Canada's World Junior team closed out 2022 with an exclamation point on Saturday night in front of a Halifax crowd that was ready to party.
Three goals in the game's first 10 minutes got the New Year's festivities started early.
In the end, a convincing 5-1 win over Sweden -- a fellow tournament favourite -- had fans ringing in the New Year with new expectations.
"I think those who came out of the Scotiabank Centre last night were pretty excited by what they saw,” said longtime sports broadcaster John Moore.
Moore didn't disagree that local fans' appetites are newly-whet for a gold medal that now appears pretty realistic.
"This was a big test last night, and they passed with flying colours,” Moore said. “So yeah, going forward, I think that a lot of the Canadian fans now say, 'Hey yes, the gold medal is in our grasp. We've got a couple of wins to get to that gold medal game first.'"
"There's only one word - 'redemption', right?" said Sydney-based hockey fan Brent Desveaux, in reference to the only other time Halifax hosted the tournament.
Twenty years ago, Halifax fans went home heartbroken.
A whirlwind 2003 World Juniors ended with a one-goal loss to the Russians in the gold medal game.
However, the Russians aren’t playing this year, the IIHF barred them from competition.
The Canadians are looking to repeat as gold medal champions, having won the tournament last year in Edmonton.
"We all saw the reaction of the crowd, Desveaux said. “We all saw the enthusiasm -- pregame, post-game and everything right? So definitely redemption. If they win this, Halifax is going to go crazy."
Canada's next test is Monday against Slovakia in a quarterfinal.
Win, and move on.
Lose, and go home.
"The final script has yet to be written,” Moore said. “But I think that if Canada can win this tournament in Halifax, and knowing how successful it's been in the early going, I think this will go down as perhaps one of the greatest tournaments hosted in Canada."
