What an amazing game to conclude an absolutely amazing hockey tournament! For me, I truly wanted the USA to win VERY badly, and when Zach Parise tied the game with only a few seconds left, it was as exciting a moment in hockey as I have seen since last years playoffs.......and it sucked to see that young team come so close to the prize only to lose it in overtime.......BUT if that had to happen, it could not have happened in a better way if you ask me. Sidney Crosby, clutch as usual ends a give and go with Jerome Iginla by beating Ryan Miller for the GWG in overtime, sending the entire nation of Canada into a party that will probably last for about a week. Add Olympic gold to the Crosby trophy case, along with 2 GWGs and despite his overall modest statistics, I think he earned his stripes on this gold medal team.
But back to the USA...............no way should these guys hang their heads in ANY way........this team was dubbed the Sochi team, alluding to the fact that the changing of the guard in USA hockey had them sending a very young and inexperienced team into the Vancouver Olympics, and very little was expected of them other than to gain experience for the 2014 Sochi olympics..........The experts had Russia as the main threat to favorite Canada, with some picking Sweden or even Slovakia as possible dark horses................All this young team did was beat Canada once in the preliminary round, blow out the Fins, a very experienced and talented team, before taking Canada to OT in the gold medal game. Team USA should proudly take their silver medal and know that as they go into Sochi in 2014 they will likely be one of the three favorites to fight it out for gold..............I was amazed by Zach Parise, Ryan Miller, Ryan Suter, Brian Rafalski, and Jamie Langenbrunner........... I was also very proud of the way Brooks Orpik played, particularly in the gold medal game always in position, making all the right choices and playing a physical game throughout.......Pittsburgh native Ryan Malone also made me remember how much of a horse he was on the Pens, and Ryan Whitney.......well he made me like the trade that brought Chris Kunitz and Eric Tangredi to the Pens even more!! I loved the work horse game played by Brendan Morrow and Chris Drury and will probably be able to enjoy watching them play more than I had before.......at the end of the day though, the depth of Canada won the day, and if that HAD to happen, there is nobody I would rather see make that play than Sidney Crosby! All you haters say what you want, but you sound more and more foolish by the day. The kid did not have world beater numbers, but he did play very sound two way hockey the whole tournament, and he had two big game winning goals including the shootout game winner v Switzerland, and then the gold medal winning overtime goal against the US. Look at Crosby's resume: Back to back CHL player of the year awards in QMJHL and Memorial Cup Championship, 102 points in his first NHL season, the youngest ever to do so, Art Ross Trophy as scoring champion, Hart Memorial Trophy as MVP, and Lester B Pearson Award as Players Association MVP(he was the youngest person EVER to win a scoring title in ANY North American sport and the only the 7th in history to win these 3 awards), the youngest captain in the NHL and the youngest to ever win the Stanley Cup, silver and gold in the world juniors representing Canada, and now a GWG to win Gold in the Olympics........then remember he is ONLY 22........The kid is clutch, and he delivered AGAIN under more pressure than any of us will ever know............Congratulations 87, you deserve it.
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