3 N.B. hockey players stand out during world junior hockey championship

Despite Canada's loss and elimination on Thursday, a few New Brunswick players had a chance to shine at the world junior hockey championship in Ottawa.

Bradly Nadeau of Saint-François-de-Madawaska scored two goals for Canada during the tournament. 

Eriks Mateiko, captain of the Saint John Sea Dogs, led Latvia to a surprise appearance in the quarter-finals.

And Julius Sumpf of the Moncton Wildcats was one of the top tournament scorers, playing for Germany.

Nadeau was upset about Canada's end result, but the tournament was still an overall good experience, said his father, John, in an interview with CBC's Shift on Friday, while his son was headed to the airport to return to Chicago, where he plays for the AHL Wolves, a farm team for the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes.

Nadeau scored once in Canada's game against the U.S. and again late in the third period during their quarter-final game against the Czech Republic on Thursday night.

"It was unreal when he scored the tying goal. It didn't last long, but it was really good," John said. It was a moment that caused him to reflect on all the time and hard work his son had put into hockey during his youth.

When Nadeau was playing at the under-15 level, they had to travel two hours, twice a week, for practices, John recalled. 

Seeing his son score a clutch goal for Canada was "pretty amazing," he said.

Sea Dogs coach Travis Crickard was similarly pleased to see Mateiko come through to score a game-winning goal for Latvia.

Crickard's loyalties were somewhat divided when that happened because Latvia happened to be playing against Canada at the time. 

Crickard was watching the game in a restaurant with Jeff Hansen, associate coach with the Sea Dogs.

"I let out a huge cheer — I was so happy for him, and everyone in the restaurant was looking at me," he said. Someone in the restaurant asked him if he was from Latvia.

It was a devastating loss for Canada, but Crickard was happy for his player to have that moment.

"He's probably going to tell his grandkids about that some day — the night the Latvians beat the Canadians at [the] world junior championship," he said.

This is the second year in a row that Canada has lost out in the quarter-finals of the tournament. 

In fact, Canada was in the unusual position of feeling like the underdog at Thursday's game, said Jamie Tozer, a junior-hockey analyst from Saint John, who was in Ottawa taking in the action.

In Tozer's estimation, lack of discipline is what did Team Canada in. The players weren't able to stay out of the penalty box, he said. 

For example, it wasn't long after Nadeau's game-tying goal in the quarter-finals that another Canadian player was given a penalty for kneeing, and the Czech Republic scored the game-winning goal on the following power play, with just 40 seconds left in regulation time.

"They know going into it that the international officiating is going to questionable at times, and it's going to be very different than what they deal with here in North America," said Tozer.

"They needed to adjust their game and they just never were able to do it in the tournament," he said, placing that responsibility with the team and the coaching staff.

Latvia's performance, on the other hand, was a bit of a Cinderella story, said Crickard, thanks in part to Mateiko's ability to keep his cool.

For a small country like Latvia to make it to the quarter-finals and almost knock Sweden out of the tournament was a great feat, he said. They were able to win a couple of games and shock a team or two. 

But Mateiko's performance did not surprise his QMJHL coach. Mateiko came through under pressure the same way he has many times for the Seadogs, he said.

Mateiko "has ice in his veins," said Crickard.

"He doesn't let his emotions get the best of him. There's never any moment that's too big or too small for him."

The players at the world juniors are under a tremendous amount of pressure, said Crickard.

Even teams that have a low chance of winning want to avoid losing in the relegation game, between the teams with the worst records in preliminary action, and being dropped out of the top-tier for next year's tournament, he said.

In that respect, Sumpf, of the Moncton Wildcats, really came through for Germany, the team he played for at the world juniors.

Sumpf scored the game-winning goal in the third period of the relegation game against Kazakhstan to secure Germany's place in next year's tournament.

He was ranked 11th in tournament scoring as of Friday, with two goals and five assists in five games.

Despite Canada's poor finish, John Nadeau said it was still fun to be a parent of a Team Canada player.

Being from a small town, it was a strange experience to be representing the country, he said.

He was also struck by the enthusiasm of the fans. 

"It's more than a religion," he said.

Crickard is hopeful that the attention on Mateiko at the tournament will translate into more fan support for the Sea Dogs. 

The team has been rebuilding for a couple of seasons and is struggling to produce positive results, he said, and local fans will probably only have a chance to see him for a short while longer before he moves on to play professionally.