Olympic Hockey Recap

The Olympics are officially over and with that we return to our regularly scheduled NHL program. In what tends to be some of the best 2-3 weeks of sport we get every 4 years this one hit a little differently. We haven't had best on best at the Olympics in 12 years and with the help of the 4 nations face off from a year ago, the tension and excitement going into this event was like no other. As a hockey fan and someone who loves this game endlessly this tournament lived up to every single expectation (minus one). 

Going in everyone wanted the US and Canada, we knew we were getting in the Women's side, it was just a matter of getting in on the Men's side. Allow me to get through the other games here quickly and then I'll get into what really matters. 

The round robin flew by and in some sense went as planned, group B was a crapshoot but we eventually got to the Semis with teams there that made sense to be there (minus Sweden). The Slovaks were an underdog, but Slafkovsky seems to turn on a different motor when he puts that jersey on. 3 of the 4 went to overtime and became dire situations for these teams that were expected to somewhat walk into the Semis. Mitch Marner sealed it for Canada as they completed a major comeback against Czechia who came out flying, Finland stormed back from 2 against the Swiss and Quinn Hughes got it done in OT after Mika Zibanejad tied it up late for the Swedes.  

The Semis were interesting as well, Canada seemed to come out flat and the Fins took advantage of that. It was the big 3 of McDavid, MacKinnon, and Celebrini matched with goals from Reinhart and Theodore who ultimately got Canada back into the game. Canada won it with a powerplay goal by MacKinnon with just 35 seconds left. The US stormed by the Slovaks and we were given what we exactly wanted with a Canada - USA final. 

I'll give a warning here as a Canadian who may still be grieving over this game so bear with it if you think I'm coping (I likely am). This was Canada's game to lose and honestly they sorta proved it. They looked faster, they looked more connected and they looked flat out better. Boldy had a nasty goal to get the US up early, but it was all Canada after that. Makar tied it up in the second but it was flat out Canada's game. From Tom Wilson blowing up Dylan Larkin behind the net, to just the simple pressure that Canada was throwing at the Americans each chance that Canada got, it just felt like the next one was going to go in, yet it just never did. Now the great (or not so great now) thing about the Olympics is the idea that a hot goalie can win one game, which is all you need. I'm not going to give Hellebuyck credit for the fact that MacKinnon missed the net but the save on Toews was amazing, luck does come into play, id be a hypocrite denying that considering my all time favourite goalie Henrik Lundqvist did once say that “its lucky to be good and good to be lucky’ so ill admit that it was a great save. He also stopped McDavid and Celebrini each on a breakaway so he gets that as well. I can and will complain as long as I want about 3v3, it took a while for me to turn to liking it in the NHL to also go with the fact I am still a shootout hater. I understand the NHL wants shorter games and wants more entertainment, I'm not opposing that I know that. In a game that matters and is placed on this pedestal that it is, in no circumstance can we have it ending in 3v3. I mean we're talking about the OLYMPICS HERE, not some random 10 pm game on a Tuesday night.  It took a game that was hard fought, tightly contested and really mattered and turned it into an entertainment event that eliminated the way hockey is meant to be played. For those saying Canada should have the advantage in OT, are we forgetting that the US started Auston Matthews, Matt Boldy and Quinn Hughes? Sure they are not McDavid, MacKinnon and Makar, but it's not far off. Turning a game into a 50/50 is not right. 1 missed shot even 1 slight bad pass makes the game on 2 on 1 and opens up until it ends. If we can't agree that the US was begging for overtime and really had no shot should it stay 5 on 5, were either both blinded by our love for our team, or just choosing to not give in to the other side.  I'm not going to take away from the US fans, I'll congratulate those who have cared and really invest their time into hockey, I understand that feeling of watching your country win something on the national stage, so I won't take that away, The US is a good team and has been coming in hot on Canada for years, especially this core group of players that were drafted in 15’, and 16’ (Matthews, Eichel, Q Hughes, Werenski, Macavoy and so on). The 3 weeks fans who bump their chest out and will go back into hibernation in the coming weeks, they can have their victory, the less we engage with them the less they are, it turns into a political, hatred, were so much better than you type of event and that's not hockey anymore and that's not what any of this should be. The 3v3 rule will live with me for a bit, I'll continue to complain about it, I truly don't mind dying on this hill and honestly ill take heat for it. Maybe I'm an old head, maybe I'm coping, maybe I would not have said any of this if Canada won, but like seriously there's a reason we don't do this come playoff time. Canada deserved to continue to dominate 5v5 and it was just taken away because of a silly ass rule. I'll get over this eventually, maybe when the 2028 world cup rolls around, but I am proud of the way Canada played. I will live and die with those players and will continue to look forward to seeing the group compete at this level every other year. 

For now I will unfortunately but willingly go back to watching New York Ranger hockey and try to learn how to watch a team that is nearly a complete 180 of what I just got to graciously experience for those two weeks. Going from Connor McDavid to JT Miller (who may have a gold medal) is not fun whatsoever. I'll be in mourning for a bit, but best on best Olympic hockey, you were good to me and all us hockey fans, until next time.