Amid the celebrations by Team USA after winning the gold medal at the World Junior Hockey Championships Tuesday night was a blue barrel with the logo of Team Canada. For many, their thoughts immediately went to a trash can and a clear sign of disrespect from the US aimed at their opponent in the gold medal game. Trevor Zegras, a clear standout for the Americans in the tournament, claims that's not the case.
"We pretty much had a barrel for each team we were playing," said Zegras. "And, each game we just wanted to get to the next barrel. Today was our last barrel and we threw the Canada sign up there, brought on the ice and took a picture. That was kind of our thing."
USA's head coach Nate Leaman issued a statement on Twitter saying the barrel wasn't meant as a sign of disrespect.
"Just to be transparent. It was barrel on the ice with our team after the game. It was motivation for our team to take the tournament one game at a time. I am sure every team had something of motivation. The barrel was ours. No disrespect to Canada who is a great team."
That explanation didn't sit well with many fans, who called the situation classless and tasteless.
After cruising through the entire tournament, Canada would lose 2-0 to the US in the gold medal game. All credit to the Americans, the team played an excellent, well-rounded game, scoring when they had the opportunity to doing a great job of frustrating Canada's offensive efforts throughout the rest of the game. It was USA's first gold medal at the tournament since 2017.
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