So Close
It’s tough to capture everything about yesterday’s gold medal game in one post. One can’t say enough about a young U.S. team that didn’t stand a chance to win gold. Yesterday I found myself at a generally deserted bar watching the “biggest” hockey game in my lifetime. As I began talking with the gentleman seated near me I thought of all the storylines that made this game intriguing.
Here is Team USA with most of its players under the age of 26 and playing in their first Olympics. A trip to play for the bronze would have been a huge win for this team; some well earned experience before the next big tournament. But then we beat Canada. We saw Ryan Miller become a household name as he spearheaded the Americans to win after win. The honor of the Tournament MVP almost didn’t seem to do his play justice.
The Americans got inspired performances from young and old, hyped and maligned. It was 22 year old Bobby Ryan getting the scoring started for the tournament and 36 year old Brian Rafalski who sparked Team USA to an opening round win over Canada with two goals and an assist. Patrick Kane recovered from a slow start to net two goals and a gigantic assist in the final two games, while a much debated selection in Chris Drury had a wonderful tournament in his own right.
Any hockey fan worth his or her salt would have said that Zach Parise needed to play well in this tournament for the US to have a shot. As the game was winding down, it looked like Luongo and the Canadians were going to hold off a furious, but sloppy attempt by the US to tie the game. While the Americans had many chances in the third period, they couldn’t seem to manufacture great ones in the last couple of minutes. Parise managed to get behind both Canadian defenders though, and tipped home a rebound to tie the game with under 30 seconds to go. What a moment.
But then there was Canada. Taking off the star spangled glasses, this was a magnificent story for our northerly neighbors. The Canadians had to take the long road to the gold medal. They benched their star goalie in favor of another premiere goaltender who was playing in a city he was quite familiar with as a Vancouver Canuck. Players like Brendan Morrow, used to the glamorous role of star found themselves in front of the net taking shots to the ribs just in case they could block a goalie’s line of sight. Nine Canadian players were captains on their respective teams, including Jonathan Toews, who put the US on the wrong side of the scoreboard for the first time in the entire tournament when he gave Canada a 1-0 lead yesterday.
Finally, much to the dismay of most American hockey fans Sidney Crosby netted the game winner. The captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins took a pass from Jerome Iginla that barely missed the sticks of Ryan Suter and Brian Rafalski and slipped the puck past Ryan Miller before the US goaltender was ready. The play happened so fast and just like that it was over.
Ryan Miller slumped over. The young Americans watched from just outside their own bench as the Canadians went crazy among thousands of euphoric fans. Aside from national pride and the “why Crosby?” factor, they deserved this. It was a fitting end to the Olympics, with Canada winning the gold they had hoped for. The only gold they couldn’t do without. Team USA will eventually be able to look back on the silver medal and appreciate the amazing feat they accomplished, but for a while its going in a drawer. Because with all respect to Canada, we deserved gold too.
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