Olympic Roundup

So, as you may or may not be aware, while I took a hiatus from writing, the Bruins went on a near-historic slump, dropping 10 games in a row and putting themselves towards the dregs of the NHL before gutting out a 4-game road winning streak right before the Olympic Break.

After a while, even if I wanted to comment on the slide (which I really didn't), the Bruins weren't giving me a lot to go on, finding ways to lose games that were just horrendous to watch. They would build 2-goal leads early, then sit back on their heels and just let the other teams beat them, which they did with maddening regularity. However, as close as I was to completely giving up on the season, and as stale as the Winter Classic win began to look (it's still, at present, the Bruins' last home win, which is sickening), their mini-push before Vancouver coaxed me off the Zakim Bridge. Now, with 22 games left, they sit a point in front of the Canadiens for 7th place, and all in all, they have an excellent chance to make the playoffs. They'll probably lose the opening series if they do make the playoffs, but really that's all I can hope for at present. With the Maple Leafs looking more and more like a last-place team, the Bruins have a decent shot at the 1st overall pick in the draft this summer, and that in itself is enough to make me excited for next year. But I digress.

I'm not here to talk about the Bruins. Not right now. Right now, I'm here to talk about an Olympic Tournament that has been one of the most wildly entertaining I can remember, with plenty of storylines for puckheads and casual fans alike. Where to begin?

There are several storylines through the tournament, some of which have intersected with the Games as a whole. Obviously the biggest one has been the play of Team Canada, under intense scrutity on their home soil, based on a lack-luster start. After drubbing Norway 8-0, Canada needed a shootout to beat the scrappy Swiss who rode the outstanding goaltended of Jonas Hiller, and then they lost a barnburner of a game to the United States on January 21st. It was, and remember this is me talking, one of the highest-quality, most entertaining hockey games I've ever seen. From the first puck drop the action was non-stop, and the US depending on the otherworldly tending of Ryan Miller to keep the game out of Canada's reach. Brian Rafalski scored his 3rd and 4th straight goals for the Americans, one less than a minute into the contest, and another mere seconds after the Canadians had tied the game. The crowd couldn't get into the game early, and with that X factor neutralized, Miller went to work.

I'm not exactly unfamiliar with Ryan Miller, as he's the goalie for Northeast Division rival Buffalo, but while I knew he could be very good, he put on quite the show on the 21st. The Canadians launched 45 pucks on him, beating him 3 times, which given that the US could only muster 22 shots, is quite an acheivement. Of course, highlighting the performance of Miller was the play of his counterpart across the ice, Martin Brodeur.

Brodeur, quite simply, gave the Americans the game. He was not sharp early, and wandered around the trapezoid-less area behind the net like he owned the place. He also ventured out toward the blue line to swat at the puck with his stick like a baseball bat, leading to US possession and their 2nd goal. In all, he was not the Brodeur of old, and after his display of keeping Canada from the lead even with their massive lead in shots and chances, he's been replaced by Roberto Luongo for the remainer of the tournament.

The United States's shocking win (let's not go overboard and call it anything Miraculous, though...) launched them into the Semis, and forced Canada to play an extra qualifying game. Really, all this allowed them to do was publically execute Russia's hockey program on international television, and they trounced the Russkies 7-3, declaring to the world that the KHL is not close in talent to the NHL (the Russian team relied heavily on KHL players for their roster). Also, for the second time in 9 months, it showed that Alex Ovechkin, for all his flash and flair, has a habit of disappearing when his team needs him most. And both in the Caps' game 7 loss to Pittsburgh last spring, and in the demolishing by Canada on Wednesday, Sidney Crosby was sitting on the other bench. Ouch.

The other suprises of the tournment were the Slovaks, who beat Russia in a shootout in prelims, then snuch past Norway and defeated defending gold medalist Sweden in the Quarterfinals. This disappointed me, since as you know I like to cheer for Tre Kronor as well (being a Swedish-American and all). Though I was saddened by the loss, but not upset, really. The Slovaks played with more urgency and heart, and they really did deserve to win that game. Though I also thought that Sweden had a vastly better chance of beating Canada, and I turned out to be correct. The Slovaks took Canada to the brink, falling 3-2 (after being doen 3-0 in the 3rd), nad missing an open net in the waning seconds. This gave Canada a collective heart attack, as it's freaking SLOVAKIA, and gave Yanks like me a glimmer of hope.

For, after a ridiculous show of offense in their Semifinal game, the United States is primed to meet the Canucks (well, not these Canucks. We have some of those Canucks on our team) for the godl medal tomorrow afternoon. The US faced Finland on Friday, which everyone though would be a close, well-played affair. It wasn't. I was unfortunately at work, as the US got screwed with a 12:00 Pacific start time AGAIN. My brother was texting me updates, which came fast an furious in the 1st, as the US scored SIX goals on Miikka Kiprusoff and Niklas Bäckström before sitting back and waiting out the rest of the game. I'm still waiting for iTunes to post it on their online store, so I can watch the game in its entirety. But the clips I've seen are amazing. Kipper even pulled HIMSELF, skating to the bench of his own accord after he left up the 4th goal. I've never even seen that before.

So, yeah. We have a Gold-Medal Game that is highly anticipated by everyone everywhere, even casual hockey fans or non-hockey fans. With this kind of drama throughout the Games, I can't think of a good reason why the NHL shouldn't renew its agreement with the IOC to send its players to Sochi in 2014. Bettman would be in idiot not to see that the Olympics grow the brand, both with players and the product itself. Though I think they need to put their foot down about the NHL's ability to promote its own players in the Games. Maybe a joint-broadcast arrangement or something. But with Russian players like Ovechkin saying they'll play in Sochi regardless of whether they're officially allowed to or not, I think the NHL needs to bite the bullet and commit. Seriously, it's only for 10 days every 4 seasons. Besides, no one cares about the NHL All-Star Game anymore. The skills competition is more fun to watch, and the Winter Classic has replaced the All-Star Game as the NHL's regular season highlight anyway. So what's the harm?

Anyway, color me excited for the Gold-Medal Game. After their showing against Slovakia (and the US's crushing of Finland), I'm expecting a close, well-played duel of goalies. I'm not quite sure the United States will pull it out, just given the Canadians and their absurd depth, and the fact that they'll be going for blood after being embarrassed last week. That's not to say the United States can't pull it out; we've shown we can skate with the Canadians as long as we have the tending to make it stand up. Let's see what happens.

U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!