Even the Canadians know what the US run in this tournament means to North American hockey: massive exposure for a sport struggling to stay relevant.
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The United States Men’s Ice Hockey Team went into these 2010 Winter Olympic Games as decided underdogs. Those who know hockey knew for certain that the youthful Team USA would not be playing for a medal in these Olympics. Eat it experts.
American Ice Hockey took a stand in Vancouver, playing the kind of tough, defensively responsible hockey that characterizes college and minor league hockey in the United States. The result: 23 US Silver Medalists stood looking dejected on the General Motors Place ice Sunday evening, Champions except for the final ten minutes of the final game.
On the closing day of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, the US Men were separated from first place & Gold by a single overtime goal.  Each one will return to their NHL clubs as US national heroes. As much as they may not want to hear about it now, as much as this loss will sting as no other before it, Team USA returned American Hockey to its rightful place amongst the best in the world.
The United States has now doubled its nearest Olympic competitor for most Silver Medals (8) won in Ice Hockey. Team USA (11) is three medals shy of Team Canada (14) for most medals in Olympic Hockey history. They followed a twenty-two year medal drought (1980-2002) with Silver Medals in two of the last three Winter Olympics. And they came within two bad defensive plays of besting the sports’ inventors in the Gold Medal Game.
Team Canada had an intense advantage, though. Even as the crowd was peppered with the occasional American flag, the energy in the building was directed explicitly to the team in home-ice white. Team USA has only grabbed Olympic Gold twice, both times within the friendly confines of the United States. As it turned out, taking #1 from the Kings in their Court was too much to ask.
But the US put on a spectacle throughout the tournament, besting the Canadians in the Group Round 5-3, and going undefeated for 18 periods worth of Olympic Hockey before a Sid Crosby wrister ended the dream in OT. As much as the Americans will always ask themselves how they let this one get away, the simple fact is that sometimes your best isn’t good enough. Make no mistake, national pride was on the line for Canada in this contest, and the Americans pushed them to the brink.
“We’re a group of young guys who were written off. We proved we were one shot shy of winning the whole thing,” said US defenseman Jack Johnson. “We’re all very proud of each other. I wish I could be with this group of guys the whole year round. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had playing hockey.”
The US Men played their hearts out, put on a show that had the whole world watching, and now have eight Ice Hockey Silver Medals to match Big Brother Canada’s eight Golds. Certainly, this is not the storybook ending that the Americans were looking for, but it is a victory worth celebrating nonetheless. Even the Canadians know what the US run in this tournament means to North American hockey: massive exposure for a sport struggling to stay relevant.
Better yet, Team USA can hold its head high and celebrate the target on its chest going into the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. In their first time hosting the Olympics since the Soviet Era, the Russian Federation will expect no less than Gold from Team Russia in Ice Hockey.
No doubt, this young American squad will show up in Sochi four years better and a favorite to win a medal. That 2014 Team USA will carry on the grit and determination exhibited by the 2010 model, and try once more to steal road-ice Gold from an International Ice Hockey powerhouse.
