Canada's players react after losing the bronze-medal game at the 2013 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship to Russia in Ufa, Russia, Jan. 5, 2013. (MARK BLINCH/Reuters)
And though Canada fled the 2013 World Junior Hockey Championship with the disappointment and sour taste that comes with finishing in fourth place, especially in an event where expectations were so high, the players became close enough friends that they will have a bond with each other for years to come.
Consider that the 23-man roster started to take shape on Dec. 10 when the players began arriving in Calgary for selection camp. From that point on, and from Dec. 13, when the final roster was set, they not only played hockey together but ate with each other, bunked in the same rooms and took part in the same off-ice activities.
