That said, current Oiler, Perry, played a key role. He was added to the roster after Jeremy Colliton went down with an injury and played on the first line with Bergeron and Crosby. Perry finished the tournament with two goals and five assists in six games, helping Canada win the gold medal. The now-grizzled Oiler vet had this to say about his WJC experience:
“You dream of playing for Canada, and you remember every single guy from that team. “You’re going to cherish those memories forever.”
Additionally, with Perry’s Team Canada clinching gold at the 2005 WJC, they ended an eight-year championship drought.
Evander Kane Won Gold at the 2009 World Juniors
Oilers forward Evander Kane was a key member of Team Canada, which won the gold medal at the 2009 World Juniors held in Ottawa. At the time, the tournament set a record for total attendance at the WJC, with 453,282 spectators attending games, a record that was later surpassed in Edmonton and Calgary in 2012.
Team Canada featured prominent players like Jamie Benn, John Tavares, Jordan Eberle, Alex Pietrangelo, and Kane, of course, who was initially cut from the roster but was asked to return after Dana Tyrell injured his knee in an exhibition game.
Canada won all of their preliminary games, outscoring the opposition 35-6 over four games, including a 15-0 shellacking of Kazakhstan. In the finals, Team Canada defeated a tough Team Sweden group, which featured Jacob Markstrom, who took home top goaltender honours, Erik Karlsson, the top D-man of the tourney, and Victor Hedman, 5-1, to capture the gold medal.
In addition, Kane recorded six points in six games, scoring two goals in the preliminary round against Germany and Kazakhstan. In one of the best games in World Junior history against Russia, where Eberle tied the game with five seconds left for an eventual 6-5 shootout win, Kane tallied two assists in the epic game.
Connor McDavid Won Gold at the 2015 World Juniors
Long before becoming the fourth-fastest player to reach 1,000 points in the NHL, Connor McDavid was no stranger to the spotlight, representing Team Canada multiple times before being chosen first overall in the 2015 NHL Draft. At the 2013 U18 World Championships, he set a Canadian record with an incredible 22 points (eight goals and 14 assists).
The following year, at just 16 years old, he earned a spot on Team Canada for the U20 World Juniors and became the sixth-youngest player in history to represent Canada at the tournament, placing him in elite company alongside Wayne Gretzky, Eric Lindros, Jason Spezza, Jay Bouwmeester, and Sidney Crosby, and he finished the tournament with one goal and three assists in a third-place finish.
Yet, the future Oiler made an even bigger splash a year later, earning another shot with Team Canada at the 2015 World Juniors, hosted on home ice with games split between Toronto and Montreal. Skating alongside Nic Petan and former Edmonton Oil King Curtis Lazar, he gave the hockey world a preview of his next-level speed and elite skill.