North Bay's Colton Point will be heading back to Colgate University with a gold medal around his neck.
Tyler Steenbergen broke a 1-1 tie in the final two minutes as Team Canada defeated Sweden 3-1 in the Gold Medal game at the KeyBank Centre in Buffalo tonight.
Point was on the bench for the final as backup to starter Carter Hart, but was perfect in his only start, a 6-0 victory over Slovakia on December 27th.
See related story here: North Bay's Colton Point shuts out Slovakia at World Juniors
See game story here: Canada beats Sweden to win gold at World Junior Hockey Championship
The last North Bay related players to capture gold with Team Canada was North Bay Battalion forward Nick Paul who won gold in 2015 at the World Junior tournament in Ottawa.
The KeyBank Centre will be a place Point will never forget.
Point wins gold tonight, gets a World Junior shutout in that rink and back in the summer of 2016, he was in the same facility when he heard his name called by the Dallas Stars in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.
The Colgate University netminder watched as Team Canada incumbent goalie Carter Hart was solid as he led the way for most of the tourney in goal.
“Obviously every goalie wants to be the starter and at one point you have to realize that yeah, you are not always going to be the starter and you can’t let that affect you in a negative way,” stated Point about his role with the team before the tournament started.
“You just have to keep playing your game, accept your role and just try to keep getting better every day. That’s what I have been trying to do is work very hard with our goalie coach here just trying to get better and hopefully steal a spot but if not then I’m happy with my role and I am not going to bring a negative attitude to the team at all.”
Mom and Dad, Colleen and Gary were in the stands in Buffalo for most of the games. They were thrilled to see how much support their family has received from North Bay during this World Juniors.
'Gary and I are so overwhelmed with the outpouring of support from North Bay hockey fans," she told BayToday.ca via text after Friday's gold medal game.
"We have a truly special community. We are so proud of this amazing team that Dominique Ducharme put together and his belief in Colton that he could carry the team if called upon to do so. I'm so proud of the character and teamwork he has demonstrated throughout this tournament."
As Colton turns 20 this March, this will be the last opportunity for him to play on Canada's Under-20 World Junior team.
This season, Point has been among the best goaltenders in the NCAA hockey as he is fourth with a .938 save percentage, seventh with a 1.90 GAA and sports an 8-4-4 record in 16 starts with the Colgate Raiders.
