After weeks of anticipation, Hockey Canada announced who will tend the net when Team Canada looks to pick up their first World Junior Hockey Championships gold medal since 2009. It will be 2014 World Junior veteran Zachary Fucale of the Quebec Remparts who starts on Friday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal against Slovakia. Fucale had been in a tight race with the highly-touted Eric Comrie of the Tri-City Americans in the Canadian pre-tournament camp.

Both goaltenders had shown very well in the buildup to the tournament, they combined to give up just four goals in Canada’s three warm-up games. Fucale made his two starts in the games against Russia and Switzerland while Comrie started against Sweden.

The race for the starting spot seemed to be in question up until the end though it was assumed that Fucale was in the driver’s seat due to his play in the 2014 World Junior Championships. Fucale appeared in five games earning a goals against average of 2.42 and a save percentage of 90.2%.

He had struggled in the beginning of his Major Junior season compiling a record of 13-9-1-1 with the Halifax Mooseheads. Fucale’s marks are currently on pace to finish as career worsts for the Montreal Canadians prospect. His goals against average is at 3.20 with a save percentage of 89.0%.

Those numbers will likely improve as Fucale and defenseman Matt Murphy were traded to the Quebec Remparts last Friday for a boatload of draft picks. It is a welcome trade for the players who will get a chance to play for the Mastercard Memorial Cup, which will be played at the Colisée Pepsi in Quebec City between May 21st and 31st, 2015.

Comrie has had a very good start for the Tri-City Americans of the Western Hockey League in 2014. He has a goals against of 2.50 through 24 games played. His save percentage is also very good at 92.1%, which ties him for 2nd with Jackson Whistle of the Kelowna Rockets in the WHL. Only Portland Winterhawks rookie Adin Hill has a higher save percentage on the season, though he is only 22 minutes above the minimum number to qualify.

Canadian coach Benoit Groulx said to TSN after practice on Thursday that the team was “comfortable with both goalies.” He added, “We just think it was normal to start with the goalie who was there last year and give him a chance.”

Groulx went on to say that the team had not made a decision as to who would start on Saturday against Germany.

The interesting thing to see will be how short Fucale’s leash is. It could be pretty short considering that Canadian fans are desperate for a gold medal, something they haven’t seen their team win since 2009. Canada has not even made it to the gold medal game since 2011 when they lost a thrilling game to Russia 5-3 after taking a 3-0 lead into the third period. Will Groulx give into the pressure from the fans to replace Fucale if he is struggling? We will have to wait to find out.

This is the tenth meeting all-time in the World Junior Championships between Canada and Slovakia. Canada has dominated the series winning eight of the previous nine meetings including the last seven. The only non-Canada win was on December 27th, 1998 when the two nations played to a 0-0 tie in Brandon, Manitoba. Slovakia would actually go on to win that group which also featured Finland, the Czech Republic, and the United States.

Stay tuned with VAVEL USA for continuing coverage of the 2015 World Junior Hockey Championships from Toronto and Montreal.

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About the author
Matthew Evans
Matthew is an American sports journalist based out of Kennewick, Washington. He is a Managing Editor for VAVEL USA as well as Co-editor of the soccer section.