Richards reflects on World Juniors participation

One day after Canada’s gold medal win at World Juniors – the country’s first gold medal in the tournament since 2009 and first medal overall since 2012 – it’s worth remembering the star-studded 2005 World Junior team that featured Kings and former Kings Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, and former Kings in Colin Fraser and Anthony Stewart (though Stewart never played a game for Los Angeles).

11 players on that 2005 team were stunned by the United States in the gold medal game the year prior: Dion Phaenuf, Braydon Coburn, Brent Seabrook, Shawn Belle, Ryan Getzlaf, Jeremy Colliton, Stephen Dixon, Nigel Dawes, Sidney Crosby, Richards, Carter and Stewart.

But in 2005, with a more experienced team and a squad that due to the lockout lost no players to the NHL, Canada assembled among its greatest junior teams ever and sacked Russia 6-1 in the final. Patrice Bergeron was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, while Phaneuf, Bergeron and Carter were named to the tournament’s All-Star Team.

Not as relevant but worth mentioning: 17-year-old Anze Kopitar recorded three goals and 13 points in the Division I Group B tournament as Slovenia slotted in second place between more established international powers in Latvia (which was promoted to Division I Group A) and Denmark.

I spoke to both Darryl Sutter (comments here) and Mike Richards about representing Canada in such a prestigious tournament.

Mike Richards, on national pride associated with Canada winning World Juniors gold:
Yeah, I mean to be honest, I’m not sure why that tournament is so big in Canada. Obviously hockey is our national sport – live and breathe hockey – but that World Junior tournament is almost bigger than the Olympics. It’s crazy how big it is in Canada. I’m not sure how it got that big. I remember ever since I watched hockey, waking up at four, five or six in the morning just to watch that tournament and it’s just something that Canadians love. I think it’s big for Canada to say that they’re on top of the hockey world, I think, more than anything.

Richards, on the respect between members of Canada’s 2005 World Junior team:
I think you grow friendships from that tournament. I’ve seen different people around the league, you still say hi to them, who you played with on that team – on pretty much any national team for that matter – but I think that team for the most part was back-to-back years we were together. It was a group that has been together for, really most of us, the under-17, a lot of us, the under-18 and then back-to-back World Juniors. I think there was a four-year run there that we played against each other or with each other for under-17 and then with each other for under-18 and then two World Juniors. You build that friendship, but it was a pretty cool team to be a part of.

Richards, on whether winning gold impacted the rest of his junior season:
It did for a bit, but I actually got hurt that year right after the tournament. So I missed a big string of games. I think I only played like 35 or 40 games that year because of injuries and the tournament. Whatever it was, it set up for a pretty good playoff run that our team had and a good Calder Cup run with the Philadelphia [Phantoms].

Richards, on whether the U.S. or Russia was Canada’s biggest rival at the time:
I’m not even sure to be honest, probably both. Growing up, it was always Russia-Canada. I remember watching when it was in Winnipeg in ’99, Canada-Russia. And then obviously I remember watching in Halifax, Canada-Russia. There was always that until my first year at World Juniors when the States beat us. That might have impacted it a bit. But for World Juniors wise, I think it’s always Canada-Russia.