A Hero’s Welcome For Podollan Spokane Chiefs Star Takes On Status Of Celebrity To His Canadian Countrymen

The wire story out of Boston described his game against the Russians as heroic.

Jason Podollan was doing his best this week to downplay the hero role, but his life changed more than a little in the hours and days after Team Canada went undefeated in the World Junior Championships.

When Podollan, the 19-year-old star right wing of the Spokane Chiefs, touched down at the airport in Calgary on Friday - less than 24 hours after the Canadians had knocked off Sweden 4-1 for the world championship - fans pointed. Some aimed cameras. Others called out congratulations, great game.

Podollan had been elevated to celebrity status in his homeland after scoring a pair of goals in a 4-2 win over the Russians in a Wednesday night semifinal in Worcester, Mass.

The Canadians followed up the next night by cleaning up on the Swedes.

The feeling - a Canadian kid feeding his nation’s mania in an international event - is almost beyond description.

He was at home in Vernon, British Columbia, this week, disposing of interviews and diving into his Christmas presents. The reaction at the airport, he was asked. Has anything like that ever happened to him?

“You mean if I’m Jason Podollan of the Spokane Chiefs do people I’ve never met in Calgary know who I am? I don’t think so.”

Although the gold medal was Canada’s seventh in nine years and fourth straight, it was no easy skate.

Jimmy Golen filed this report for The Associated Press out of Boston:

“The beer commercials say Canada is the land where ice was born. Maybe that’s why it’s also the birthplace of the world’s best hockey players.

Yet “Russia could have easily deposed the champions were it not for a few bounces of the puck - and a few heroic Canadian performances.

“An open-net, point-blank shot from 5 feet out hit the post in the third period. Russia had another golden opportunity in the frantic final seconds when the puck bounced over a player’s stick blade as he fanned on a shot from in close.

“The Russians fired an eye-popping 49 shots on goalie Jose Theodore. The Montreal Canadiens’ draft pick (the 44th player selected in 1994) stopped all but three with spectacular moves.

“Theodore was named Canada’s player of the game, although there were several other worthy candidates, including Jason Podollan, who had two goals, and Jarome Iginla, whose short-handed goal 6:40 into the third period, making it 4-2 and essentially plunging the stake into the heart of the challengers, was a play to remember.”

With two goals in Worcester, Podollan had left his imprint in the history of this tournament for the world’s top teenage hockey players.

His wrist shot had trickled between Russian goaltender Alexei Egorov’s legs, through the 5-hole, putting Canada up 1-0.

The memory of his second goal that brought the lead to 3-1 will be a long time fading.

“It wasn’t pretty by any means - I was at the right place at the right time - but that adrenaline rush afterwards was incredible,” Podollan said in a telephone interview. “There was a shot from the point. I went to the net alone, the rebound came out, I one-timed it back at the goalie, who made a good save.

“It turned into a scramble for the rebound. I knocked the puck off the defenseman’s stick and put it in the net from the left-hand side. After that, I just tore off and went crazy.”

So crazy he remembers jumping smack into the boards.

The glow will fade, Podollan said. “You’re a celebrity for a few days and then everyone starts worrying about next year’s gold medal.”

Two Kamloops Blazers - Podollan’s rivals in the Western Hockey League but friends and teammates at the WJT made the all-tournament team. Nolan Baumgartner and Jarome Iginla had a strong series.

So, in different ways, did the 20 other guys, Podollan said.

“We had players with a lot of character from all parts of Canada who got closer with every game. You put guys like that together in one room and you feel like you can’t lose. By the gold medal game we had the feeling that it was impossible to lose.

“In a tournament like that, you give your 100 percent every shift. Every time on the ice you’re trying to get something created. I know that’s easy to say, but it’s something when it happens - everybody giving everything they brought to the table.”

Podollan is due back for Saturday’s Chiefs-Kamloops game in the Arena.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo