12/22/24
February 28, 2010
Canada captures gold : Canada is once again on top of the hockey world as they have defeated the United States 3-2 in overtime in the gold medal game at the Olympic hockey tournament.
posted by tommytrump to olympics at 06:11 PM - 79 comments
I could not agree more, Howard. Unbelievable game. Great hockey. Whoever wins should stand and applaud the other team.
posted by BoKnows at 05:45 PM on February 28, 2010
I do NOT want this to go to a shoot out. That is NO way to win or lose a Gold Medal !
posted by tommybiden at 05:53 PM on February 28, 2010
Crud.
Well, I'm certainly happy with the three medal winners this time around. Not necessarily the order that I was rooting for, but this is cool nonetheless.
posted by NoMich at 05:57 PM on February 28, 2010
Well this is a depressing ending.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 05:57 PM on February 28, 2010
Hockey will be the real winner in Olympics
posted by NoMich at 05:59 PM on February 28, 2010
There were 19 other skaters on Canada, why couldn't one of THEM score that goal? Ugh, I feel ill...
posted by MeatSaber at 06:00 PM on February 28, 2010
Well, grum has his symmetry.
posted by BoKnows at 06:03 PM on February 28, 2010
Watching the medal awards now. No lack of appreciation for the USA team from the crowd. This is really great for hockey, and I hope that the NHL doesn't blow this opportunity.
posted by Howard_T at 06:08 PM on February 28, 2010
I hope that the NHL doesn't blow this opportunity
Think about what you just said...
posted by MeatSaber at 06:13 PM on February 28, 2010
I've been posting my thoughts in the Sunday Huddle. To sum it up....WOW !!!
posted by Howard_T at 06:13 PM on February 28, 2010
Good Golly, Miss Molly ! Great game, by both teams. That is Hockey !!
posted by tommybiden at 06:16 PM on February 28, 2010
Unbelievable game. Awesome.
posted by BoKnows at 06:18 PM on February 28, 2010
Beer bet between Obama and Harper for this game.
Molson? That was the bet?
posted by BoKnows at 06:23 PM on February 28, 2010
Beauty eh?
posted by insomnyuk at 06:24 PM on February 28, 2010
What a game! What a tournament.
posted by Spitztengle at 06:27 PM on February 28, 2010
posted by grum@work at 06:31 PM on February 28, 2010
It's such a strange thing about different sports in the Olympics. Some athletes can earn a gold medal in a span of a three-minute event. Ryan Miller plays amazing hockey for every period of several games, beats the Olympic champions, and doesn't get a gold medal. Oh well.
It was a great, exciting game. I'm not sure Canada would have even earned a medal if Luongo hadn't come in to spark the team between the pipes. He was fantastic, as were both teams. Excellent testimony to true hockey, and I couldn't be happier it came down to these two teams.
posted by dyams at 06:33 PM on February 28, 2010
Dear Paul Henderson and Mario Lemieux,
Please stand a little closer together on the legend podium. You need to make room for Sidney Crosby.
Thanks, History
posted by grum@work at 06:33 PM on February 28, 2010
I said it somewhere else, but if it had been ANYONE other than Canada in the final, I would have been cheering for USA. None of the pundits gave them a chance, and they were the best team in the tournament, except for 7:40 of OT.
posted by grum@work at 06:35 PM on February 28, 2010
Somehow, I don't think the the Florida/Atlanta game on Tuesday is going to be nearly this intense.
posted by tommybiden at 06:43 PM on February 28, 2010
My life is nearly complete ..... until Louie and Kesler bring us the cup this Spring.
posted by rumple at 07:02 PM on February 28, 2010
Epic game. Amazing.
Some of the yanks on Twitter... Dear god are they sore losers.
posted by Drood at 07:12 PM on February 28, 2010
So good. Sooooooooooo good. What a fucking incredible game.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 07:38 PM on February 28, 2010
There were 19 other skaters on Canada, why couldn't one of THEM score that goal? Ugh, I feel ill...
One of the thoughts that passed through my mind when the crowd was chanting Crosby's name during the medal ceremony was "The Crosby haters are gonna be pissed..."
That's a pretty good past 365 days for Crosby.
posted by grum@work at 07:55 PM on February 28, 2010
I was rooting for USA, but since they lost I'm glad that Crosby scored the winning goal.
posted by Doehead at 08:04 PM on February 28, 2010
Dear god are they sore losers.
