When Larry Mavety tells you stories about his early days in hockey, they seem almost fantastical.

They are scenes straight out of the movie Slap Shot, in which the 69-year-old former player, coach and GM was actually an extra.

The memories are still vivid. His first pro game coming out of junior hockey was in the long-defunct International Hockey League for the Toldeo Blades in 1963.

“Two guys got into a stick fight,” said Mavety, who now serves as a special advisor to the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs. “They started swinging sticks and then everybody got into it. Then the fans – the chairs weren’t bolted down – so the fans started throwing chairs. They turned the lights off and played the national anthem. I’m 21 years old and I’m thinking, ‘What in God’s name have I gotten myself into?’ Unbelievable.

“The fans would just fold up the chairs and throw ‘em at us. That actually happened to me twice.”

Times and attitudes have certainly changed. In the decades since Mavety’s rude introduction

The first time John Cullen met his new roommate and Windsor Spitfires goaltending partner, Jaroslav Pavelka, was like something out of a bad comedy.

Pavelka spoke very little English and Cullen, trying to be a good teammate, was doing his best finger-point and hand-signal routine in an attempt to communicate.

“We were paired together in a hotel room,” said Cullen. “And I was trying to help him fix his power converter for his (computer) charger.”

That was in November.

“Johnny Cullen, he’s my friend,” said Pavelka, in his steadily improving English. “In practice we try to be better and better. He’s a good guy.

“Johnny Cullen helps me with everything.”

On the surface, the Windsor Spitfires’ goaltenders seem mismatched – a shy teenager from the Czech Republic who struggles to communicate in a new language, and a boisterous American who never stops talking. Together, however, they seem to bring out the best in each other.

“They’ve been good together,” said Spitfires head coach Bob Boughner.

Whether it’s fixing up his old, beloved 1965 Chevy II or finishing renovations at home, Greg Gilbert has always had the acumen and patience necessary to rebuild things.

The former NHLer is a big believer that there’s a greater sense of accomplishment when you’ve had a hand in creating a finished product from scratch.

“I think you appreciate it more when you do things yourself,” said Gilbert of his penchant for building things during a 2005 interview.

At the time he was in the middle of salvaging the then-Mississauga IceDogs – a complete mess of a franchise he took over in 2003 as head coach. In his first season there, he took the franchise to their first Eastern Conference title and a berth in the OHL final. He built that team with a focus on discipline and a tight-knit atmosphere where the players – not exactly a star-studded cast – were held accountable. Colorado Avalanche defenceman Kyle Quincey was the only member of that team to go on to become a full-time NHLer.

“What we try to

CALGARY – As the bronze medal hung around Mark Visentin's neck after, he flashed a warm smile.

It was nice, because smiles have been hard to come by for the 19-year-old goaltender of late. For the past year he's had to deal with being the goat – the player most demonized – for Canada's third period meltdown in 2011 in Buffalo where they failed to win world junior gold.

This year it was different, as he spoke with reporters after Canada's 4-0 victory over Finland.

Still, even in winning, he had to answer questions about the 2011 loss. Sometimes, he said, he even questioned himself.

"It's been a tough year for that," said Visentin of all the second-guessing. "I know I didn't do my job last year, but I've healed from that, I got over it and I used it to get better. I apologize to everybody that we couldn't be playing for a gold medal tonight, but we tried our best and I hope we did everybody proud."

Making 27 saves en route to his first shutout of the tournament, the crowd was solidly in

CALGARY — It wasn’t supposed to end like this for Team Canada. This was supposed to be their comeback to rival that of the Russian squad from 2011, the team that stole gold and gave them silver at the World Junior Hockey Championship.

This was their great comeback – rallying from a five-goal third-period deficit – ever so close, but still on the losing end of a 6-5 score to Russia in the semifinal Tuesday night. And as much as Team Canada wanted to change the narrative, this was supposed to be about retribution.

In end, the scene was all too familiar for returning forward Brett Connolly, having suffered through his second crushing defeat in 12 months at the hands of the Russians.

What’s it like in the dressing room?

“Quiet,” he said.

Lots of red eyes?

“Yep.”

"It sucks," said Connolly, whose memory was crystal clear when it came to Russia’s five-goal outburst in the third period of the 2011 tournament finale. "Last year it happened in the gold-medal game, and this year in the

EDMONTON - It was not the way Jack Campbell had pictured ending his illustrious world junior career – a meaningless game against first-place Team Canada before heading to the relegation round.

In the end, the Team USA goalie couldn't even end his tenure at the under-20 tournament with a final win in the round-robin, losing a 3-2 nail-biter to the semifinal-bound Canadians.

"I'm a winner and I only accept one thing and that's that little gold (medal) around my neck," said Campbell, who won gold in 2010 and bronze in 2011. "Even last year getting the bronze, I couldn't sleep for a few weeks. It's an honour to play for this team, to be a part of this tournament and to have 20,000 Canadians screaming my name and things like that – those are memories I'll always have. It's a disappointing finish this year, but it's just been an honour to play here."

For the amount of abuse Campbell took from the Canadian fans, those memories should last a lifetime. A good 20 minutes before the game had even

EDMONTON – After they had just been soundly beaten 10-2 by Team Canada, the Danish world junior squad quietly slipped into the media room and started taking pictures at the podium where the coaches' press conference had just taken place. One by one they took turns sitting in front of the microphones, pretending to answer questions from reporters while laughing and mugging for their camera phones.

For many members of the Danish national team, this tournament will be the pinnacle of their sporting lives. For a nation with only 23 hockey rinks country-wide, just being here is a victory.

"It's one of the biggest moments you get in your hockey career, especially if you're a little Danish guy just playing back in Denmark," said Danish forward Nicklas Jensen, one of the few players on the team who plays in North America. "This is huge. This is the hockey Mecca almost. You can't really come to any better place than Canada to play at a world juniors, against Canada too. This is a great

EDMONTON -- It was a moment goaltender Scott Wedgewood won't soon forget.

Standing at Team Canada's blueline after recording a 26-save shutout over the Czech Republic and listening to the partisan crowd of 16,417 packed into Rexall Place chanting his name.

"It was pretty surreal," said the 19-year-old after Canada's 5-0 win over the Czechs. "I looked at my parents and my brothers, I knew where they were sitting in the end (of the rink) and it was something they'll probably remember as much as I will. On a stage like this, it's something I'll have to take a step back from and think about. It was pretty sweet.

"I don't think something like that will happen too many times in my career, so I enjoyed it."

Coming into Canada's camp, Wedgewood, who plays for the Ontario Hockey League's Plymouth Whalers, made it known that he wasn't going to be content sitting on the bench and serving as incumbent goalie Mark Visentin's backup. Visentin – one of four returnees from the 2011 silver-winning