guenther's mature game.

"The whole night he was doing the little things right every shift," Wright said. "He was a fun guy to play with and obviously he was clutch in overtime."

For Williams, the NHL kids came to play, but all the returning kids from the summer tournament in Edmonton (where Canada also won gold) brought valuable experience, too. The fact both teams blew 2-0 leads before winning gold in overtime wasn't lost on him.

"We leaned on a lot of guys and at the end of the day, we played a sound game," Williams said. "When we got pushed back on our heels, there was no panic because we have such a mature group with great leaders. It was a real credit to these young men."

And in the end, the crowd went home happy. Connor Bedard was indeed named tournament MVP after his incredible showing, but he was more than happy to talk about Guenther's performance, instead.

"He was electric," Bedard said. "There's a reason he's in the NHL and contributing in the NHL."

Now the players return to their various teams in various leagues with hearts full of memories and a cherished gold medal around their necks. The pressure never got overwhelming, even though the stakes were so high, playing in front of a rollicking crowd in Halifax.

"I mean, it's fun," Guenther said. "You dream about playing in the gold-medal game, of playing in overtime with the crowd behind you."

And then that dream became reality.