Man, that was an epic battle of a hockey game. Definitely one of the most entertaining games I’ve seen in a long time. This was a preliminary round game and the guys were playing like it was game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals! It was really a showcase of how international hockey is different from the NHL (main differences: larger rink, no fighting). The game was much faster than your average NHL game since there is more room on the ice for these guys to work. During the 2nd (I think) period I can remember a sequence of USA breakaway, followed immediately by a Canada breakaway, followed immediately by a USA breakaway which is something you just don’t see that often in the NHL. Obviously part of that is the higher emotional state the players are in since Olympic hockey is one of the few Olympic sports that involve professionals who actually care (unlike soccer/tennis). However the other factor is certainly the larger rink and the smaller amount of clutching and grabbing going on. If that had been a NHL game I guarantee there would have been at least one fight since you could see the animosity between the teams, however with international rules a fight results in automatically getting kicked out of the game, and none of the players want that. It really came down to the goalies in this one, Miller played great and I think Broduer played just okay. He seemed out of position on a few goals and made a really dumb move of trying to bat the puck out of mid air in front of the net. Word on the street is that Luongo will be starting the next game but that’s just a rumor right now. I took a look at the matchup tree and the US and Canada are on opposite sides meaning a gold medal rematch is a possibility. I remember watching that during the 2002 Salt Lake games and it was a great game and I’m sure that atmosphere would be even better this year since Canada cares that much more.
Looking ahead: the US will face off with the winner of Sweden/Belarus in the Quarterfinals while Canada will play Germany in a playoff qualifier and assuming they win (likely) will then play Russia in the Quarterfinals (should also be a really good game).
Comparisons to the Miracle On Ice: No way can you compare the games and I don’t know why people are. In 1980 you had a bunch of college kids (average age 22) going up against the best hockey team in the world who had creamed them in an exhibition game right before Lake Placid. Of course there’s that other little thing going at the time, the Cold War. The game had such a deeper meaning to it that I don’t think it will ever be replicated in any sport, but I guess we’ll see…
Trill post.
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