That's too bad. That was a hell of a tournament which ended with an epic gold medal game. The US team played some amazing hockey, and things look fairly bright for the future. The Canadian team, a collection of some of the best players ever, played like it. The fact that the US boys skated stride-for-stride with them is something we should all be proud of. Canadians, of course, have the right to be proud as hell of once again being at the top of the international heap. Somebody had to win and somebody had to lose, and being a bitch about it after the fact doesn't change anything.
posted by tahoemoj at 08:14 PM on February 28, 2010
I'm still not positive how that got in, but Crosby's quick hands were the difference.
posted by grum@work at 08:14 PM on February 28, 2010
I managed to watch the game down here (on delay a couple of hours). It's about the first hockey game I've watched from start to finish - probably a good one to start with, by the sounds of it.
posted by owlhouse at 08:15 PM on February 28, 2010
Great game...one of those games that you hate to see either team lose.
posted by dviking at 08:18 PM on February 28, 2010
I managed to watch the game down here (on delay a couple of hours). It's about the first hockey game I've watched from start to finish - probably a good one to start with, by the sounds of it.
Owlhouse: I know you won't be able to do this, but if you are looking for a representation of the best game of hockey of all time, I recommend trying to find the 3-game final of the 1987 Canada Cup.
There were (I believe) 14 hall of fame players in those games (for Canada and USSR), and all three games ended 6-5 (including a double-OT game).
Most people consider it the greatest hockey every played.
posted by grum@work at 08:23 PM on February 28, 2010
Most people consider it the greatest hockey every played.
Habs vs Red Army, New Year's eve, 1975.
posted by rumple at 08:33 PM on February 28, 2010
I'm still not positive how that got in, but Crosby's quick hands were the difference.
In the post-game interview with Miller, he said that he'd been playing aggressive all tournament and was going to challenge/poke-check Crosby, "I guess he looked up before I thought he would" ... or something like that. Crosby himself said he didn't see it go in ... "I think it went 5-hole" ... my favorite part of the final play was the assist from Iginla though.
btw, GREAT pics, grum!
posted by Spitztengle at 08:57 PM on February 28, 2010
Great game, great comeback, great finish. There are going to be a lot of baby boys named "Sidney" or "Roberto" in the next few weeks.
posted by etagloh at 09:10 PM on February 28, 2010
Owlhouse: ..... if you are looking for a representation of the best game of hockey of all time, I recommend trying to find the 3-game final of the 1987 Canada Cup. There were (I believe) 14 hall of fame players in those games (for Canada and USSR), and all three games ended 6-5 (including a double-OT game). Most people consider it the greatest hockey every played.
Way to spoil it for him, grum. ;-)
posted by tommybiden at 09:27 PM on February 28, 2010
Guess I'm glad it wasn't Toews who scored the winner.
posted by igottheblues at 09:31 PM on February 28, 2010
Figured Crosby would be on the ice for the winner, thought it would be in the other net based upon his play over the games I watched.
Really thought Miller and Toews were the 2 best players in the 'Games; Kesler, Nash, Niederdude were also solid.
posted by cixelsyd at 10:08 PM on February 28, 2010
What does pure, raw, unfiltered joyful excitement looks like?
posted by grum@work at 10:27 PM on February 28, 2010
The Media All-Star Team, selected by members of the accredited media at Canada Hockey Place, was announced at the end of the Men's Ice Hockey Gold medal game on Sunday.
All-Star Team
Goaltender: Ryan MILLER (USA)
Defenceman: Brian RAFALSKI (USA)
Defenceman: Shea WEBER (CAN)
Forward: Pavol DEMITRA (SVK)
Forward: Jonathan TOEWS (CAN)
Forward: Zach PARISE (USA)
Most valuable player: Ryan MILLER (USA)
posted by grum@work at 10:40 PM on February 28, 2010
"I hear they shaved an ape."
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 12:06 AM on March 01, 2010
What does pure, raw, unfiltered joyful excitement looks like?
Reminds me of when I took pictures such as this one...
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 12:08 AM on March 01, 2010
Awesome game - simply great to watch.
Why can't the NHL be like that?
posted by Mr Bismarck at 12:27 AM on March 01, 2010
Why can't the NHL be like that?
Too much Gary Bettman in the NHL soup.
posted by tommybiden at 12:30 AM on March 01, 2010
What bugged me was the look on the Team USA faces... YOU WON THE FUCKING SILVER! They looked like someone had just shat on them and killed their families. Not like Slovakia who left with nothing. (And that game was fantastic too.)
