The United States winter Olympians went up to Canada and made the whole country proud in collecting 37 medals. This broke the record for most medals ever in a single Winter Olympic games. However, the defining moment and crescendo to the 2010 Olympic Games has left many Americans with a bitter taste in their mouth.
I really thought history was going to repeat itself. It would have been 50 years ago to the day that the U.S. defeated Canada in Olympic hockey to win gold in Squaw Valley, CA. Also, I thought it would have been fitting to repay the Canadians for beating us on home soil in the gold medal game at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake. However, it wasn’t meant to be as the Canadian National team was able to exact revenge on the Americans in the gold medal game winning 3-2 in overtime.
The Canadian National team featured 14 NHL All-Stars, compared to just four on the American roster. Not surprisingly, the majority of hockey fans and media thought the Canadians would come out breathing fire and demolish the Americans in the gold medal game. The reality is that the game was very evenly contested and the Americans took the Canadians best shot and had a chance to win gold in overtime.
U.S. hero Zach Parisse scored with 24 seconds left in regulation to tie the game and send it to overtime. The U.S. showed the grit and determination that makes this country great in erasing a 2-0 deficit in order to force overtime. U.S. goaltender Ryan Miller was named the tournament MVP and played another outstanding game. The first two Canadian goals were a result of poor turnovers right in front of the U.S. goal leaving Miller with little chance to make a save. However, I am disappointed in the winning goal as Crosby scored from a very tight angle on the shortside. I am even more upset that of all the people to score the winning goal for Canada, it was my least favorite player in the world, Sydney Crosby. I just hope that Alexander Ovechkin ripped his TV off the wall after watching Crosby celebrate once again in a big moment, and will use this as fuel to propel the Capitals to the Stanley Cup.
Team Canada had better skaters and offensive skill, and certainly benefitted from the open ice of 4 on 4 hockey in overtime. The Americans were a physical team that was hurt by the Olympic overtime rules, but I don’t want to make any excuses. Even if the U.S. had won gold, Americans would have cared for one day, and by tomorrow people would have been talking about the NFL combine. If Canada had lost this game, they would have been second guessing this team for the next four years.
Here are my questions to the readers: 1) what did you think of the 4 on 4 rule in OT? 2) do you think Olympic hockey should return to amateurs in 2014, or should the NHL send their stars to Russia in the next Winter Olympics? 3) Did anyone dig the female curling athletes? I know I did.
Woodman – I hate Duke basketball the most, Crosby a close 2nd.
Filed under: Hockey, Olympics Tagged: | brian rafalski, Canadian Mens' hockey team, patrick kane, ryan miller, sydney crosby, U.S. Men's Hockey team, zach parisse
I hate Canada. And Crosby. I’m still “gutted” by the OT loss.
In some ways, I wish we had been blown out instead of losing the way we did. That way I could feel as though we really never had a chance. But to lose on 3 defensive errors, and to have Crosby of all people be the one to finish it, just makes your blood boil…
I vote for pros in Olympic baseball and hockey, but amateurs in Olympic hoops.
F- Crosby, F-Canada, F- Pittsburgh.
Hell of a game…I’ll say this, I really don’t mind that Canada won (as unpatriotic as that sounds) because we still had a great and improbable run and, let’s face it, the Gold to them meant a lot more than a Gold to us in that spot.
I actually loved the 4 v. 4 overtime rule…the spreadout style was fun to watch.
I think the NHL also got exactly what they wanted out of this…the 2 premeire countries battling it out in Overtime on the biggest stage. I’ll be pretty shocked if their ratings don’t bump up in the coming weeks.
All in all, the Olympics were awesome and the Hockey was awesome.
Tim,
3rd highest rated hockey game in the history of the sport. I hope Bettman puts together a marketing plan for the NHL soon to capitalize on the momentum from this great tournament. More importantly, I hope the Capitals end their 3 game losing streak when the NHL resumes its season.