If that game didn’t create a few new hockey fans nothing will. What an amazing display of talent we were treated to in the 2010 Olympic Gold Medal Game. Wow, just wow.
Let me introduce you to my favorite sports blogger on the Interwebs, Bob Sturm of SportsRadio 1310 The Ticket. He has expressed so perfectly what I and many other hockey fans feel today, nobody does that better than the Sturminator, so without his permission I’m gonna’ steal his words below:
To suggest I have a number of varying opinions about the hockey genius we witnessed yesterday and for the last 2 weeks would be an understatement. I feel that I should blog today from a number of varying perspectives, so please find the one that matters most to you and read on:
From the perspective of the USA hockey fan who felt a punch to the stomach a few moments before 5:00 pm yesterday when Sidney Crosby stole the show:
This one really hurts. I must tell you though, this team also exceeded my expectations and renewed so much hope in the state of American hockey in the post- Modano, Hull, Guerin, Richter, Roenick, Tkachuk, Leetch, Chelios-era. Many fans, like me, did not want to cut the ties with the old legends of American hockey, and were a bit uncomfortable with not bringing along a few gray-beards for the sake of nostaligia and leadership. But kudos to Brian Burke and company for having a vision and darn near riding that vision all the way to a gold medal. They believed in the next wave of young and talented studs – who grew up inspired by the old guard – and those young players demonstrated a fight and grit and spirit that gave us plenty of hope moving forward.
I really am proud that our country can produce players like Patrick Kane, Ryan Miller, and Zach Parise to carry on the torch. The gap still exists, as our American team may not have had more than those 3 make Team Canada, but we obviously can skate with them, and on our best day we can beat them.
I was also quite excited about the job that Jamie Langenbrunner did as captain. It is hard to consider him an old man, but in a young man’s game, he did very well in making sure that if the USA was going to drop a hockey game in these Olympics, it would only be at the climax of one of the greatest games ever played.
From a US perspective, I will never forget jumping around my living room with sheer joy when Parise scored to tie the game, nor will I forget standing there motionless when Canada celebrated. It is certainly different living and dying with a team you didn’t really know or understand 2 weeks ago, but it doesn’t take long to embrace a team who wears your flag.
In my lifetime, I look forward to my countrymen winning Olympic Gold when all of the best are playing. I doubt we will ever see the day when we are favored, but surely we know now that we can compete 20 on 20 with Canada’s finest. For a while yesterday, I started thinking it was destiny, and that it would happen in 2010. But, I must say, they played so well and courageously that I don’t leave these games feeling like an American player let us down. I think they squeezed everything they had out, and fell one puck short.
Proud of USA Hockey. Thanks for the ride, boys.From the Perspective of a fan of Hockey who bangs the drum for this sport even when it annoys and frustrates me:
I think we now fully understand why this show is worthwhile. The NHL players who must work this into their sometimes-100 games + season to promote the sport are certainly pressed for time, but this is worth it. Hockey may be the only sport of the big 4 that can have a tournament where the teams are this close and as many as 6 teams have a chance at the Gold Medal according to experts (Canada, Russia, Sweden were the 3 favorites – with the USA, Finland, and Czech Republic also in the mix). Basketball isn’t far off, but the advantage the US has in hoops is far greater than the advantage Canada has on the ice. Of the first team NHL last year, 0 members of Team Canada made the list.
But, this is what happens when when the best show up and play with the passion to be the best. There is a clear difference between skating hard and skating hard with a gold medal on the line. The level of play was awesome. It was Stanley Cup Finals intensity, with 300% more talent on the ice than in any Stanley Cup Finals. The teams are loaded – uneffected with over-expansion – and playing like they mean it.
And obviously, this is key, because the world was watching. Or, at least North America was watching. I have never seen so many people talking hockey as I saw yesterday. On Twitter, people from every walk of life were trying to figure out what they were looking at as they gave hockey a chance for the first time in years.
I have no delusions that those same people are now signing up for NHL Center Ice and gathering around for the stretch drive of the NHL Season or reading up on who might be moved by the Wednesday trade deadline, but it is nice for them to see what it is that obsesses us.
This sport, at its best, takes second place to nobody. The intensity generated by a game of that magnitude and the nerves that accompany it cannot be duplicated. I love hockey for moments like yesterday. I sit through 1,000 games waiting for yesterday. And it is a pleasure.
As I said yesterday on twitter, “This. Is. Hockey. – Welcome”
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