Waking up this morning on the 30th anniversary of the "Miracle" game called by Al Michaels where the United States beat the machines (USSR) on judgement day to win a chance at Olympic gold (which they got against Finland). I heard some interesting conversation on Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio earlier today. They even interviewed Mike Eruzione who was captain of that American team who scored the winning goal against the Soviet Union to create one of our greatest sports triumph's ever as a country. The amount of pride that the country has for this event is referenced to quite often in the USA. Heck, Disney even made a movie about it. I think it was called Rocky 4 but I can't remember (sarcasm).
This time team USA men's hockey beat up the Canadians on their home ice (sorry neighbors). 5-3 was the final score in a really exciting hockey game. I was watching it via a live internet feed which didn't help my case, but it was still thrilling. I don't often comment on hockey very much at all, but that game was a spectacle. Only :41 in, team USA scored a lightning fast goal with Canada evening the score a minute later. The empty netter sealed it after Canada could not come up with the big game-tying goal after repeated attempts. This is the first time that the USA has beaten Canada in thirty years...thirty years. This is one of the biggest upsets in Olympic history (Hercules beating Hades in Curling was a close second).
Canada's national team is unbelievable. Their roster is stacked and is essentially an all-star team out there going to work. Sidney Crosby is one of the two best players in the game today, if not the best period. Brodeur had a tough outing giving up four goals with some questionable moves towards the puck. It was rough seeing the Devil's goalkeeper get smoked, but witnessing team USA win was even sweeter. Nothing has been said to date about whether he will remain goaltender for the rest of this event. He will go down as one of the greatest of all time at his position, and I imagine that they have not given up on him (although others have apparently). It was shades of last years first NHL playoff round where repeated goals in a short time put away the Devil's for good. This time it's for each individual's country and their national pride, not a giant silver chalice.
It's only the preliminary round, but now Team USA has earned a bye and will not have to fight uphill as vigorously as the Canadians will. It's certainly going to give the 2010 Olympics a name instead of blending in without excitement (the Winter Olympics usually deliver in some form). The next round starts on Tuesday with the elimination round and it is yet to be decided who will play. The American's will wait until Wednesday to play their first game.
The gold is still very far away, but within reach. If the USA can play this well throughout the tournament, a rematch with Canada is going to be in order. What will happen in that game? Who knows, but it's going to be electric.
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i know you dont watch very much hockey, but team canada was destroying USA for a lot of that game. with 2 min left in the first period canada was outshooting usa 18-6. ryan miller stood on his head last night and without him they would have been destroyed. team canada is indeed full of all stars and superstars but like herb brooks said, all star teams fail because they rely souly on the individuals talent. they have amazing talent. unmatched by any team ive ever seen, including all star teams, but until they develop chemistry they arent going to be a force to be reckoned with, and only playing together for a couple of weeks makes it extremely difficult to obtain chemistry. the united states will be very lucky if team canada doesnt pull it together, or if ryan miller has a performance even slightly less then standing on his head. this is not one of the biggest upsets in olympic history.
ReplyDeleteYou never even specified Winter Olympics, you said one of the biggest upsets in all of Olympic history. A game where gold was not even handed out after. Kind of hard to believe one of the biggest upsets.
ReplyDeleteThe USA had not won a match against Canada in THIRTY years in the Olympics. That's a stunning upset, but yes I agree that it's going to be an uphill battle for the US to win against Canada. The good thing is that they should be better rested and have an easier road to the gold medal game.
ReplyDelete30 years is not saying much at all... the Olympics is played every 4 years, and Canada and USA hasn’t even played each other every time the Olympics happen. Sooo they may have only played a handful of times, which is not that astonishing at all. It be equivalent to a MLB baseball team getting swept in a 3 or 4 game series
ReplyDeletethe islanders havent beaten the flyers in 15 games. so if the islanders beat the flyers in the regular season (prelims) then its one of the biggest upsets in flyer history? no sir. thats not how sports work. this wasnt an upset on canada's part because theyve won for 30 years(divided by 4, minus atleast 1)...it was an upset because they are stacked with all stars and superstars and a ton of experience, whereas the US team is full of talented players with little to no experience. that was the only upset to this game, past history doesnt matter. this canada team is completely different from past teams.
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