With one period left and down two goals, it was do-or-die time for the U.S. National Junior Team, which included three Spartan hockey players.
The gold medal was on the line.
It seemed as if the stars were aligned against a USA win: Team Canada had never given up more than two goals per game during the tournament. The Canadians were led by Pittsburgh Penguins' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury, who was also last year's first overall draft pick, and the Americans had never won the gold in the history of the world junior championships.
The last time Team USA medaled was in 1997, bringing home the silver, rounding the total numbers of medals in the 28-year history of the tournament to just three.
But one positive outweighed all the negatives, which, according to MSU sophomore forward David Booth, was faith.
With that faith and a bit of luck, the underdog Americans charged back in the final 20 minutes to score three unanswered goals and grab the gold from the Canadians. The tournament, held from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5 in Finland, featured the best players younger than 20 from their respective countries.
"I don't know if there was doubt, but we were a little worried going into the third (trying to score) three goals on an NHL goaltender. You have your worries, but with faith anything is possible," Booth said.
USA Head Coach Mike Eaves, currently Wisconsin's head coach, cast his players' worries aside and reminded them what it took to win.
"Going into the second, (Eaves) talked about how to manufacture goals and the things that goal scorers do," Booth said. "We all looked at him, and we all just said, 'Hey, this is the chance. We've got 40 minutes; it's the last time we're going to put on the red, white and blue for our country.'"
Defenseman Corey Potter was on the ice when Patrick O'Sullivan scored the game-winning goal - or rather, when Fleury put the puck into his own net. After Fleury mishandled O'Sullivan's initial shot, the puck hit Canada's Braydon Coburn and bounced off Fleury and into the net.
"Going into the third period, we were down two goals, and to come out and score two quick goals was amazing," Potter said. "When I saw the (game-winning) goal, I was astonished."
Booth, Potter and goaltender Dominic Vicari have been home to East Lansing and their MSU teammates for almost a week. Vicari started in goal in a 4-1 exhibition loss to Finland and backed up Michigan goalie Al Montoya the rest of the tournament.
Eaves had nothing but praise for MSU's gold medalists, citing his decision to move Booth to the third line in the championship game as a factor in USA's third-period rush.
"What happened in the Canada game is that actually our top two lines were somewhat flat. We made our third line bigger by putting David Booth on the left side with (Dan) Fritsche (with the Columbus Blue Jackets of the NHL) and (Maine's) Greg Moore," Eaves said. "We found that worked for us in that third period. We were able to gain some momentum and actually because of the switches I made, it helped us get the job done."
At MSU, Potter mans the young blueline with freshman Ethan Graham as the first defensive pair unit. In Finland, Potter was paired with Michigan defenseman Matt Hunwick, and the results couldn't have been better, Eaves said.
"They're so hard to beat one-on-one," Eaves said. "They keep the puck when they have the puck, they keep things simple, make very efficient plays. Probably the best thing about those two you could say after a game is, 'Matty and Corey, I didn't even notice you.'
"Then you know they played a really good game."
Thirteen players from the under-18 team that captured the gold this past April were brought back to compete in Finland. Potter and Booth also were teammates there.
"To have someone with you at everything - at under-18, come to State, go to Finland - that's what's really special, the memories you share," Booth said.
