Sports Perspectives

By Alex

Canada’s 14th and final gold medal came by way of Team Canada’s scintillating 3-2 overtime win over Team USA.

No disrespect to the other sports, but this is the game everyone and their cousin from Nunavut was waiting to see. Despite the ironic fact that millionaire professional athletes were participating in what’s supposed to be an amateur event.

I don’t how many people watched the game, but if the quarterfinals game against Russia garnered something like 11 million viewers, I can just imagine what the numbers will be like for a gold medal game. Only a Littlest Hobo reunion show would come close in my estimation.

The game itself was a great piece of competition. The Americans, who accounted for themselves so consistently well throughout the tournament, deserved any respect shown to them. Despite what was said about Canada’s net overall depth and talent advantage, we all knew it was going to be a battle of will and attrition. Every single one of these players play in the NHL so the concept of “doing what it takes to win” wasn’t exactly lost on any of them.

Nor, as it was in the past, was the notion that Canadian players were champions at all levels a lopsided advantage given the international success of the United States since 1996 at the World Cup, World Juniors and even the Olympics. The United States development system is producing highly skilled players who can play a physical game with incredible skating acumen – exhibit A Zach Parise. Other great players filled their roster from Patrick Kane to Ryan Kesler to Brian Rafalski and Eirk Johnson.

While it’s true many of them hone their skills in Canada, they’re still a product of USA Hockey at its roots. Moreover, players like Jamie Langenbrunner, an outstanding Stanley Cup clutch player, are the norm on American sides now.

What about coaching? Where Canada could rely on poor coaching from European adversaries, no such advantage exists with Americans. Ron Wilson and his staff that included John Tortorella, are great NHL coaches and had their team extremely well prepared during the Olympics.

Team Canada is a perennial hockey super power. This fact is well known. They have the sexy names and one of the greatest players in the game today in Sidney Crosby. The have a different style of player altogether from all other nations. This edition of Team Canada, I argue, was probably pound for pound its most skilled (Rick Nash, Dany Heatley, Joe Thornton, Scott Niedermayer, Ryan Getzlaf, Duncan Keith, Drew Doughty, Jonathan Toews to name a few) , if not most balanced, team over the last 20 or maybe 30 years.

As for the game itself, Team USA erased a two-goal deficit (Corey Perry had given Canada a 2-0 lead in the second period) scoring the tying goal with under a minute to go in the third period sending the game into over time. It was gut check time for Team Canada. Their experience and composure, so evident throughout the match in contrast to American excitement, remained in the extra frame.

It was only fitting the player anointed to carry the torch from Maurice Richard, Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux would score the winning goal. Crosby, with a deceptively quick release (after a slick pass from Jarome Iginla) only Bill the Kid could match, slipped the puck past the only goalie in hockey playing at the optimum level like Ryan Miller with a chance of stopping it.

3-2. Game over. Tough pill no doubt for USA. A huge sigh of relief for Canada for sure.

***

Finland put an end to Slovakia’s quest for its first ever medal in hockey since it became independent from Czechoslovakia edging them 4-3. The Finns were blasted by the U.S in the semi-finals 6-1, while Slovakia came up short in a 3-2 loss to Canada. Were it not for Roberto Luongo’s save off Pavol Demitra, that game was heading to OT.

Slovakia had defeated both Russia and Sweden in previous encounters.

***

The win gave Canada its 8th gold medal at the Olympic games and second in eight years. The United States earned its 12th medal (second to Canada’s fifteen) but are still in search of their 4th gold medal and first since 1980. Meanwhile Finland have been a consistent manufacturer of medals with its 5th all-time medal in Vancouver. Since 1994, they won silver in Torino, bronze in Nagano, bronze in Lillehammer.  Impressive as this is, gold still eludes them.