GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- The day before, he was the target of verb barbs.
Yesterday, Jeff Glass let a gold medal respond.
Throughout the tourney, the Cochrane kid was called the question mark and 'the weakest link' on a strong Canadian junior squad.
Everyone knew the Canucks were loaded with standout blueliners and star-studded forwards.
The unknown was Glass, the unheralded Kootenay Ice goaltender. Even players from the Czech Republic and Russian star Alexander Ovechkin openly questioned whether Glass was good enough.
In backstopping Canada to gold, Glass got the last word.
"I wasn't going to get into a battle of words (yesterday)," he said with a shiny medal draped around his neck. "I told myself I wasn't and would go out there and let my play do the talking.
"We've all got gold medals around our necks now -- (Ovechkin's) got nothing. Sometimes that's the way it goes -- if you're gonna say stuff like that, it comes back to bite you in the butt."
Ovechkin was held off the scoresheet in the final.
In five games, Glass surrendered seven goals.
Sure, he wasn't the most tested netminder at the tournament but he did win.
Last night's game did provide a few tests but he passed with flying colours.
In the early going, while Canada was nursing a 1-0 lead but shorthanded, he surrendered a rebound on the long point shot but stopped Evgeni Malkin on the rebound.
More big saves came in the third but Glass credited his teammates.
"They were awesome," the Ottawa Senators draft choice said.
"Every night I had almost no shots and the shots I did have were from the outside. Our defence did a great job, our PK did a great job."
And combined, they are champions.
