This upset wasn't quite Lake Placid and the 1980 Olympic hockey team, but it was close. It did prompt a "Do you believe in Meltdowns?" headline. And that's exactly what it was last night for Canada. A complete meltdown.Canada supposedly had the greatest collection of talent heading into the Olympic games and were the clear cut favorites to win the Gold. So far we've seen a tentative Canadian team taken to the the shootout limit by Switzerland and a mistake prone Canadian team flat out lose to the Americans. The Canadian goaltender Martin Broduer made several mistakes that lead to American goals on the night. When time was running out of the game, Broduer was pulled which lead to this spectacular goal by Phil Kesler and Doc Emrick's fantastic call.
You know what was even better about that goal? It was right in that D-bag Corey Perry's grill. What a great way to end a great victory for the American team.
So what happens to Team Canada now, the supposedly greatest hockey team in the Olympics? Martin Brodeur will most likely be pulled in favor of Roberto Luongo when the team faces Germany on Tuesday. And if Canada beats Team Germany, they will have to face Team Russia. And that's where things get juicy. With the United States victory over Canada, either Russia or Canada won't medal in these games. And I wouldn't be surprised at all if Team Canada loses to Russia and won't medal.
In the end though this game was about America. They have the easiest path to a gold medal now with only Sweden really in their path. And no matter how the United States hockey team finishes the Olympics, this was still a tremendously tremendous game last night.
2 unrelated comments about this game:
ReplyDelete1. I wonder about the reception Ryan Kesler will get when he returns to Vancouver. He scored the clinching goal and yet, he plays for the Canucks! The reception he gets when he plays his 1st home game with the Canucks after the break will be interesting.
2. The US has a beautiful path to the gold medal game. If the US plays the winner of Belarus/Switzerland and assuming they properly dispose the winner of that game as they should, then it is either Czech Republic, Finland, or Latvia in the semifinals. To really understand how good that is, look at what Canada has to go through. First they have to avoid a complete meltdown and beat Germany (Germany may be offensively inept; but Greiss could keep them in that game), then they will have to play Russia in the quarterfinals, and assuming they get by Russia, then they will have to play either Sweden, Slovakia, or Norway in the semifinals, and right now, I am favoring the odds that team will be Sweden.
@JFein: You also forget about the reception Phil Kessel will get. He plays in the heart of Canada in Toronto.
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