Owner of multiple golds, Cup rings, Brent Seabrook stands by Canadian juniors

'I like the group.  I like the feel, the mentality of them. They're playing well.'

Published Jan 01, 2025  •  4 minute read

Brent Seabrook, seen in a December 2023 file photo, is part of Canada's management team. He felt the pain of missing out on a gold medal one year — and the joy of coming back to win it all the next. Photo by Nathan Denette /The Canadian Press

Along with the three Stanley Cups he won as a Chicago Blackhawk during his sterling 15-year NHL career, Brent Seabrook knows what it’s like to both come oh, so close one year and to win a gold medal the next at the world junior championship.

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After being on the heart-breaking side of a 4-3 score against the Americans in the gold-medal game at the 2004 world juniors in Finland, a Canadian roster speckled with returnees like Seabrook, Sidney Crosby and Jeff Carter bounced back with a vengeance at the tournament in North Dakota 12 months later.

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Following an undefeated preliminary round in which they outscored opponents 32-5, the Canadians pasted the Alex Ovechkin, Evengi Malkin-led Russians 6-1 in the championship game — a victory that was the first of a five-year gold-medal run for Canada at the world juniors.

“I think (the disappointment in 2004) was a huge motivating thing the next season,” Seabrook, a member of Canada’s management group, said before Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Americans that left the home team with a 2-1-1 preliminary-round record and, as the third-place finishers in Group A, a do-or-die date with Czechia in the quarter-finals on Thursday. “It was definitely a driving force for our group.”

The circumstances are different, of course. This Canadian team has four returning players from last year’s upsetting loss to Czechia in the quarter-finals, and nobody taking the reins offensively the way Patrice Bergeron (13 points), Ryan Getzlaf (12), Carter (10) and Crosby (nine) did exactly two decades ago.

Canada has struggled to find a way to put the puck in the back of the net at the world juniors in Ottawa, with only 10 goals through four games. Photo by Minas Panagiotakis /Getty Images

This Canadian team has just 10 goals through four games, with two of them being empty-netters and one a bank shot off the end boards that hit the back of the goalie and trickled over the line.

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But Canada has also dominated play with a 173-110 edge in shots, has hit a number of posts and spectacularly stretched limbs of goaltenders, and, oh yeah, still hasn’t allowed an even-strength goal.

Optimists will nod when hearing the catch-word “snakebitten” mentioned by the team daily and believe maybe there’s still a chance that Canada finally breaks out offensively against Czechia, leading to a gold-getting weekend.

Among them is Seabrook, who notes that, just like 20 years ago, the team hasn’t forgotten what happened at the 2024 world juniors in Sweden.

“I think there was a different approach to how things started for us in camp, more of a business-like approach,” said Seabrook, who also won gold at the 2003 world U18 championship and the 2010 Winter Olympics. “You can see it in players and whatnot; I think they’re a little bit upset about last year.

“I like the group.  I like the feel, the mentality of them. They’re playing well. Playing really good defence, getting some chances, the puck is not going in,  but I like the way we’re playing the game, and hopefully we can keep that rolling.”

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The most likely to break out offensively just might be the baby of the team, Gavin McKenna. The dazzling, just-turned-17-year-old phenom has rattled at least a couple of pucks off the iron while also being victimized by outstanding goaltending.

When told that McKenna said he watched a lot of Patrick Kane growing up, Seabrook chuckled.

“I watched a lot of Patrick Kane,” he said of his former Blackhawks teammate.

Do you see comparisons?

Gavin McKenna, seen during the game against Latvia, has impressed Brent Seabrook. ‘He’s a special talent. You watch what he does and how he facilitates the puck, gets to the net, shoots the puck, the shot selection is always different.’ Photo by Sean Kilpatrick /THE CANADIAN PRESS

“Patrick Kane changed the game in so many different ways with his size, what he was able to do as a smaller player,” said Seabrook. “But his vision, his passing, what he was able to do as a player, I think you see in a lot of players these days. One of the things that I do notice is that he was the first guy who had his mouthguard sticking out of his mouth. Every kid does that now. So I always say that’s the Patrick Kane effect.

“But McKenna’s been great. He’s a special talent. You watch what he does and how he facilitates the puck, gets to the net, shoots the puck, the shot selection is always different. I think that’s big in his game, but I think that’s something that you see in Patrick’s game as well.”

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While outsiders continue to criticize Canada’s decision-makers for not including defencemen like first-rounders Carter Yakemchuk and Zayne Parekh, Seabrook, one of the NHL’s best blueliners in his day, stands by the choices that were made.

“I like our D, I think it provides a lot of different elements to the game,” he said. “Puck moving, defence first, physicality. We’ve got some D that can bring some offence as well. I like our group.”

He also knows that, with the goaltending Canada is getting from Carter George, the team is capable of what the 2005 squad did, if not in the same manner.

Seabrook says the relationships forged during his world junior days remain strong, and he ranks his experience of representing Canada at the prestigious tournament right up there with the highlights of his great career.

He said that, as a kid, you grow up wanting to be a part of the world juniors.

“Well, I don’t know if you want to be a part of it, you grow up thinking like, wow, this is the coolest thing in the world,” he said. “And then as your hockey career starts going as a 14- and 15-year-old, and you start seeing that there could be a chance, it’s something special.

“To be a part of two teams, the Boxing Day game, the special part of playing for your country and being here, and the stuff that you watch as a kid, it’s definitely a career milestone for me. For sure, it’s up there with all the other stuff.”

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