(image credit - TSN)

By Michael Reeve

GOLDEN BLAZERS

‘These two players will lead us;’ Pressure-tested Stankoven and Bankier return to Blazers

Jan 6, 2023 | 4:13 PM

KAMLOOPS — Team Canada won it’s second straight gold medal at the World Junior Hockey Championship Thursday night (Jan. 5) in Halifax. Canada is the first country to repeat as winner since 2009, when Canada was completing its drive for five straight golds.

Helping lead Canada to glory was Kamloops local and Blazers captain Logan Stankoven, along with linemate Caedan Bankier.

It was a team led by a 17-year old phenom, bolstered by a stable of top NHL draft picks, with the help of a trio of NHL returnees, and while they weren’t able to run the table, some are calling this edition of team Canada one of the best.

The list of potential best ever Team Canadas is short. Two tournaments stand above the rest, both thanks to NHL lockouts allowing top talent to play. There was ’04 with Crosby, but before that was ’95, a gold medal team coached by Don Hay — now the Blazers’ associate coach.

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“This year was a really good team, but we had a good team in ’95, it was a different format, it was a round robin format, there was no playoffs. Every game was really really important, you couldn’t afford to lose a game or you might lose your chance at a gold medal,” said Hay.

Since ’95, the pressure on Team Canada to win gold has increased exponentially, according to Hay. And that pressure is what will help the Blazers down the stretch thanks to the experience gained by Stankoven and Bankier.

“We are going to go through a lot of pressure at the end of May and early June at the Memorial Cup. And when you get into those type of games, you can’t afford to make mistakes and these two players will lead us in having confidence and going out and displaying the details of the game you need to win in a close game that matter.,” added Hay.

With the gold, Stankoven joined an exclusive list of players to win back to back golds at the juniors, while Bankier earns his first international medal.

“It’s something they will remember forever, it is going to make them better players,” said Hay.

Both forwards are expecting to arrive back in Kamloops tonight and be in the lineup Saturday (Jan. 7) at home versus Kelowna.