In camera we trust: Social media reacts to unexpected World Juniors 2020 hero

Rudi Schuller

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In camera we trust: Social media reacts to unexpected World Juniors 2020 hero image

It was the hero Canada didn't know it needed.

Deep into a tense 2020 IIHF World Juniors gold medal game, Canada got some help from the unlikeliest of sources: TSN's automated red line camera. After the Canadians mounted a furious comeback late in the third period to erase a two-goal deficit to Russia and take a 4-3 lead, the camera took centre stage.

GOLD: Full recap of Canada's gold medal-winning game

On the ice to help kill off a hooking penalty while Russia pushed for an equalizer, Canada's Aidan Dudas lifted the puck over the glass from inside his team's defensive zone and struck the camera. Mounted above center ice, the camera blocked the puck from heading directly into the stands — and apparently allowed the Canadians to avoid another costly penalty that would have seen Russia on a 5-on-3 advantage with just minutes remaining.

Naturally, the Russian team wanted an infraction called on Dudas, but the camera was deemed by on-ice officials to fall under the rule in which "a score clock or any structural object above the ice surface," when struck by the puck and causing a stoppage, "will not be assessed a penalty."

Almost instantly, the camera became a hot topic of conversation across Canada as the nation watched enraptured by the final few moments of the team's gold medal win. While the commentary crew and viewers attempted to make sense of what had just happened, the social media world also started to weigh in.

Of course, this being 2020, thoughts drifted to exactly how long the camera would migrate to social media.

That didn't take long, either.

 

Rudi Schuller