SUPPLIED PHOTOS
Medicine Hat Tigers forwards Noah Davidson and Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll (pictured)were golden at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, taking first place with the United States in a 5-3 win over Sweden on Aug. 16.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The United States captured their first gold at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup since 2003, just the second in the country’s history. There was no other goal for the two Medicine Hat Tigers in the U.S. lineup.
“We knew that stat but it’s kind of hard to kind of wrap your head around it, how long it’s really been going into it,” Noah Davidson said. “We didn’t really have that feeling that we weren’t going to win, just because the U.S. hasn’t won a long time, there was a lot of internal belief in the group and we knew what we were able to accomplish, and we executed.”
Davidson and fellow Tiger forward Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll helped the U.S. defeat Sweden 5-3 on Aug. 16 for the historic gold medal win. They took down Canada 4-3 in a shootout on Aug. 15 before beating Sweden in the final.
“We played with underdog mentality and we had nothing to lose,” Gordon-Carroll said. “We just went out there and the boys played USA Hockey, played smart, hard and fast and we had lots of grit, and we killed it.”
Davidson scored in the gold medal game and had an assist, finishing with three goals and six points in the five tournament games. Gordon-Carroll had a goal and an assist in five games. Both take confidence from their production in the tournament.
“Knowing you have the ability to score against the best of the best in Canada and team Sweden gives (me) confidence going into the season in Medicine Hat,” Davidson said. “It gives (me) a lot of confidence for when you go against other competition in the dub that and certain players, you’re able to score against them.”
Gordon-Carroll says he took on a different role following their 1-1 start to the tournament.
“I had a meeting with the coaches and we had to turn the team around and change the lines up a little bit,” Gordon-Carroll said. “I had a different role than I did in the first two games, it was shutting down. If my line scores and that’s great. So I felt like I did pretty well and I played my role to win a championship.”
The pair have a little over a week before training camp gets underway for the Tigers. For Gordon-Carroll, it brings his second look at the WHL and a chance at a title defence.
“It was a good warm up for the season, got to play against the best kids my age to see how I put myself against those kids,” Gordon-Carroll said. “Get just a little bit of rest right now and then get right back after it. I’m pretty warmed up for the season.”
Davidson enters his first training camp with the Tigers after signing with the club on June 19 alongside fellow Shattuck St. Mary’s skater defenceman Kyle Heger. He’s penned to play two seasons for the Tigers with a commitment to Boston College waiting for 2027. Davidson has a lot of excitement to get to Canada and don the orange and black for the first time.
“The coaching staff with Willie (Desjardins) and everybody is top, top notch and the CHL is the best junior league in the world,” Davidson said. “So that definitely helped out my decision knowing that the CHL was an option for me. I knew Shaeffer before signing and speaking to him about what his experience was and how he liked it, hearing all the positive things he had to say about Medicine Hat really sealed the deal.”
