I’m glad they won
Before we sat down to watch the Gold Medal Men’s Hockey game between Canada and the US yesterday afternoon, I told Lori that I hoped Canada would win. She excoriated me for being unpatriotic. I explained that I’d obviously be happy if the Americans won, for the obvious reasons - but there were more (and better) reasons why I was actually hoping Canada would take the gold… ideally in a close, well-played, very entertaining game (which fortunately for us is exactly what we got).
1. The US was tops in the medal count, setting a Winter Olympics record with 37 (whether gold or silver in this, the final Olympic event, we knew they’d end with that “record”). Do we really need to take gold in Men’s Hockey to say we had enjoyed a *great* Olympics? Which leads me to…
2. Canada set a Winter Olympics record with the 14th gold medal - but they’re the host country… so I’m glad they did it while the host country. On top of that, apparently in two previous Winter Olympics held on Canadian soil (Montreal ‘76 & Calgary ‘88), they host country secured a total of zero gold medals. Nice turnaround for these Games, eh?
3. This just in: Hockey is the national sport in Canada. This means there was more pressure on their players than anyone else, and more joy for their fans/countrymen (and countrywomen) than could’ve been realized anywhere else.
4. Related to #3, the Women did their part and took home Gold (with the Americans again attempting to play the foil)… which only put additional pressure on the Men.
5. Canada was the better team, and thus deserved to win. The Americans went further then their talent was supposed to bring them - and indeed beat Canada earlier in the tournament - in large part due to the outstanding work of Ryan Miller. Sure, I would’ve loved to have seen Tim Thomas play some meaningful minutes (he got some “long relief” work in a mop-up role vs. Finland) - but how and why would Ron Wilson take Miller out? He was named Tournament MVP (didn’t realize they did that in the Olympics) even though is team didn’t win Gold, and I can’t imagine anyone questioned that choice. Underdogs winning is great theater, especially when it’s the home underdog who comes through (see A., U.S. of, February 1980) - but the home team this Olympics was the favorite, and is full of a team of good guys as far as I can tell (with the exception of Martin Brodeur, who nailed his sister-in-law who was also the babysitter, IIRC, leading to the dissolution of his marriage earlier last decade - but he got pulled after the disgrace of losing to the Americans earlier in the tourney, so one could argue he got his just desserts… I suppose).
So to sum up (which I suppose I coulda just did initially): As Americans, we got plenty of achievement and excitement from our athletes in these games - so I was happy to see the home-country Men’s Hockey Team deliver the record-setting Gold medal to their fellow Canadians, as they were expected to do in the first place, leading to a massive celebration from British Columbia to Prince Edward’s Island.
Aside from that, what a great, great game! Parise ties it for the US with about 20 seconds to go, and Sydney Crosby (was this scripted or what?) scores the game-winner coming out of the corner on a neat dish from Iginla on a shot that simply beat Miller (i.e. it was a clean goal, not a cheap goal where Miller made a bad play, for example). The announcers noted that Luongo was a bit shaky, and he was - but hey, he held the fort enough… and gave up three fewer goals than Brodeur did a week ago. Keep in mind the Canadians scored three goals in both games vs. the US… they lost when Brodeur gave up 5, and won when Luongo only gave up 2… the guy does deserve a little credit here, and perhaps he “looked shaky” cuz the Americans played very well (against Canada specifically, and in the tourney in general). Crisp play from both teams, an intense competition… just great theater.
And I’m glad Canada won.
March 1st, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Fuck Canada. For all their pre-Olympic bluster about being the medal leader this Olympics, blah, blah, blah - I would have laughed my head off had they lost yesterday in their “national” sport, to a team that wasn’t expected to do anything.
Oh, well…
March 1st, 2010 at 3:02 pm
I had no interest either way. Once Sweden was knocked out, the tourney lost my attention. There was way too much made of USA beating Canada in the prelims as a major upset. Last I checked the entire USA roster is comprised on NHL players…. Seems to me at best it would be like when the Cleveland Browns beat Pittsburgh earlier this year. If the US had taken gold it would not have been that big a deal, and I am only glad they lost so I don’t have to hear the ridiculous comparisons to 1980
Since I am still a novice as far as hockey - quick question….Does the Crease rule apply in the Olympics, because Parise was definitely in the crease.
