All I can say at this point is wow! These Olympic games have been nothing short of amazing. Night after night I have been able to witness great games as players have been playing their hearts out for their countries. One of the biggest surprises of the games has been the dominance that team USA has shown throughout the tournament. As I currently write this weeks’ post, the USA is well on its way to a Gold medal game as they lead Finland 6-1 nearing the end of the 3rd. This whooping of Finland was by no means expected and the game was basically over after the 1st period with the U.S. leading 6-0 thanks to 2 goals by Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane and even 1 by Avs center Paul Stastny.
The U.S. will be playing the gold medal game on sunday afternoon against either Slovakia, who shocked Sweden 4-3 in the quarterfinals, or Canada, which throttled Russia 7-3 in the same round. A potential rematch against Canada is what is expected as the Canadians are huge favorites against a surprising Slovakian team. If Canada does make it to the gold medal game against the U.S. I am sure it will be as good or even better than their first meeting this tournament last Sunday, which the U.S. won 5-3.
If your like me then you are still trying to get over the excitement of already beating Canada in what was one of the most exciting, and emotional hockey games I have ever watched. The U.S. was of course the underdog in the match but never played like they were as they were led by the stellar play of defenseman Brian Rafalski and goalie Ryan Miller. Rafalski started the scoring of the night as he notched the first two U.S. goals against former team-mate and Canadian goalie Martin Brodeur. Former Av Chris Drury and Devils forward Jaimie Langenbrunner scored goals of their own to make it 4-2 near halfway through the 3rd. When it comes to hockey however you can never count out the Canadians as Sid the kid scored a goal of his own late into the 3rd to make it a 4-3 game. At this point in the game it seemed like everything was about to go Canada’s way and an eventual tying goal would be scored. To be honest with you I have never been so nervous watching a game then I was watching the last few minutes of this thriller. The U.S. crushed any hopes for a comeback however as hometown Canucks forward Ryan Kesler scored one of the most hardest working and exciting empty net goals in recent memory. Below is a home video of that game clinching goal.
Bring on the Canadians I say. If Canada can in fact defeat Slovakia and make it to the gold medal game, then expect the arena to be rocking on Sunday as gold and pride will be on the line. I hope you all will be watching and cheering for our boys to bring hockey gold back to the states. If the U.S. can win the gold Sunday it will be our first since the “do you believe in miracles team” back in 1980. Well that’s all for this week, be sure to tune in Sunday afternoon.
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I could not agree more about how well our American hockey team has played throughout the winter olympics. Sunday’s gold medal game against Canada had to have been one of the best hockey games I gave ever seen. Its too bad we came up short but we will be doin work in Russia for a gold medal chance in 4 years. USA!!!
WOW! I couldn’t have said it better myself. The only game that may have been more emotional the our first meeting with the Canadians was our second, and what a heart-breaker it was at that. Everyone seems to have fallen hard on the American team for their gold medal loss but I say bravo. The US came into the game with the youngest Olympic hockey team of the tournament and dominated, in the end giving us one of the most exciting hockey games I have seen. It was hard to see the US loose it but what more can you ask for than a little 4 on 4 overtime. It was nice though to see Stastny back home to take on Detroit on Monday.
We could almost scream “Do you believe in miracles?” again on Sunday… such a close game. I think Parise could almost have been the next Eurozione (pardon my spelling, this is being timed). I agree that the first game against Canada was amazing, but man… that gold medal game was FANTASTIC, except the ending was a little off. Ryan Miller was beyond human the entire olympics and I’m glad that he got the MVP. Now the whole world knows that USA hockey is till really great…