CREDIT: REUTERS/Shaun Best Team Canada's goalie Steve Mason holds the trophy after Canada defeated Sweden in overtime to win the gold medal game at the 2008 IIHF U20 World Junior Hockey Championships in Pardubice January 5, 2008.

CREDIT: REUTERS/David W Cerny Canada's John Tavares (R) fights for the puck with Sweden's Victor Hedman during their final game at the 2008 IIHF U20 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Pardubice January 5, 2008.

PARDUBICE, Czech Republic - For something that is starting to get old, there was still lots of happy hockey fans across the country on Saturday, after Canada won its fourth straight world junior hockey championship.

It was a little nervy this time, with Team Canada pulling off a dramatic 3-2 overtime win over Sweden as Matt Halischuk of the Kitchener Rangers crashed the net and banged home the winner just 3:36 into the extra period. They would have skated off with gold earlier but a pesky Swedish team scored with 38 seconds left in game to send it to overtime.

It was Canada's 14th gold medal in this championship.

Team members hooted and hollered as O Canada was played at the end of the game.

Throughout the tournament, the players were touched by the Canadians fans who travelled here to cheer them on. So once they got their hands on the trophy, they figured it was time for a little payback.

"We wanted to take the Cup up there (the stands) so the fans could touch it," said forward Wayne Simmonds of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

"They've been here for the whole tournament and they've been helping us out. They've been huge for us. So, you know, we have to give back to them.

"When there's probably 5,000 Canadians at every game we had, it's huge for us. It built our confidence and it really helped out."

It was especially sweet for Halischuk, who scored the winning goal.

"It was just really special," he said. "All the guys, all 22 guys worked hard, all the coaching staff, everybody here. It was just a great experience. I was just happy to get the win."

Brad Marchand of the Halifax Mooseheads and Claude Giroux of the Gatineau Olympiques got Canada's other goals.

"I'm so proud of all the guys on the team," said Steven Stamkos, 17. "We've been together for so long and this is the game we wanted to do it and to do it in that fashion is unbelievable. I mean we had great support from the fans and I just can't wait to party with all the boys."

While Canada has owned the tournament recently, it's been far less kind to Sweden.

Sweden, which hadn't made the tournament final in 12 years, has just one championship to its credit, winning gold in 1981. Since then, the Swedes have been runners-up six times and seven times in total.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is a big hockey fan, sent a congratulatory note to the Canadian players.

"Along with all Canadians, I am extremely proud of the outstanding performance by our junior men's hockey team at the 2008 World Junior Hockey Championships," the news release from his office said. "Once again, Team Canada players have shown the talent and true Canadian spirit to take on the best hockey teams in the world and emerge champions."

The statement also noted that "with this most recent victory, Canada has won the World U20 (under 20) Juniors four consecutive years and has won a medal in every tournament since 1999."

Across the country, Canadians watched the game and were riveted for the overtime, except of course the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League who were packing for a road trip.

"I thought it was a pretty good game," smiled assistant captain Ryan White, who admitted he saw most of the game but not the overtime as he dashed to meet the team bus at the Pengrowth Saddledome. "It was a good game to see, good for Karl (Alzner) and those guys."

Alzner, who captained Team Canada, is also captain of the Hitmen. He was just one of two returning members to the defending world junior championship roster.

Canada will be going for a five-peat next year when the world junior championship comes to Ottawa.

With files from the Calgary Herald

PARDUBICE, Czech Republic - Only three years ago, when he was 16, Steve Mason was with the Grimsby Jr. C Peach Kings of the Niagara Junior C Hockey League in Ontario, treading water as a hockey player and not sure he was going anywhere.

The year before, he wasn't picked by the London Knights until the 11th round of the Ontario Hockey League draft (201st overall). So he didn't know he was even going to make it there, either.

This afternoon, Mason, 19, will lead Team Canada into the medal round of the world junior hockey championship, against Finland (2-2) in the first quarter-final game.

It doesn't get any more Canadian than that. Before you know it, he'll be in a Tim Hortons commercial. Now all he has to do is that other Canadian thing: win.

