Olympic run confirms U.S. hockey is world-class
Photo credit: AP | USA's Paul Stastny (26) celebrates a goal against Finland in the first period of a semifinal round men's ice hockey game. (Feb. 26, 2010)
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There won't be any miracles, of course. The time for those sorts of Olympic hockey victories is long past.
But a U.S. win over Canada in today's men's hockey gold-medal game would certainly be sweet. That's about the best way to put it.
Sweet redemption for the USA Hockey braintrust, criticized for going so young and so small rather than hanging on to some of the aging core of American international competitions gone by - no Mike Modano, no Bill Guerin, no Scott Gomez. Just three Olympic veterans and 20 first-timers.
It would be sweet confirmation that this new generation of American hockey is, quite possibly, the best in the world.
The United States already has one stunning gold-medal win on Canadian ice this year, the World Junior Championships triumph in Saskatoon on Jan. 5. That 6-5 overtime win came from an inexperienced, small American squad that outhit and outhustled the Canadian favorites.
That will be a familiar refrain Sunday if the Americans can pull this win off. Ryan Miller, now cemented as not just the best American goaltender playing right now but perhaps the best goaltender, period, has to be as impressive as he was when he turned aside 42 shots to stun Canada, 5-3, last Sunday.
And the rest of the U.S. lineup, one that has featured more consistent play from the likes of Ryan Kesler and David Backes and Brooks Orpik than the more skilled players, will have won this Olympic gold by playing physical, relentless hockey.
Canada has more talent, has the headliner names with Sidney Crosby and Scott Niedermayer and Martin Brodeur - even if the best goaltender who ever played the game has been relegated to opening the bench doors - but it has only one signature win so far, the quarterfinal domination of Russia.
So Canada is still favored Sunday, in front of a sea of red jerseys in Vancouver. If the Canadians lose, questions will be raised, Olympic general manager Steve Yzerman will be second-guessed and a nation will be left to wonder how it went wrong.
And if the Americans lose? They still will have won. Chris Drury will get rousing cheers at Madison Square Garden once more, for having played his depth role to perfection in Vancouver. It might even remind him why he's captain of the Rangers and make him a bit sharper when he returns.
These other American players, maybe a bit better known now outside the hardcore hockey circles, will remember when they came together with little fanfare and rode a gritty, hard-working style all the way to the gold-medal game.
For some of the younger guys, Ryan Callahan and Zach Parise and the like, it will be their first signature moment as a pro, even if it didn't come in the NHL.
And if the Americans win . . . well, this isn't 1980, and there are no miracles when millionaires are beating millionaires.
But it would be awfully sweet. That's still worth it.
