USA vs Canada (in hockey): I was absolutely enthralled by the hockey Sunday night. I'd been waiting for the USA v Canada game since the Olympics began. I'm not one for judged individual sports, so the Olympics can be a little boring for me. But the wait was paid off in a big way last night. Forget the fact that it wasn't an elimination game, or that this was basically an NHL All-Star game with different colored uniforms, that was an excellent exhibition of hockey last night. The scrappy Americans (if you can really call a team of millionaires "scrappy") defeated the hometown favorite super-powered Canadians in an extremely exciting and engaging game. In the aftermath, everyone has been focusing on the underdog story, and comparisons to the '80 team. While I find that angle painfully lazy, if that's what it takes to get the average sports fan in 'Murika to care about hockey, then so be it. I find hockey to be such a fantastic sport. Much like soccer (futbol), I feel like it gets placed on the back-burner of our collective sporting conciousness because of the alien nature of the game. Not only did we not invent the sport, but we are no where close to being the best in the world at it (although, unlike soccer (futbol), the best teams in the world compete in meaningful contests on American soil). While I am not naive enough to convince myself that one rather meaningless win will increase the profile of hockey in this country, it is good to see hockey dominating the headlines. Even the Stanley Cup winner isn't guaranteed to be the lead ESPN story anymore.
(A few of the "happy humans" from last night. From: ESPN)
Ryan Miller is awesome: How good was he last night? I believe the phrase is: "He was standing on his head." Sure he got a lot of help from his team-mates, and their aggressive defense, but he was absolutely huge. But huge was what he needed to be if the US was going to win. Everyone, in their comparisons of the game to the "Miracle on Ice," points to the fact that good goal-tending was the key to the victory. Of course it was. Have you ever heard of a hockey upset that didn't include good goal-tending? Ryan miller certainly lived up to the gargantuan task before him, only allowing 3 goals while the US was out shot 45-23 (!).
Crosby and Brodeur Fail: What a letdown from two of the best in the world at their respective positions. Crosby was -3 for the evening (remember my plus/minus rant from last week?), but, when you consider he scored a goal, was on the ice for 4 US goals. Especially considering the outstanding play Alex Ovechkin had just hours earlier on the same ice, Sid was a major letdown for Team Canada. Plus/minus is certainly not an absolute indicator of performance, but Sid the Kid look kerfuffled by the USA's active defense all game. At even strength, he seemed to be off his game. Marty Brodeur, the winningest NHL goalie ever, let in 4 goals in 22 shots. Excuse me? That's just pathetic. All across Canada this morning, people are questioning Marty's ability to compete at this level anymore. The absence of the Trapezoid certainly didn't help Marty, as he got caught out of net on a number of occasions. With home-town favorite Roberto Luongo waiting in the wings, I bet a switch may be in the near future.
MSNBC; the place where NBC dumps events it would rather you not watch: NBC somehow decided that its best ratings would come with bobsled and tape-delayed skiing on network television. Huh? The entire nation gets the Russia v Czech Republic game in HD on the main channel, but USA v Canada is relegated to the mostly non-HD MSNBC? USA v Canada on regular-NBC would've (should've) been huge. The IOC placed that game in prime-time on Sunday night for a reason, SHOW THE DAMN GAME! Instead the west coast only got the final minutes of the game, tape-delayed of course, on regular NBC. Are they trying to make people mad at them?
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