Mitch Love (pictured) showed off his World Junior Hockey Championship gold medal and talked to the largest throng of Saskatoon media that he’s seen this season after directing the Blades through practice for the first time in a month.

“It hasn’t officially, really, set in quite yet,” said the Blue and Gold’s head coach about being a World Champ. “It was an unbelievable experience for sure. I think, just based on the adversity and the resilience of the group and where we were at the start of the tournament to where we finished…even that third period in the gold medal game…was something that probably a lot of people, including the people who were there and part of that, will remember for a long time!”

Love was an assistant coach for Canada and hopes to be part of the staff next year when the tournament is held in Edmonton and Red Deer. Speaking of the latter Alberta city, the Rebels face Love’s Blades Wednesday at 7 at SaskTel Centre.