Team Canada families, fans celebrate gold medal win

Hockey fans across the country celebrated Friday as Team Canadadefeated Russia to winthe world junior hockey championship in Leksand, Sweden.

One such fan, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, congratulated Team Canada coach Craig Hartsburg by phone from Ottawaafter the game.

"They sure looked great today. You had the whole country cheering for you," Harper said."I think everybody's taken an early weekend to watch the game."

None weremore happy and relievedabout the 4-2 result, which gave Team Canada its third consecutive gold medal,than the parents of the Canadian players. Many took time off work to watch their sons play.

"I am so exhausted. But you know, you just keep on going because it's so exciting and you want it so bad and I thought for sure tonight I'll relax, but I'm so excited," Andree Gilbert, whose son Jonathan Toews is a forward on the team, told CBC News.

Toews, who scored two goals including the game-winner,was named to the tournament's all-star team after the game.

"I could tell at the beginning of the game that they were in the zone and things were clicking and there was nothing that was going to get in their way," said Gilbert, who was celebrating with friends and co-workers at a Winnipeg restaurant.

Gilbert made headlines earlier this weekwhen she revealed that she was so nervous that she hid in the bathroom with the fan turned on as Toews made his three shootout attempts during the semifinal match against the U.S.

This time around, Gilbert said she didn't need to lock herself in the washroom.

"I was pretty relaxed today," she said. "One time I really did want to go to the washroom and people wouldn't let me go!"

Meanwhile, as many as100 friends, family members and fans of forward Darren Helm gathered at the St. Andrews Community Club near Winnipeg to show support for their hometown favourite.

Helm's mother, Coreine, started crying when the game ended.

'Just come home'

"What would I say to him? I'd tell him I love him andyou did the best, and just come home!" she exclaimed with a laugh after the game.

Helm invited hockey fans to meet at the Winnipeg airport at 9:30 p.m. CT Saturday to welcome her son home.

In Caroline, 120 kilometres northwest of Calgary, community members watched defenceman Kris Russell in action.

Caroline arena manager Deb Northcott said Friday that Russell and his twin brother, who also plays junior hockey, are well-known in the community.

"Their family is such a nice family, and the boys are such well-mannered very nice boys, very supportive of the area they're from," Northcott said. "They put a lot back into the community, too."

She added that everyone in town is thrilled that Russell set a record this year for the most goals scored by a defenceman at the world junior championship.