Golden Gaudreau! – North Bay News

For the second time since 2018, a North Bay Area goaltender comes home with gold at the World Junior Hockey Championship.

Corbeil’s Ben Gaudreau received his gold medal after Canada beat the Czech Republic 3-2 in overtime in the IIHF World Junior Ice Hockey Championships final in Halifax on Thursday night.

Gaudreau follows in the footsteps of Edmonton Oilers’ Colton Point, who won gold with Team Canada in 2018.

“I’m really happy for Ben and what he’s been able to achieve over the past few years,” Point told BayToday.

“I was really excited to see him pull off a win and a shutout. It’s great that he can bring another gold medal up north.”

Point recalls the day he shared the gold medal with North Bay hockey fans at Chippewa Secondary School in June 2018. That day, Ben and his father Robert were two of the first visitors to see his gold medal.

Now Ben has his own IIHF World Junior gold to accompany his IIHF U18 gold, which he earned with Team Canada in Texas in the summer of 2021 in a performance that helped him recover from the San Jose Sharks in the third round Entry draft to be selected for NHL 2021.

Gaudreau was not the starter in the gold medal contest as teammate Thomas Milic was solid in all of his starts for Team Canada at the tournament, including Thursday’s gold OT win.

Robert Gaudreau, who attended the game, was amazed at the experience of watching his son win a gold medal to a packed house at the Scotiabank Center in Halifax.

“It was an incredible win,” Robert Gaudreau told BayToday via text message.

“I knew we had it 3 against 3.”

See also: Tough start for Gaudreau and Canada in defeat by Czech Republic

See related: Gaudreau is ruled out in a unilateral win over Austria

See Related: The World Juniors 2023 Through the Eyes of a Goalie Dad

Ben Gaudreau was allowed to play in two round robin games during the tournament.

Gaudreau was drawn against the Czech Republic in the second half of the Boxing Day opener after allowing 5 goals on 17 shots in that contest as Canada lost 5-2.

Gaudreau, playing for OHL’s Sarnia Sting, did some redemption a few nights later. The former North Bay AAA Trapper didn’t have much work to do but was able to make 12 saves in a convincing 11-0 win for Team Canada over Austria on December 30.

Gaudreau also became the second goaltender from the North Bay Area to have a shutout at World Juniors, following Colton Point, who scored in a 6-0 win over Slovakia at the 2018 event in Buffalo.

Scott Huycke, President of the Trappers AAA Hockey Association, is thrilled that another trapper (like Colton Point) wins World Junior Gold.

“That’s a great performance for Ben and his teammates,” said Huycke.

“He is a role model for young hockey players in the North Bay area hockey associations. He is someone to look up to and hopefully another young player from North Bay will follow in his golden footsteps.”