Sarnia Sting goaltender Ben Gaudreau is basking in the glory of a gold medal win at the U-18 World Hockey Championship in Texas.
The 18-year-old stopped 31 of the 34 shots he faced in the team’s 5-3 win over Russia Thursday night.
He was named the tournament's top goaltender, finishing with five wins, a .919 save percentage, and a goals against average of 2.20.
Gaudreau arrived back in Canada with his teammates Friday. He said having the support of Sting fans, and the entire country, has been amazing.
"It's something special, even coming back to the airport and being welcomed by people that you don't know," said Gaudreau. "To know that you made the country proud is an awesome feeling, I don't really have words to describe it. It's an unreal feeling and I couldn't have done it with a better group of guys."
He said it was great to be back in game action after not having played since last season due to the pandemic.
"You don't really get that game-like feel unless you're in the game, so it probably took me the first two games to really start feeling myself and feeling good about how I'm playing. It took a while but it definitely came around, and I feel good now."
Gaudreau is eligible for the 2021 NHL Draft, and is hoping his performance at the tournament will boost his stock.
"Hopefully it improves my draft stock for sure," he said. "My confidence really rose. At the beginning of the tournament I was a little bit short on confidence, having not played in a while. It kind of took a little bit to get into it but I got my confidence back and started feeling really good."
Sting General Manager Dylan Seca said the team couldn't be more thrilled for Gaudreau.
"To see what he's had to go through this past year, no different than a bunch of other players on our team and in our league, but to be as resilient and committed as he was and to watch it culminate with the team playing well and winning a gold, it was an awesome experience for him to go through."
Gaudreau said he'll be in quarantine for the next two weeks but is already looking forward to the NHL draft, scheduled for July 23-24.