Maple Leafs’ Tavares, Bruins’ Marchand get behind Canada’s junior team

Get the latest from Terry Koshan straight to your inbox

Published Jan 04, 2025  •  3 minute read

Canada's players show their disappointment as they stand together following their 4-3 loss to Czechia at the end of a World Junior Hockey Championship quarterfinal game in Ottawa, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. Photo by Adrian Wyld /THE CANADIAN PRESS

John Tavares is biding his time.

Article content

Article content

Article content

The Maple Leafs veteran will soon get in touch with Easton Cowan, potentially to offer any advice that might be required for one of the team’s top prospects.

It would come in the wake of the disappointing result for Cowan and the rest of the Canadian junior team at the 2025 world junior championship in Ottawa, where Canada underachieved and lost in the quarterfinals against Czechia on Thursday.

“Every player goes through adversity at different points in their career and it’s really an opportunity for growth and to learn from it,” Tavares said before the Leafs played host to the Boston Bruins on Saturday night. “No doubt, he will be surrounded by a lot of great people, and certainly us here, we support him tremendously.

Article content

Article content

“We love him as a kid and the type of skill set he has and the player he’s going to be.”

Tavares had been speaking to Cowan, the Leafs’ first-round pick in 2023, during the tournament, most recently before Canada’s game against the United States on New Year’s Eve.

Cowan, who had one goal and two assists in the tournament, has been heavily criticized on social media. The source of some of that has been from fans of other National Hockey League teams, and, as it usually is with these sorts of things, from people who figure the best course of action is to post anonymously. In short, that kind of criticism amounts to nothing.

With the junior team, Tavares won gold in both 2008 in the Czech Republic and 2009 in Ottawa.

“I’m not online looking at it all or hearing about it or watching it, but I have a good idea of what the spotlight is like playing in the world junior, playing in Canada,” Tavares said. “Someone like Easton has tremendous potential and is going to play a significant role with the team for a long time.

Article content

“It’s never easy for him or for all those kids with that opportunity to play for Canada and play on home soil and not go the way you want it to go.”

Canada lost 4-3 against Czechia, marking the second year in a row that it has lost in the quarterfinals against the Czechs.

The dominance Canada enjoyed at the world junior is gone. What has to be recognized is the on-ice improvement that is being made by other countries.

Bruins captain Brad Marchand, who won gold with Canada at the world junior in 2007 in Sweden and in 2008, had some good points to make.

Recommended from Editorial

1. 

   Captain Auston Matthews returns for Maple Leafs versus Bruins

2. 

   LEAFS NOTES: Brad Marchand all in for 4 Nations

“They’re catching a lot of heat right now, but it’s a one-goal difference in a game and (if they win that), they’re not catching that heat,” Marchand said. “I think you’re seeing that every country is elevating to another level.

Article content

“Players now are all talented, they can all skate, they can all shoot and pass the puck. There are very small margins in the game to make mistakes. It happens at every level.”

The way Marchand sees it, while the Canadian players are in a tough spot now, they will come out of it on the right side.

“Everyone’s going to pick them apart, but that’s part of the accountability you have to have playing for that team,” Marchand said. “If you want to play on the best teams, you’re going to deal with the most pressure and the most critique. It’s part of what makes winning so special and part of what makes losing so tough.

“They’re going to move on, they’re going to be fine, they are all going to have great careers. It’s just unfortunate. We were all behind them and that’s how these single-elimination games go.”

[email protected]

X: @koshtorontosun

Article content