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Nurse has 'never been more proud'

The experience is something that’s hard to describe. Soo Greyhounds defenceman Darnell Nurse was a member of the Canadian team that won gold on Monday night at the 2015 World Junior Hockey Championship in Toronto.

The experience is something that’s hard to describe.

Soo Greyhounds defenceman Darnell Nurse was a member of the Canadian team that won gold on Monday night at the 2015 World Junior Hockey Championship in Toronto.

“It’s an experience that’s hard to really explain unless you’ve been in it or done it before,” Nurse said of the gold medal win. “I’ve never been more proud and happy with the way we played as a team and to be able to achieve the greatest feat in the World Juniors is awesome.”

Team Canada held on for a 5-4 win over Team Russia in the championship to win the first gold medal for Canada since 2009 and the first medal of any colour since 2012.

The final saw Nurse face a familiar player in one of his Greyhounds teammates as Sergey Tolchinsky was a member of the Russian squad.

“It was different,” Nurse said of playing against the highly-skilled Greyhounds forward. “I was only on the ice with him for a couple of shifts but it was good to see him get out there and get his feet moving. He had a great game and found the back of the net for them.”

The Canadian roster featured 20 players drafted by NHL teams, two of which were playing in the NHL prior to the start of the tournament in Anthony Duclair (New York Rangers) and Curtis Lazar (Ottawa Senators). Duclair was sent back to the Quebec League’s Quebec Remparts following the completion of the tournament while Lazar has rejoined the Senators.

The only two non-drafted players on the roster were Connor McDavid of the OHL’s Erie Otters, widely seen as a top-two pick in the 2015 NHL draft and Lawson Crouse of the Kingston Frontenacs (OHL), also a highly-touted prospect for the 2015 draft.

“Everyone had the ability to make plays and do something different, no matter what side of the game it was, offensively or defensively,” Nurse said of the Canadian team.. “It’s incredible when you get to be around those types of teammates who push themselves as well as others around them to be better on a daily basis. We had a lot of fun doing it too.”

With the tournament behind him, Nurse spoke of the tournament being a learning experience.

“It was a good tournament for me where I really showed what I’m capable of doing on a nightly basis,” said Nurse, who was paired with Shea Theodore of the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds.

Nurse and Theodore spent much of the tournament playing in a shutdown role against many of the other countries top players.

“Obviously (the coaching staff) put a lot of trust in us,” Nurse said of the pair. “We just tried to go out there every day and do our job to the best of our ability. It felt good to have that type of responsibility to go out there and play against top competition on a nightly basis.”

The championship game against the Russians wasn’t without some excitement as Canada opened up a 5-1 lead before the Russians battled back to make things close.

“On the bench we really just maintained the same mindset that we just had to stick to our game plan and that carried us through to the end,” Nurse said. “There was really no panic. We got back to what made us successful in staying out of the penalty box in the third period and really showed our ability to shut down the other team and play a solid defensive game as well as managing the puck well.”

Nurse finished the tournament with one assist in seven games and was named one of Canada’s three top players after Monday’s final.


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Brad Coccimiglio

About the Author: Brad Coccimiglio

A graduate of Loyalist College’s Sports Journalism program, Brad Coccimiglio’s work has appeared in The Hockey News as well as online at FoxSports.com in addition to regular freelance work with SooToday before joining the team full time.
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