I think back to the other silver medalists I'd seen and they were thrilled. Seeing America just made me annoyed. Silver, which is a bloody good result, but no... Win or nothing I guess. *sigh*
Both games made me wonder why I quit watching hockey in the first place.
posted by Drood at 01:05 AM on March 01, 2010
Some of the yanks on Twitter... Dear god are they sore losers.
What bugged me was the look on the Team USA faces
Seeing America just made me annoyed.
I'll give you this. You're consistent.
posted by justgary at 01:12 AM on March 01, 2010
1) At least the Pens aren't on the remaining season schedule for the Blues. Probably couldn't handle any more daggers from Crosby.
2) You can't hype up a "rivalry" and expect everybody to be all orange slices, handshakes, and pizza parties at the end of the game, though.
posted by igottheblues at 02:07 AM on March 01, 2010
I think back to the other silver medalists I'd seen and they were thrilled.
Yeah, those Soviets in 1980 cherish the medal they won for losing the big game. They call it the Near-Miracle on Ice. But in Russian.
There's no way you've ever seen a silver-medal winning hockey team look happy in losing. How do you expect a team to react when it just lost the biggest international hockey game in decades? Any team that was happy just to be in the gold medal game would've been wiped off the ice. The Americans were there to send millions of Canadians into abject misery and steal some gold.
posted by rcade at 07:39 AM on March 01, 2010
That was crazy. Miller was amazing. It was nice to see him get a pretty loud ovation when they gave him his medal. It was nicer to see him get a silver medal. I really thought that USA had an edge going into OT with the four-on-four and after the absurdly late tying goal, and Miller being better than Luongo.
And for the record, if you had told me Crosby would score the gold-medal-winning goal in overtime, I wouldn't have believed you. Too obvious.
posted by fabulon7 at 08:16 AM on March 01, 2010
Amen, rcade.
Say what the hell you want to about the US, but leave the US hockey team the hell alone. You go out there and give it all as they did and see if you aren't spent and devastated at the end.
Hey, maybe even show the US team a measure of appreciation for being part of a great game and a great tournament, win or lose.
God forbid, eh?
The Canadian fans in the stands at least showed some class. They cheered their asses off for Ryan Miller and a few of the other US players when they got their medals. Those fans knew what they had just witnessed.
posted by beaverboard at 08:27 AM on March 01, 2010
Those fans knew what they had just witnessed.
Unlike the majority of people in Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Phoenix and other NHL franchise cities with no hockey history.
posted by wfrazerjr at 08:39 AM on March 01, 2010
What bugged me was the look on the Team USA faces... YOU WON THE FUCKING SILVER! They looked like someone had just shat on them and killed their families.
Unlike how the Canadian juniors looked when they "won" the silver at the World Junior Championships this year, right?
Wait, they had the same look. Complete dejection and not a smile in the bunch of them.
That's why Selanne's "It's better to win the bronze than lose the silver" makes sense.
posted by grum@work at 09:14 AM on March 01, 2010
Teemu Selanne was right: you win the bronze, you lose the silver. It's not like a speed skating silver.
The US showed up and played really well. It took a huge performance to beat them. Of course I was cheering on the Canadians, but that match (and both of the last two games) served as a celebration of the sport.
posted by etagloh at 09:15 AM on March 01, 2010
BTW, watching the replay of the OT goal (for the 197th time in a row), you can hear Crosby (above the crowd noise and the announcers) yell "IGGY!" just before Iginla passes him the puck.
posted by grum@work at 09:17 AM on March 01, 2010
Unlike the majority of people in Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Phoenix and other NHL franchise cities with no hockey history.
What's the point of ragging on southern hockey fans? Dallas Stars fans were not well-versed in NHL hockey when they won the Stanley Cup in 1999, but there had been minor league hockey on and off since 1963, so between those fans and the northern transplants we had plenty of puckheads who knew what it meant to win. A year later when the Devils won the Cup in Dallas, most of the locals stuck around to give respect to the winners and see them hoist the cup.
As for Tampa, when they won the cup in 2004, their loyal fans had stuck with the team through a decade of mostly miserable hockey. So it's not like they hadn't paid some dues.
posted by rcade at 09:19 AM on March 01, 2010
Yeah - The US players reacted to their silver medal win the way any team in this tourney would. Classy, but honest.
