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It was an exciting, even historical day for Canadians on February 28. After defeating the Americans 3-2 in overtime for the gold, the Canadians were ready to close the 2010 Winter Olympics.
For the Americans, it was a bittersweet defeat. The Americans had overcome huge feats in their journey to the final showdown against the Canadians.
Brian Burke, the American team’s general manager, asked the room full of reporters in an introductory news conference who they thought would take the gold. Team Canada? Hands shot up. Russia? Hands rose. Sweden? Yet more hands were up. The United States? Crickets.
The Americans were a young team who were not expected to even make it to the final game. And lest we forget, in the preliminary-round game, the U.S. defeated the Canadians.
“We proved it’s not just Canada’s game,” American Forward Ryan Kesler said.
It was a true underdog story and it almost ended with an upset. Canada’s Jonathan Toews gave Canada a 1-0 lead at 12:50 of the first period by firing the puck from short range.
Ryan Getzlaf upped Canada’s lead 2-0 when his centering pass caromed to Corey Perry who scored the goal. The Americans didn’t give up there. Team U.S.A.’s Ryan Miller had 36 saves, keeping the Americans in the game, along with Ryan Kelser who raced passed Canada’s Roberto Luongo to score the first US goal.
In the last period, the Canadians held strong, defending their goal tightly. Then, in the final 24.4 seconds of the third period, Zach Parise scored a miraculous goal past Roberto Luongo to put the game into overtime.
At 7:40 Canada’s hockey hero, Sidney Crosby, shut down the game with his gold-medal-winning goal.
Canada took the gold, but Team USA was victorious in its own way. They bulldozed Russia and pushed past Sweden. They shocked hockey spectators across the world.
The silver medal does not signify a loss. Instead, it signifies those victories the US was not expected to have achieved.
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