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Team Canada believes 2013 under-18 gold medal experience still has currency

Capitals prospect Madison Bowey is the only right-shooting defenceman on Canada's preliminary roster (Ghyslain Bergeron, The Canadian Press)
Capitals prospect Madison Bowey is the only right-shooting defenceman on Canada's preliminary roster (Ghyslain Bergeron, The Canadian Press)

Contrary to the narrative being pounded into Canada's collective cranium ahead of the world junior championship, this country does have a recent international junior gold medal it can use as a beacon.

The springtime world under-18 championship doesn't budge the needle among most hockey fans one one-thousandth as much as the Christmastime WJC, granted. The fact remains that in the spring of 2013, 13 candidates for the current iteration of Team Canada played on a U18 team that an even more fresh-faced Connor McDavid led to gold over perennially powerful Team USA. Canada's competition in Montreal and Toronto this holiday will be using many of the same players that the 'Sochi 13' faced two seasons ago.

The U18s are typically the domain of USA Hockey, whose under-18 players are centralized for two seasons with the national team development program in Ann Arbor, Mich. Canada has to hit the ground running with players whose teams have been ousted from Memorial Cup contention.

"Probably going into that U18 tournament, we were underdogs, to win that was huge," Madison Bowey, a member of the 'Sochi 13' group, recalled following Thursday's practice in Toronto. "It just shows how much we bought in and that can really go a long way in a short tournament when you listen to what the coaches have given you and buy into everything.

"Myself and a lot of guys learned to appreciate how coming together as a team quicker rather than later is huge," added Bowey, the only righty among the group of 10 defencemen that will be whittled down to seven before the Dec. 25 deadline to set WJC rosters. "It's really key to get to know each other and get really close together as a group."

McDavid, coming off his early-entry age-15 season in the OHL, was the tournament MVP of those U18s while working in concert with Sam Reinhart. Centres Jason Dickinson and Frédérik Gauthier and wings Nick Baptiste, Morgan Klimchuk and Nick Ritchie also contributed. All six blueline regulars from that team — Bowey, Chris Bigras, Dillon Heatherington, Samuel Morin, Josh Morrissey and Shea Theodore — are now contestants for spots on the U20 team.

A striking feature of that team was who wasn't available, but has a chance to play for Canada. Forwards Max Domi, Remi Elie and Nic Petan and goalie Zach Fucale were helping their club teams win league titles. Defenceman Darnell Nurse and goalie Eric Comrie were injured. 

"Part of the byproduct in these guys being here is the experience they had in winning there," says Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada's vice-president of hockey operations and national teams. "There was a lot of players who weren't there, top-end guys at that time [including current teen NHLers Jonathan Drouin, Curtis Lazar, Bo Horvat, Nathan MacKinnon and Aaron Ekblad, whose CHL teams were also still active in playoffs]. And these guys came and got it done. And it was a great performance where I don't think anyone was believing they would do it. That experience, to me, at that age group, is invaluable. There are some character guys here.

"We've talked a lot, as a staff, about who played with who there, how they contributed and what role they played on that team," Salmond adds. "Our coaches are aware of that."

Whether Team Canada can carry over that success to the big stage — does going from playing in front of crowds that can be measured in the hundreds at the U18 level to being NHL-size throngs fundamentally alter the dynamic? — remains to be seen. It's understandable why that gold medal 20 months ago might not be seen as relevant backstory, since the U18s take place over in Europe at the same time as the Stanley Cup playoffs, i.e., far from the madding crowds. It certainly matters for Team Canada. Of course, it has to.

"Every time you can get over and experience this level of play, you learn from that," Reinhart said. "It's beneficial, and that goes back to some chemistry with certain guys. Everyone's familiar with each other, and if you're not, it doesn't take very long."

That said, the world junior, or world U20 as it's called in International Ice Hockey Federation argot, is another animal. No one denies that; of course, everyone who was part of the U18 effort is older and have, save for McDavid, attended a NHL camp or two.

"Playing in Montreal and Toronto is going to be huge for us," says Bowey, a Washington Capitals prospect who is captain of the Kelowna Rockets. "It's going to be good for the crowd to have our backs. There definitely will be some distractions but I think  that is what becoming a true pro is all about, putting all the distractions behind and going out and doing your job."

Regardless of experience, the challenge the WJC poses remains the same.

"It's a little longer than most tournaments," the 19-year-old Reinhart said. "There's a lot of preparation that goes into it, And you need to get better every day."

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.