My hat is off to them. They were the best team all games long and took a team with the payroll of the Boston Red Sox to OT in the gold medal game. There are conservatively seven or eight potential Hall of Famers on Team Canada. There might be one or two on Team USA (and it's a bit early in Parise's and Kane's career to be even making that kind of statement). I don't know if you could ask any more of them. They played their guts out - clean, hard and with balls. No shame in that performance whatsoever. Those guys are warriors.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 09:57 AM on March 01, 2010
I think back to the other silver medalists I'd seen and they were thrilled. Seeing America just made me annoyed. Silver, which is a bloody good result, but no... Win or nothing I guess. *sigh*
Immediately after the game ended, there was dejection; it happens when you play your heart out and lose. There were quite a few players, Miller included, in the closing ceremonies with smiles on their faces, soaking up the moment, and holding up their silver medals for the camera. And that's pretty much what he said in his post game interview: right now it hurts, but we'll soon realize and be proud of our accomplishments. To question the class of those athletes because they were down immediately after over an hour of leaving their souls on the ice smacks of asshattery.
posted by tahoemoj at 10:04 AM on March 01, 2010
The belief that in any game, after one team wins and the other loses, the losing team would be celebrating with smiles on their faces, belies either a lack of understanding of sports in general or the crowing disingenuousness of a poor sport. If the shoe was on the other foot, the dejection of the Team Canada players would touch Drood's heart as he watched them settle for second best with noble frowns and wistful, but honorable, grimaces.
One sore winner's comments aside, that was a tremendous game, a fitting showcase for the one true sport of the Nordic Games. Congratulations to the Canada men's hockey team. Great stuff.
posted by Hugh Janus at 10:16 AM on March 01, 2010
It was Rocky vs. Apollo Creed. Sure Rocky lost that first fight officially, but he was a champion in defeat.
Cut me Mick!
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 10:32 AM on March 01, 2010
Scoring with 15 seconds in the third took some of the edge off the loss for me. Other than being awarded a silver medal, in my mind the series is tied, 1-1. I'd give anything for a rubber match.
posted by smithnyiu at 10:35 AM on March 01, 2010
A tip of the helmet to the U.S.A, maybe the best team throughout the tournament.
Either side could have won that game. Exciting, skilled, physical hockey.
Just, wow !
posted by tommybiden at 10:57 AM on March 01, 2010
My hat is off to them. They were the best team all games long and took a team with the payroll of the Boston Red Sox to OT in the gold medal game. There are conservatively seven or eight potential Hall of Famers on Team Canada.
Hold up.
Let's not try and cast the American team as a bunch of misfit amateurs.
There are some supremely well paid American players as well.
Parise, Kane and Miller are probably able to roll around in their money McScrooge-like, and the rest of them are doing okay.
Also, I have a hard time coming up with seven or eight HOF on the Canadian side:
Brodeur
Crosby (it is a little early, but he's on the right path)
Niedermeyer
Iginla (but that's a bit of a stretch, and that's more "heart" than anything else)
Thornton (that's the biggest stretch yet)
The rest of them are just too young to call "conservative" choices for the HOF.
posted by grum@work at 11:22 AM on March 01, 2010
What's the point of ragging on southern hockey fans?
I think the comment is not so much to rag on the few real southern hockey fans as to point out how badly Bettman's experiment has ruined the NHL.
Yes, the 3500 fans that show up to watch the Coyotes play are true hockey fans. But that same team averaged 14-15K rabid fans prior to their move no matter how bad they were - real hockey fans who understood and supported the game.
posted by cixelsyd at 11:30 AM on March 01, 2010
What smithnyiu said. And I love you, Drood. What colors are the walls in your bunker?
posted by yerfatma at 11:40 AM on March 01, 2010
I think all this discussion about the dejected looks on the faces of silver medal winners supports my position that, like most other events, hockey medals should be handed out at a medal ceremony later on.
I know it's the last event and the logistics might be tricky, but it would be nice to see the team getting the silver actually enjoy it. There's NO WAY any team is going to look happy after they just lost the gold medal.
posted by fabulon7 at 11:49 AM on March 01, 2010
Also, I have a hard time coming up with seven or eight HOF on the Canadian side:
Crosby, Thornton, Niedermayer, Brodeur, Iginla, Heatley, Pronger and Luongo.
Iginla and Heatley both have exceptional international records (no need to remind you that it's the Hockey Hall of Fame - not the NHL one). Thornton is simply a better than a point a game player and has won a scoring title. He's also going to have some big accumulation stats when he's done. Luongo is probably the only questionable one right now - no Vezina, no Cup - but he does have over 50 career shutouts and some astonishing other stats. I expect when it's done he'll be there.