"I think about that all the time," Mason said of his days with Grimsby. "It kind of humbles you. You can't get too full of yourself.

"It's kind of funny. I was kind of a nobody back then, always the underdog. And I kind of used that underdog thing as a little motivation.

"Coming into (Team Canada) camp, I was probably the lowest kid drafted (by the Columbus Blue Jackets, 67th overall), so I don't think many people picked me to come out on top."

That Mason got the nod will make for some crowded living rooms in Oakville, Ont., where his parents - Bill and Donna, who couldn't make the trip to the Czech Republic - and his extended family will be watching.

Russia (3-1) plays the Czech Republic (2-2) in the other quarter-final.

The Swedes (4-0) and the United States (4-0) have byes into the semifinals on Friday

The winner of the Canada-Finland game will play the U.S. in one semifinal, while the winner of the Czech-Russia game will play the Swedes in the other.

The bronze- and gold-medal games are Saturday.

To win its fourth straight gold medal at this tournament, Canada has to win three games in four days, something it has done only once before, in 1997.

Team Canada coach Craig Hartsburg said he would have been comfortable picking either Mason or Jonathan Bernier of the QMJHL's Lewiston Maineiacs. Mason was the top goalie in the round-robin with a save percentage of .974. Bernier was second at .948.

Bernier's Waterloo might have been the four third-period goals he allowed to Sweden in a 4-3 loss on Saturday, though Hartsburg refused to blame him.

"There's nothing Jonathan did wrong," said Hartsburg. "We just feel (Mason) is the guy for us. He was outstanding against the Finns in the (pre-championship) exhibition game. I feel bad for Jonathan. He's a character kid and a great goaltender. But we all feel confident Mase is the guy."

Mason won two games in the round robin, 2-0 over Slovakia and 4-1 over Denmark, and he beat Finland 4-2 in an exhibition game in Chrudim, three days before the championship started.

That was a factor, as well as Mason's size - he's six-foot-three and 190 pounds - and his ability to handle the puck. Mason said he's just trying to be like his favourite player, New Jersey Devils goalie Martin Brodeur, considered the best stickhandler among goaltenders in the NHL.

"He's probably the best guy at it in the tournament," said teammate Thomas Hickey, a defenceman with the WHL's Seattle Thunderbirds. "He's like a third defenceman out there. He makes that outlet pass so quick it keeps the other team on their heels."

Mason started in hockey as a forward/defenceman, so he is used to handling the puck, but he also practises it in London with Dave Rook, the Knights' goaltending coach.

During Monday's game against Denmark, Mason made a couple of long passes out of his zone, one a monster to John Tavares at centre ice. He did it hoping the coaches would notice.

"I wasn't getting much action, so I got the chance and thought I'd make the passes," he said. "I wanted to make sure the coaches knew what I was bringing to the table."

While assistant coach Clement Jodoin knows Bernier well, having coached him for three years at Lewiston, Hartsburg knows Mason well from having faced him in the OHL. Mason's Knights defeated Hartsburg's Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in seven games last year in the OHL Western Conference semifinal.

Last year, Mason set the OHL record for most wins, going 45-13, and was named the league's goalie of the year.

Mason's time with the Peach Kings was well spent, though he concedes it must have had people wondering if "he was going anywhere with his career."

He took the Peach Kings to the 2004-05 Ontario junior C championships, which was good enough to get him a trip to London the following year to serve as backup to Adam Dennis. He only played 12 games (5-3-0), but his talent was easy to recognize and the Columbus Blue Jackets picked him.

In September, he appeared in three of Columbus' pre-season games, posting a 1-2-0 record with a 1.78 goals-against average and .913 save percentage. The win, 4-1 over the Sabres in Buffalo, was especially memorable, because he made 20 saves, was named one of the game's stars, and had his parents in the crowd.

Mason said now that he's got the chance, he intends to make the most of it.

"It's an awesome feeling," he said. "I take a lot of pride in my hockey and to be Canada's No. 1 goaltender for the world junior tournament is an unbelievable feeling.

"I've got a big smile on my face and it's something I'm looking to get going. They're giving me the ball and I'm going to run with it."

Ottawa Citizen