Some Quotes and Links On Yesterday

Well, that was something, wasn't it?  I don't know if I'd rate yesterday's game as "best evah" but it was close.  The outcome spoiled it for me but about 35 million Canadians think otherwise, of course.  We've spent a lil bit of time reading other folks' impressions of the Grand Finale and thought we'd share a few of the best.

Here's Scott Burnside from ESPN:

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The helmets and sticks and gloves were scattered around the empty United States net as if blown out of a cannon.

The Canadians were mobbing Sidney Crosby -- as if anyone else would have scored what Europeans call a "golden goal"* -- while the Americans coasted away as though driftwood in a sea.

And all we could ask ourselves was: Could we have some more, please?

[...]

Even before the game ended, those in the press tribune were speaking of the action in hushed tones as though they knew they were witness to something destined to join the list of seminal games -- the 1972 Summit Series finale, the U.S. victory over Russia in Lake Placid in 1980, the U.S. victory over Canada in the final of the 1996 World Cup of Hockey in Montreal and the 1987 Canada Cup final in Hamilton, Ontario.

Clear a place in history for the 2010 gold-medal game.

Jason Gay, in the WSJ:

With two minutes to go in regulation, we moved to the front of Sassy Haus and turned the back of our head to the TV screen. We wanted to see the ecstatic faces when Canada took its gold. What we saw instead was 500 jaws drop: with 25 seconds left, American Zach Parise knocked the puck past Canada goalie Roberto Luongo to knot the game at two and send it into stomach-churning sudden death.

We watched a Sassy Haus official breeze by and shake his head. "Well that didn't go according to the script," he said. 

We then briefly imagined having to hitch-hike home from Vancouver, with Canadian pilots refusing to transport Americans home in a national period of mourning 

But Mr. Crosby put an end to that, 7:40 into OT. When the 22-year-old from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia—a Gretzky heir apparent since his age was in single digits—the Sassy Haus roared, just like Vancouver and all of Canada roared. It made the Super Bowl sound like a Masters golf clap. 

It didn't go according to the script. For Canada, it went better. 

And hockey made some new friends and fans yesterday.  This bit in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer might be typical:

Seriously, what an unbelievable finish, and what a great game to watch, despite the fact that our neighbors (neighbours?) to the North are taking home the gold. While it is hard to follow the puck at times (although not as hard as I originally thought that it would be) and even if I have no idea who these guys are, I enjoyed every minute of the game. As a hockey-viewing novice, I can't really tell who the good players are because I don't have any clue if what a guy just did was routine or a difficult maneuver. It looks bad to me if a guy misses the puck or makes what looks to be a weird/bad pass to a teammate, but I don't know how common those kinds of "mistakes" are, so it's hard for me to pass judgment. But, and maybe this speaks to the team nature of the game, the individuals don't seem to matter as much to the outcome of the game, (unless it's the goalie) but more if the guys playing fit within the team concept that the teams have planned. I could be way off on this, and probably am, but that's just what I see. Call me ignorant (and you'd be right).

Back to the "hard to follow" issue for me… as I was watching this game, I kept thinking of the battle scenes in Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan, just tons of anonymous white guys running (or skating in this instance) around at high speeds and getting destroyed. I didn't realize just how awesomely violent hockey is; dudes get pummeled out there and they keep coming back for more. And just like those two WWII epics, I was riveted. Great action, great teamwork, great skill… fantastic stuff. I loved Band of Brothers, but thank goodness it was a miniseries because it was very difficult to figure out who was whom, they all looked the same to me. But after awhile I got to know who they were and it became almost ridiculous that I'd confuse this guy with that guy. I suspect if I put in the time with hockey, the same thing would happen. I'd pick up on nuances and learn what "good" is and what "bad" is…

Hockey fans will be quick to agree with Mr. Cushing, even if some of us would look down our noses and say "Yeah, we've known that all along."  Making new fans might just be the great good thing about yesterday's gold medal game.  Hopefully that asshat Bettman realizes that fact.

* The pic is a P-Shop I snagged from a tweet by Wyshynski.

―:☺:―

On a personal note... that live-blogging thing did wonders for my page views:

Not so much for visits, but great for page views.  Once again, a big thank you to you guys/gals who stopped by to tip a couple o' brewskis and watch the game.  It was fun!