Outside of Kane, Parise, Miller and maybe Bobby Ryan and Dustin Brown - who of any of the remaining players would even have been invited to Team Canada training camp in August? Ryan Malone? Ryan Callahan? Brian Rafalski? Tim fucking Gleason?
Call a spade, a spade - Team Canada was a lot better on paper.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 12:00 PM on March 01, 2010
Crosby, Thornton, Niedermayer, Brodeur, Iginla, Heatley, Pronger and Luongo.
Yes (so far), not yet, definitely, obviously, probably, really?, really? and looking good so far.
Chris Pylon...er...Pronger setting the record for most Olympic games by a Canadian is definitely going to help his HOF chances, but he's still a dirty goon who insulted Edmonton and gets exposed in today's faster game. There are a lot of writers who will have no problem leaving him off their ballot when the time(s) come.
Call a spade, a spade - Team Canada was a lot better on paper.
Definitely.
But the comment about the "payroll of the Boston Red Sox" implied that the Americans were some poor hick team that rose above their station. The only nations that could make some sort of claim about being up against the "highly paid athletes" would be Norway, Germany, Latvia and maybe Switzerland (but they get good money too). The rest of the nations had their teams stocked with active (big money) NHL stars.
BTW, I'd rather have Rafalski than Pronger and Malone than Bergeron (I forgot he was even on the team).
(no need to remind you that it's the Hockey Hall of Fame - not the NHL one)
No need to remind you that there is only one player in the HHOF that didn't play in the NHL (or the precursor, the NHA).
posted by grum@work at 12:15 PM on March 01, 2010
Cixelsyd: The Coyotes are averaging 11,000 fans a game, not 3,500. In the years they've been in Phoenix, they've had a peak of around 15,000 fans a game. Before that, from 1989 to 1995 the franchise drew from 11,000 to 13,000 fans in Winnipeg (not 15,000). There are 1.8 million TV homes in the Phoenix area, 12th overall in the U.S. I can't find numbers for Winnipeg, but it has a population 42% as big as Phoenix. Canadian teams make more bang for the buck, population wise, but even at its worst Phoenix is drawing roughly the same attendance and is in a vastly larger TV market.
Perhaps Winnipeg deserves a team again, but Bettman's experiment hasn't "ruined the NHL." The southern expansion of the NHL made the sport a national one down here. If Phoenix hadn't been driven into the toilet by bad management, they'd be drawing around what the Dallas Stars do.
posted by rcade at 12:19 PM on March 01, 2010
All I can say about that great game, and those that preceded it, is "see they can play hockey without the fights"...the games were played the way they were supposed to be played. Hats off to all of the teams.
posted by wildbill1 at 12:56 PM on March 01, 2010
Chris Pylon...er...Pronger setting the record for most Olympic games by a Canadian is definitely going to help his HOF chances, but he's still a dirty goon who insulted Edmonton and gets exposed in today's faster game. There are a lot of writers who will have no problem leaving him off their ballot when the time(s) come.
grum -- While I do not purport to understand the Hockey HoF process the way I do baseball (or even football), I just get the impression that Pronger is going to be a guy that gets in as much for reputation as for actual performance.
Here's my take on why he will get in:
- Two Olympic golds
- Most Olympic games by a Canadian
- One cup and another 7 game final in which his acquisition was largely seen (rightly or wrongly) as the tipping point for his team winning/being in contention
- A Norris (and it will be said that he would have won more if not for playing in the "Lidstrom Era")
- A Hart
- Multiple All-Star appearances
- Two times leading the league in +/- (kind of a dumb thing to highlight, but it presumably will be mentioned at voting time)
- Captain of multiple teams
- Etc.
Should he be in? Maybe, maybe not. But I do not expect the voters will look at the fact that his reputation outstripped his performance and that he left a few places on bad terms to keep him out. So I think he will be in. I would look at him as being somewhat analogous to Curt Schilling in baseball -- although Schilling has a pretty good case on the merits, he did not win many awards or hit the key milestones for pitchers (at least as it relates to wins), but is more or less a lock for the Hall in terms of "intangibles" (i.e., winning mentality, grittiness and assorted other bullshit) and post-season success coupled with the fact that he is seen as a tipping point in the World Series success of two franchises. It's as much of a reputational thing as a "deserve" thing. As Clint Eastwood said to Gene Hackman at the end of a film that I unforgivably cannot seem to recall the name of, "Deserve's got nothin' to do with it."
