Sam Colangelo’s journey to the top of the world stage started in an empty Edmonton hotel room.

“The first four days were in total isolation,” he said of his initial experience at the World Junior Championships.

Participants of the tournament only received physical contact with other people during daily door-to-door COVID-19 testing. Nothing but Zoom meetings filled the quiet.

This was anything but traditional.

The normally packed stands of the World Junior Championships were empty this year. Instead, fans watched the high-flying games unfold from home on TV. Some of those fans were players’ parents, who supported their boys from hundreds of miles away. 

For players like Anaheim Ducks draft pick Sam Colangelo, some things had not changed. The feeling and emotion of representing your country was well and alive despite the quiet atmosphere.

“The feeling of playing for your country is… like no other,” Colangelo said. “Wearing USA on your chest during games or even during practice is such a cool feeling.”

When out of the initial quarantine, teams were able to take to the ice and start up drills. That first glide on the ice kicked off Colangelo and Team USA’s roughly forty day journey to a gold medal. It was a whirlwind of an experience with no time to take a breath.

Colangelo’s Tournament Highlights

Boxing Day is Canada’s version of the American Black Friday, and Colangelo cashed in his only goal of the tournament that night. 

Team USA was beating Austria 10-0 with under 10 minutes remaining. The game was realistically over. Even though Colangelo and his team started to ease their feet off the gas, opportunities to score kept coming.

“I was just kind of chilling out backside looking for a one-timer.” Colangelo said. “[Brock Faber] made a great play to me and I just kind of buried it home.” 

The goal, which was Sam’s only of the tournament, was also a birthday present. Colangelo turned 19 that day.

“It was nice to get rewarded,” Colangelo said.

Even though he only scored once during the tournament, Colangelo still had an experience of a lifetime in Edmonton. Colangelo was on the bench when his team scored the game winning goal in its semifinal game against Finland. Still, he described the moment as, “one of the greatest feelings I ever had, knowing we were going to be able to compete for a gold medal.”

The gold medal game featured the two dominant forces of the tournament, the United States and Canada. Team USA pulled off the upset over Canada, triumphing over the only team in the tournament that was still undefeated.

However, controversy over a blue barrel resembling a trash can with Team Canada’s logo on it shared the headlines.

While taking a team photo following their victory over the Canadians, a member of Team USA brought out the infamous barrel onto the ice. Canadian sports network TSN incorrectly labeled the object a “trash can.” To Sam Colangelo, this was simply a misunderstanding. 

“I know it maybe came off the wrong way when we brought the barrel out on the ice but that was just kind of our excitement,” Colangelo said. 

The barrel was a motivational tool, according to Hockey USA members. It was not malicious towards Team Canada, but a gesture of gratitude and excitement for their motivational tool.

Hockey Night in Canada published on Twitter the newsletter that inspired the use of the barrels.

The metaphor "one barrel at a time" comes from a story that was sent in a Team USA internal newsletter in December

Via @TSNRyanRishaug https://t.co/KdEHoZn7r1 pic.twitter.com/921DUdGETi

— Hockey Night in Canada (@hockeynight) January 6, 2021

“Each game we had the different team’s logo on the barrel in the locker room and that just kind of motivated us,” Colangelo said. “We had finally conquered all the barrels.”

Next Stop: Huskies

With a goal medal to show off, Colangelo came back to his home state of Massachusetts. But his collegiate hockey career has just begun. For Colangelo, joining the Northeastern Huskies was a long time coming, and his relationship with the school extended beyond its proximity to home.

“Northeastern was the first school I actually ever talked to,” Colangelo said. “I fell in love with it the first time I stepped on campus,” he said.

Prior to joining the team, he already had a working relationship with staff in the hockey program.

“My dad kind of had a previous relationship with Jerry Keefe through a mutual friend,” Colangelo said. “I got to know him a lot more and there is no other coach I would rather play for.”

Due to the World Juniors, Colangelo joined the squad while halfway through the season. But the Huskies fully integrated Colangelo into their roster. His transition has been smooth, according to Northeastern Head Coach Jim Madigan.

“I thought he played well,” Madigan said after Colangelo’s first game with the team. “I mean you’ve got to remember that that’s his first college game tonight.”

Now that he started a new chapter in his hockey career, Colangelo is completely focused on his team’s success.

“I don’t really have too many personal goals other than contribute to the team as much as I can as a freshman,” Colangelo said. “We want to win the national championship and that’s our goal every year.”

Normally, Northeastern has its sights on winning the annual Beanpot tournament, which pits the four Boston-area teams (Boston University, Boston College, Harvard University and Northeastern) against each other to crown Beantown’s college hockey champion. But COVID-19 concerns cancelled the tournament this year.

“It is what it is, at this time,” Colangelo said.

COVID-19 also made its way to Northeastern hockey, and Colangelo returned to where he started his World Junior adventure, in quarantine.

“It sucks, there’s really no other words to describe it,” Sam said on going into quarantine, but “if it means we’ll back on the ice sooner… it’s worth it.”

Sam Colangelo’s career is a young one. But if his time with Team USA at the World Junior Championships have taught him anything, he’ll be taking things one barrel at a time.

John Smark