The thrill of watching Team Canada and their son win gold for the nation at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship will live on in the minds of the family of Jacob Bernard-Docker. 

Especially memorable will be how the Canadians were able to stage a comeback. Down 3-1 to the Russians with less than 11 minutes remaining, they scored three unanswered goals to win the top prize in men's junior hockey.

Having watched the world juniors for many years at home, father Thomas says he was astounded by the number of Canadian fans who attend and praised them for their impact. He estimates there were 3,000 to 4,000 Canadian fans at each game.

"It was amazing," he says. "I've never been to the world juniors in Canada, but I would say it would be very similar to being in your own arena. The Canadians were loud. When they tied it up with about three minutes to go, it was loud the rest of the way. It was crazy. It was really fun."

He believes the players were able to feed off the support, especially when the chips were down.

"The Canadian fans, they're spectacular."

"I bet you if you asked those boys they'd tell you it helped in the gold medal game when things weren't going their way. The cheers and the emotions kept it going for them."

He says his son played well and was quick to praise the entire team.

"He did well, he worked hard. I would say that there were a lot of boys who contributed as a whole on the team. All of these kids are fantastically talented and they're asked to take on roles I don't think they've had on any other team, and they do it with pride."

"It was pretty cool to watch."

Bernard-Docker logged the most ice time of any Canadian skater in the tournament, averaging nearly 19 minutes per game.  He also scored in the quarter-final against Slovakia. 

With roots in Canmore, the Bernard-Docker family has resided in Cochrane for three years to allow Jacob, younger brother Seth and sister Island to attend Springbank's Edge School. All three play defense.

Jacob, 19, returned directly to the University of North Dakota, where he is in his second season with the Fighting Hawks.

The 6'1" defenceman was drafted by the Ottawa Senators 26th overall in the 2018 NHL entry draft. He is the highest-drafted player in the history of the AJHL's Okotoks Oilers, where he played two seasons.

In his final AJHL season, he scored 20 goals and had 21 assists in 49 games. That same season he was named the CJHL’s Top Defenceman and was also awarded the AJHL's W.G. (Bill) Scott Memorial Trophy as the league's most outstanding defenceman.

He was also a member of the Canada West team that won the World Junior A Challenge in Turo, N.S. in 2017.

Prior to that, he played for the Airdrie Extreme AAA bantam team, Edge School Elite 15s and dressed for a few games with the AC Avalanche.

His younger brother Seth also plays defense and is in his second full season with the AJHL's Okotoks Oilers. He played one season with the Bow Valley Timberwolves before joining the Airdrie Extreme, then attending the Edge School.