Sporting Observations: Miller Time in Molson Country
That giant sucking sound you hear from the north? That’s the sound of Canadian dreams deflating after tonight’s crushing loss to their continental rivals, Team USA.
As a Buffalo Sabres loyalist, I’m well-acquainted with Ryan Miller’s mastery – and tonight, the rest of the country got to see what I’m lucky enough to watch game after game. As of about 10:30 PM EST, Miller’s name was the #2 trending topic worldwide on Twitter, even getting love from Alyssa Milano. Fuckin a – that’s what stopping 42 shots in prime time against a stacked (and, as the game wore on, increasingly desperate) Canadian team will get you. The East Lansing, Michigan native and former Hobey Baker Award winner played lights out in a hell of a performance, keeping his young teammates in the game after Canada battled back repeatedly and controlled play for long stretches of the game. Wearing #39 instead of the #30 he sports for the Sabres, Miller at times brought back memories of another #39 who dominated between the pipes both in Buffalo and in international play. Miller took 19 shots in the first alone, but threw up wall after wall against waves of attackers in red as the night progressed. Like the steely-eyed Uncle Sam on his helmet, Miller rolled up his sleeves and handled his goddamn business.
And Brian Rafalski is having the tournament of a lifetime. With two goals and an assist tonight, the wily vet and assistant captain continued to destroy the Olympics with his second straight multigoal game. He scored just 41 seconds in and at one point tonight he had scored Team USA’s last four goals. The current Red Wing and former Devil would not be denied on offense – when you’re beating Marty Brodeur, you’re beating the best in the world. And Rafalski did it twice.
Team Canada? Well, it was crickets quiet in the arena just five minutes after the game, as stunned Canadians swallowed a humiliating loss at home. Indeed, the tension had mounted steadily from the opening puck drop on as the Americans scored first and never trailed. The Canadians weren’t necessarily bad, but the US was simply better. Despite getting outshot by more than 20, the US buried their opportunities while the Canadians couldn’t convert on more than a few chances. The box score tells the story: Rick Nash a minus 3, Sidney Crosby a minus 3, Mike Richards a minus 2. Tonight’s loss and the shaky shootout win over the Swiss on Thursday mean that Team Canada has dug themselves a sizable hole. The home advantage hasn’t meant anything but added pressure, and the Canadians now have to win four straight games to win the gold medal that seemed theirs to lose only days ago. One would be foolish to rule the Canadians out of the running, but they’ve upped the difficulty level substantially as a result of their failure thus far.
Meanwhile, Ovechkin and the Russians have to be the favorite now, following a convincing performance against the Czechs today. Everybody see Ovechkin level Jagr? Damn! Here’s the animated .gif (via Puck Daddy) and here’s the NYT write-up. Now on to the nightcap: Finland vs. Sweden…
- Caps
February 21st, 2010 at 11:45 pm
What a great game. I’d love to see Canadians get bounced first round.
Meanwhile, I am still waiting on a Caps New Era from you guys….
February 22nd, 2010 at 12:08 am
wow did this day make up for the the rest of the shitpile that has been the Olympics. long live Hockey.
go Russia
February 22nd, 2010 at 8:37 am
Well we lost to the Swedes but it’s still smooth sailing – thanks to team USA beating the Canucks.
The Swedish press is saying we lost the game on purpose to avoid Russia/Canada.
Sore winners, I say.
Finland will prevail, np.
February 22nd, 2010 at 10:29 am
You know what, I think this loss was good for us Canadians. It was our dose of hubris.
In many ways, we become very un-Canadian like when it comes to hockey, expecting that gold should just be given to us instead of outplaying our opponents.
Hopefully this is a wake-up call to Team Canada and a loss to our bitter continental rivals will kick their asses in gear to play hard and prove to everyone why hockey is supposedly “Canada’s Game”.
Iggy needs to step-up like in the game against Norway; Crosby needs to stop being too cute and Getzlaf needs to start playing like a 6’4″ 220lb center (not like a fucking bleeding pussy).
Also, i bet you they brought the creepy kid to the game.
February 22nd, 2010 at 10:37 am
I’ve said fo the start that Canada is an All-Star team, While the USA has the potential to be the best all-around team on the ice though. They showed it last night.
And I know Brodeur has become the scapegoat for the loss, he also played on his head quite a few times when the rest of his team collapsed around him. USA was just the better team on the ice and wanted the win more.
February 22nd, 2010 at 11:26 am
I tend to disagree with you mike. i think for the most part, the US was outplayed. Canada had stretches where they controlled the puck for long periods of time and put a considerable amount of pressure on Miller and the rest of the US team. They were peppering Miller with an arsenal of shots (down low, from the point, off the break, off the give and go) but Miller was just outstanding.
Plus not winning any faceoffs kind of hurt team Canada.
And while i don’t think Marty stunk, he did make some really boneheaded plays at the wrong time. That’s what happens when you get old though. I mean, my grandfather sometimes even forgets his own name.
February 22nd, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Well goddamn – they DID bring in the Herb Brooks kid!
Per Kevin Allen of USA Today’s twitter acct:
“Young Josh Sacco who received 2 million hits on YouTube for his Herb Brooks impersonation performed for the U.S. hockey team dinner Saturday 11:34 AM Feb 21st from web”
http://twitter.com/kausatoday
February 22nd, 2010 at 2:39 pm
What a brutal game for us Canucks! Brodeur was playing like a foolish civ. And although they had a ton of shots on Miller, who was spectacular, they never seemed to click. No really nice set up plays or solid 3 on 2 rushes. The plays all seemed sparatic and desperate, they must of had a shit load of nerves. It showed especially when 3 of the Canadian players smoked into one another, wtf? And to top it all off they couldn’t win any faceoffs and everyone was too pussy to shoot the puck on the power play. Kesler’s the man, his goal was my favorite of the game. Humility comes with being Canadian and we got served a monster douse last night.
February 22nd, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Also I know he hasn’t scored a goal yet in the Olympics, but Parse is phenomenal. He just parks him self in front of the goalie and peppers away, plus his play on the boards helped create countless scoring opps.
I believe this also means a Canada/Russia gold medal game is impossible due to the brackets right?
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:11 pm
“I believe this also means a Canada/Russia gold medal game is impossible due to the brackets right?”
Right.
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:36 pm
You are correct. No Russia-Canada final. We could see: USA-Russia, USA-Canada, Sweden-Canada, Sweden-Russia, Finland-Sweden, Finland-Russia, etc.
USA plays winner of SUI-BEL
FIN plays winner of CZE-LAT
–
SWE plays winner of SLO-NOR
RUS plays winner of CAN-GER
Brackets here: http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-hockey/schedule-and-results/men_ihm400000vm_playoff-dE.html
February 22nd, 2010 at 10:05 pm
i didnt think it was bad play brodeur. i really thought the US played a strong, consistent game. had more energy in key spots. defensemen did well…so did callahan (who i hate) and other energy guys on the PK. Nash and Getzlaf for Canada are beasts though…
the US squad is just well rounded and seem to play a solid team game, i’m really impressed. can’t wait for more..
February 25th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
[...] all-star squad seemed weirdly out-of-sync and sluggish for much of the tournament. So forget my last post when I said Russia was gold medal favorites; instead, just remember the part where I said you [...]