IIHF – Canada-United States: The Complete New Year’s Eve history

Well, if you’re a hockey fan in North America, you couldn’t have asked for anything more to close out the year. Canada and the United States will battle it out on New Year’s Eve…again! Yes, first place in Group A is on the line, but we all know that doesn’t matter as much as each country wanting to beat the other, at hockey or tiddlywinks.

This meeting marks the 50th game between the nations at the World Juniors. Canada has a marked advantage overall, 34-3-12, but if you go back only the last 15 years, that advantage is a mere 8 wins and 7 losses. In other words, even Steven. 

This will be the 12th New Year’s Eve meeting between the teams, far and away the most between any two countries on this symbolic date. Canada holds a 7-1-3 edge. The last time they played on 31 December was back in 2016, a 3-1 U.S. victory thanks to a big game from Jordan Greenaway (one goal, two assists) and a sparkling performance in goal from Joseph Woll.

No matter how much fans want this matchup, however, the determining factor is being placed in the same group, and final placings over the last few years have not been favourable to this rivalry. This year, they’re back.

The “New Year’s Eve game,” as a concept, didn’t get rolling until 1996 when the IIHF went to ten teams in two divisions with a playoff system. Previously, the teams had played only twice on 31 December, randomly, in 1980 (U.S. win) and 1987 (Canada win).

But they played back-to-back in 1998 and 1999, the first a 5-2 win by the Americans and then a 1-1 tie just hours before the global fears of Y2K proved to be…nothing. Jeff Taffe netted the tying goal for the Americans midway through the third period in Skelleftea, Sweden in ’99 before an announced crowd of…596. Times have changed!

In 1998, the Canadians had tied the game, 1-1, early in the second, but the U.S. scored three later in the period to take control.

There was another break of a few years before Canada eked out a 3-2 win in NYE 2005. It was perhaps the oddest win in World Juniors history. The teams were playing for first place in the group, but Canada would claim top spot even with a tie; the Americans had to win. So in the dying minutes, the score 2-2, the U.S. pulled goalie Cory Schneider looking for the winning goal. Instead, Kyle Chipchura scored the winner into the empty net with 33 seconds remaining.

The teams played in consecutive years again in 2008 and 2009, Canada winning both. The first was one for the ages for Canadian fans, and one to forget for American supporters. The U.S. jumped into a 3-0 lead by the 12:35 mark, and the U.S. players were not shy in their celebrations after the third goal. But Canadian phenom John Tavares took the team under his wing, scoring two quick goals soon after and completing his hat trick with an empty netter in what proved to be a dominant win, 7-3. 

A year later, a classic, the kind of game you always remember and talk about. Canada scored early, but the Americans replied less than two minutes later. The Americans went ahead 2-1, only to see Canada tie it. The U.S. then took a 4-2 lead early in the third, but the determined Canadians played patient hockey and tied the game midway through the period. A scoreless overtime led to a shootout, and teams combined for a whopping five goals, three to Canada for the win.

In 2011, Canada won again, 3-2, in another classic. This time they roared out to a 3-0 lead in the first, and maintained that lead well into the third. Then the U.S. struck for two, but try as they might hey couldn’t get the equalizer.

In 2013 and 2014, the rivalry continued, but Canada again came out on top both times. In the former, a goalless first period followed with a goal each in the second. Connor McDavid gave Canada a 2-1 lead, and Curtis Lazar made it 3-1. A late goal gave the U.S. hope, but there was no third goal to be had this night. In 2014, Canada got the lead in the second and was always just a goal ahead as the Americans fought valiantly from behind. The running score was 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 3-1, 3-2, 4-2, 4-3, 5-3, ending with a Max Domi empty netter.

And still, 50 games into the rivalry, it never gets old. The outdoor game in Buffalo, a 5-4 win in a shootout for the home side, might well be the purest “best” World Junior game ever played. From the early days of the World Juniors, when the U.S. didn’t have much of a program and the results showed, to the last quarter century when the USNTDP has been in place, the rivalry has grown and given hockey fans many oohs and aahs over the years. Tonight, in Ottawa, as we say goodbye to 2024, we can surely expect more of the same.