Monday, March 1, 2010

USA came so close


You really have to admire the USA Olympic squad. They hung in there for more than 60 minutes with a team that was simply more talented than they were. Canada invented the game of hockey – they were the home team – and they were incredibly skilled and deep. To win the gold medal – the US would have to defeat them twice in Canada.

And they almost did it.
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Clawing back from a 2-0 deficit, Ryan Kesler of team USA scored at 12:44 of the second period to get within one goal. US goaltender Ryan Miller was magnificent – and kept the Americans in the hockey game.
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It looked like the score would end 2-1 – but with Miller pulled for an extra skater Zach Parise found a way to beat Robetro Luongo at 19:35 of the third period to silence the Vancouver crowd and send the game and the gold medal into overtime.
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Team USA managed 4 shots in OT, but it was Canada's Sidney Crosby who scored the game winner for Canada. This was the worst case scenario. Did it have to be Sid?
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Still – the United States showed they belong – and surprised the world in this tournament by passing Sweden, Finland and Russia for the Silver Medal.
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And the best part of all was the complete humiliation of Martin Brodeur. Marty was pulled after nearly losing to Switzerland and then losing to the US squad. It was Luongo who took team Canada to the gold medal. Marty was nothing more than a backup goalie for his country's team. And it was funny to watch Brodeur during the team celebration – trying to find someone who would hug him – or even acknowledge his presence.
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I had this crazy hope that they would find themselves one medal short and have to take Marty's to give to Crosby. Wouldn't that have been fun to watch? But no - they had enough medals on hand for everyone.
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Here's how the Rangers ended the Olympics:
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Ryan Callahan: One Assist. +2. Silver Medal.
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Chris Drury: Two Goals. +3. Silver Medal
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Olli Jokinen: Three goals. One Assist. +1. Bronze medal
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Marian Gaborik: Four Goals. One Assist.
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Henrik Lundqvist: Two Shutouts
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Not bad, guys. And tomorrow we face the Ottawa Senators as the season revs up again.

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