March 1st, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Crease rule applies, yes, but (a) you now also have to interfere with the goalie and (b) if the puck is in there you can be in there. I haven’t gone back and looked, but I think it was a good goal.
As for being happy that Canada won, I feel like I’m the Canada apologist in the group if there is one, and I don’t think even I would go so far as to say I’m glad they won. I also won’t go so far as to say “fuck Canada” though a la The Gonz.
I guess I’d say I’m not upset that Canada won for some of the reasons that Cliffy mentioned, but I’d have preferred that *our* team had won. I like many of those guys, and it would have validated the work that USA Hockey has done in the last decade to build a real national team program, and also the strategy of putting together a team rather than the best collection of talent. I personally think the reason that Canada played down to other teams in terms of the talent gap is they had too many damned first line centers on the team. Except for the San Jose line of Heatley, Jumbo Joe and Marleau (how does one team in the NHL have a line that good, btw?), the rest of the team was basically first line centers. And it showed. Iginla and Crosby had no chemistry until the last play of the games. That said, that team was stacked, and it would have taken a lot to beat them on home ice, and our guys almost pulled it off. They should be proud of that.
All in all, the whole thing was really great for the sport, so that’s good too.
March 2nd, 2010 at 8:35 am
I’m with Jakes (given my understanding of the rule, confirmed by his explanation), puck was in the crease so Parise can be there and he didn’t touch or impede Luongo in any way… good goal.
While it would indeed seem to be great for the sport, I’m not buying that there will be any net positive impact to the NHL - and thus I’m torn about the current debate centered around whether NHL players should go to Russia in 2014. This Olympic tournament was terrific, and not just for the Gold Medal game… the overall play in most/all of the games (at least from what I saw) was excellent… very entertaining. I submit that having the best players in the world (i.e. a lot of NHL players, even on teams other than Canada/USA) tends to help to raise the level of play. I do believe that “playing for one’s country” helps too. Yes, NHLers are trying to play for a Cup, and a paycheck, and some… even for the organization and/or fans - but playing for country, be it USA, Canada, Sweden, Russia, Finland, Slovakia, whatever… yeah, I think it brings out the best in most of these guys.
However, the Olympic game is not the NHL game. Folks who may have tuned in to watch the Olympics, even just the Gold Medal game, will be sorely disappointed if/when they subsequently tune into an NHL game - and consequently, I just don’t see the “bump” that some think will happen, or certainly that many suggest needs to happen to justify the NHL shutting down for 2 weeks in the middle of the season when it’s only major competition is the NBA (and I would argue the NBA and NHL tend to have separate fan bases) i.e. football’s done, and baseball hasn’t started yet (and I could see the NHL losing more fans to one or both of those sports, given the choice).
If Bettman is making purely a business decision, I think he’d be a fool to allow** his players to play in Russia in 2014 - or in any future Olympics, for that matter. However, I still hope he does… cuz even if it’s on tape-delay or TiVo, the Olympic hockey tournament featuring NHL players is just great, great hockey to watch.
**I heard Ovechkin say that even if Bettman doesn’t shut down the NHL to “allow” players to go play in the Olympics, he still intended on playing for his home country in 2014. I suppose the NHL and/or the team (in this case, the Capitals) could or would suspend and/or fine a player who goes AWOL to play in the Olympics, but I wonder if they would actually do that to one of the two best players in the sport (and thus by definition, probably one of only two NHL players that a majority of fans could even name). If Bettman doesn’t officially shut down, but then does nothing when Ovechkin bolts, he’s tacitly allowing anyone to leave their NHL teams for two weeks… leaving the NHL with a watered-down product akin to having replacement players suit up during a strike. If he doesn’t shut down, and then penalizes guys that leave to play for their country, he could have quite a PR nightmare on his hands - and a pissed-off Players Union (which may or may not be a big deal, since Players Unions generally get pissed at owners/commissioners of their sports anyhow).
I dunno… it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.
And I’m still glad Canada won.