BUFFALO, N.Y. - Canada's closest rival has been beaten, but now comes the game for gold against an old foe.
Another overwhelmingly pro-Canadian crowd is expected to pack HSBC Arena when Canada takes on a Russian squad with a flair for drama in the final of the world junior hockey championship Wednesday night (TSN, 7:30 p.m.).
And no one will be more in the spotlight than goaltender Mark Visentin.
The starter for the nearby Niagara IceDogs may have looked shaky as he gave up a goal on the first shot of a 4-1 quarter-final win over Switzerland, but he made the saves he needed and then did the same in another 4-1 victory over the rival Americans in the semifinals.
"I'm excited for the opportunity," Visentin said Tuesday. "It's definitely going to be the biggest game I've ever played in my life."
Olivier Roy lost the starting job after he was beaten high twice and then surrendered a pair in a shootout as Canada lost 6-5 to Sweden in its final round-robin game.
But Canada came back with not only had a new goaltender in Visentin, but a new level of intensity and a hardened commitment to defensive play as it began single-game knockout competition.
Since the loss to Sweden, they have dominated, allowing only a small handful of good scoring chances to both the Swiss and the Americans as they controlled the boards and the play.
A defence that looked suspect during the preliminary round has suddenly rounded into shape, while the forwards have been strong at both ends of the ice.
"They've been excellent in all areas of the ice," said Visentin. "Just protecting against scoring chances and communicating with me when I play the puck.
"That really makes it easier on me. When you come here, you have the best D-men in Canada. It really shows how good they are out there, keeping the shots to under 30 a game. I love them out there. They're doing a great job and we're going to keep it up."
Canadian captain Ryan Ellis said the chemistry is picking up in the dressing room.
"One of the biggest things is our back pressure," he said. "Cody Eakin and people like that are unbelievable at back checking and they seem to turn the jets on to help us on the back end. Then we have Visentin in net who has been outstanding."
Canada beat Russia 6-3 to open the tournament on Dec. 26 largely by wearing them down physically after two evenly played periods.
Both teams have improved since then.
Russian goaltender Dmitri Skikin took over after the loss to Canada and has won four of five games, including a stellar performance in a shootout victory over Sweden in the other semifinal on Monday night.
Stocky winger and captain Vladimir Tarasenko has made dazzling plays, but it was Yevgeni Kuznetsov who stole the show as he scored and then set up the tying goal as Russia erased a 3-1 deficit against Finland in the last three minutes of their quarter-final. Then he scored in overtime.
Playing a day game following a night game only 18 hours later, Sergei Kalinin dove to poke in the tying goal with 1:27 left in regulation time to force overtime and a 4-3 shootout win over the Swedes.
Canadian coach Dave Cameron was impressed.
"First and foremost, they have pretty good goaltending," he said of the Russians. "And once you (come back to win) once, it kind of gets into your core and you have that belief.
"And I think that sometimes when you're tired it plays to your advantage because you lose that edginess. You don't tighten up because you don't have the energy to. I think they just kept coming -- caution to the wind, they had nothing to lose. Full marks to them."
A danger for Canada is to think that the gold medal is locked up because they have already beaten the pre-tournament favourite United States.
"My preparation is to make sure we let (Monday's) game go," said Cameron. "It's done with.
"Re-energize, get refocused, do whatever you can in that area, so when we get on the ice for the pre-game skate, after we've dissected the Russians and their tendencies, we're energized to start the game. Any time you get to the final of a tournament with the best players in the world there are no guarantees. All you can do is concentrate on your preparation and give your team the best chance to win."
There has been no shortage of energy in either of Canada's last two games and there should be no lack of motivation for the final.
Canada is in the final for a 10th straight year, which includes wins over Russia in 2005, 2006, 2007 and a loss in 2003 in Halifax.
But in 2009 in Ottawa , Canada needed a late tying goal and escaped with a 6-5 shootout win over the Russians in the semifinals before going onto a fifth straight gold medal with a win over Sweden in the final.
The only player still in the under-20 event from that game is Ellis.
"It was back and forth, they scored, we scored, and neither team quit," Ellis recalled. "That's the biggest memory I have.
"Fortunately, we had the extra chance at the end. They're not the same teams now. It's a different game, but it'll have the same pace and tempo."
Russia is always an enigma. They can roll over and fall badly behind when they're expected to do well, and they can wake up and go on a 15-minute tear and score three or four goals. The team at this tournament has shown flashes of both.
"We've had quite the battles in the past -- the '72 Summit Series, you can go on and on," said Visentin. "But they're a good team.
"They're going to throw everything at us and we're going to throw everything at them. Both of us have got better as the tournament's gone on and I guess we've both proven why we're here and it's going to be a really good game."