Hats off to the Americans and to the Canadians for a great game. The sad thing for me as a Wings fan (in addition to watching Crosby -- a player I just find to be off-putting for some reason -- be on the wrong side of an all-the-marbles game for the second time in less than a year and scoring the winner, nonetheless) is that the success of Babcock and Yzerman with this Team Canada is about as good as it's going to get for the Wings this year, and that's some pretty attenuated, vicarious joy, my friends.
posted by holden at 01:55 PM on March 01, 2010
Unlike the majority of people in Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Phoenix and other NHL franchise cities with no hockey history.
Mark Sappenfield, writing on the Olympics, had an interesting comment in today's Christian Science Monitor. He claims that within minutes of the end of the game, the #6 search item on Google was "What is icing in hockey?", and right behind it was "How many periods in Olympic hockey?" I can't disparage hockey fans in the non-traditional cities when the NHL seems to have done so poor a job of teaching the sport. If what Mr. Sappenfield has written is true, the curiosity about hockey is there. Now it is up to the NHL to begin a campaign of education via their TV outlets. More importantly, they need to get the local print and electronic media on their side. This would likely have to be done by spending advertising dollars, which the NHL leadership seems loath to do, but it could produce some real returns in the long term. Of course, when one of your TV outlets is an obscure cable channel, there's really not much to be done. That was one of the worst ideas that Bettman and his people ever had.
posted by Howard_T at 02:33 PM on March 01, 2010
I stand corrected about Chris Pronger. I completely forgot that he was a Hart and Norris trophy winner. His resume is much more deserving for the HHOF than I originally thought.
He claims that within minutes of the end of the game, the #6 search item on Google was "What is icing in hockey?", and right behind it was "How many periods in Olympic hockey?"
I found it interesting that a few hours after the game, the number one "trending topic" on Twitter in the US was "hate Sidney Crosby".
posted by grum@work at 02:44 PM on March 01, 2010
That twitter trend is hilarious. Stupid Child of Destiny!
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 03:34 PM on March 01, 2010
I just get the impression that Pronger is going to be a guy that gets in as much for reputation as for actual performance.
If so, wouldn't that keep Thornton out?
posted by yerfatma at 08:37 AM on March 02, 2010
Man, I keep seeing everyone saying that this is the new 72 Summit Series. That this will be remembered by the generation for the rest of their lives. A great day for Canada. Yadda yadda... and it seems as though everyone has already forgotten 2002. Fuck, 02 was the BIG win for me with a far more legendary team (Lemieux, Yzerman, Sakic.) The first Canadian win with a pro team at the Olympics. The first gold. The loony in the ice.
This is just a repeat.
posted by mkn at 06:23 PM on March 02, 2010
A great day for Canada. Yadda yadda... and it seems as though everyone has already forgotten 2002. Fuck, 02 was the BIG win for me with a far more legendary team (Lemieux, Yzerman, Sakic.) The first Canadian win with a pro team at the Olympics. The first gold. The loony in the ice.
This is just a repeat.
The problem is that there was no real defining moment on the ice that everyone will remember. You have the Henderson leap of joy with Esposito grabbing him in '72, you have Lemieux's leap with Murphy (and others) grabbing him, and now you have Crosby's jump while Niedermeyer grabbing him.
For 2002, the most indelible image for me is not of a player, but the GM Wayne Gretzky getting angry at the press conference.
That's a hard one to put on a stamp.
posted by grum@work at 10:13 PM on March 02, 2010
I like the picture that circulated round these parts in 2002, of Yzerman and Shanahan wearing their gold medals arm-in-arm with Hull and Chelios wearing their silvers. They were enemies for 60 minutes, then after getting their prizes, they went back to being friends and teammates, and getting ready to finish the march to a Stanley Cup. And you could put it on a stamp...
posted by MeatSaber at 12:16 AM on March 03, 2010
That's a decent choice, but I bet too many hosers would be upset to have Americans on the stamp.
Nope. The Crosby one will be a stamp. 2002 was a confirmation of what we all wanted to believe, but was a pretty easy game. 2010 was on home soil with EVERYONE watching to win the record 14th gold.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 06:20 PM on March 03, 2010
End of regulation, and I'm watching what has to be the best hockey game I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot of them - NHL, AHL, college, high school, pee wee). While I'm rooting for the USA, I really don't care who wins at this point, because both teams have covered themselves with glory. I know there'll be a full post on this later, but I had to get my licks in right now.