What a great hockey game on Sunday afternoon eh? Those pesky Americans just wouldn’t go away. With the age and the talent of that US squad I think the future of international hockey in the mens league has now turned the page to become as close as the women’s game. Lots to learn about watching that hockey tournament. Forgive me for going on about hockey but it is part of our heritage here in Canada and something you are raised to be proud of. Having all those brothers it was something you also watched every Saturday evening through the winters as I grew up.
But watching the games between the USA and Canada you could see the US team was much more “hungry” in the first meeting than the Canadian squad. The US team was trying to slay the dragon, the goliath. However in the game Sunday, although evident that both teams r-e-a-l-l-l-y wanted to win, there appeared a bit more urgency to the Canadians. It was more a case of fighting for something bigger than just a gold medal. It was the like big brother was trying to take something that didn’t belong to him and do it in front of our home fans!
If you didn’t catch the celebration it occurred throughout our country, it was an amazing party. Even though the game was in Vancouver, B.C, there was a celebratory street party 3000 miles away in downtown Toronto, On. They had to close one of the busiest streets in the city. And that didn’t account for the wild shenanigans that went on here in Alberton!
Watching individual competitor there was a lot to be learned from the US goalie Ryan Miller. I have never seen a calmer competitor. It was inspiring. Being a former goaltender myself I know how easy it is to get caught up in the emotion of the game, but he did not and he played the same cool way throughout the entire tournament.
And speaking of inspiring, I don’t know how anyone could have watched Joannie Rochette figure skating performance without tearing up. That was just raw courage. My heart went out for Joannie and I am in awe of the brilliance she demonstrated during that bronze medal Olympic performances.
And what about the Slovenia athlete, Peta Majdic who fell down that 3 m clif and broke her ribs during qualifying but went on to win a bronze medal in cross country skiing. Amazing story of grit, determination and overcoming.
Today I am grateful for the inspiration all of the Olympians gave me while watching their great efforts on the television. My workouts had a little more snap to them over the last few weeks:).
They did have many of the curling matches on the MSNBC channel(s) so it did at least get coverage here in the US (compared to some Olympics where it didn’t get any). But yeah, we here in the US don’t really have much interest in curling, it probably falls even lower than cross-country skiing in terms of what people here want to watch (which after all is what the amount of coverage is based on). I always find it ironic that two of the most popular sports in Canada are hockey, which is packed with fast, non-stop, exciting action, and curling, which…umm…isn’t.
Yes, I agree that there was so many inspiring moments during this past Olympics. But I can’t believe you didn’t mention the men’s Canandian Curling team winning the Gold! Kevin Martin and his fellow curler’s are one class act! I think my husband and I are the only two people in America that even know about it. They certainly didn’t get the coverage they deserved. And congrats to the Canadian Women’s Curling team for taking home the silver. They were so close to the gold. I will also admit that I loved seeing the Canadian Hockey team win the Gold. What a great game. I am very happy that all my canadian friends have so much to celebrate.
We’re big fans of hockey in my family (my brother has Hurricane season tickets) so we really loved that gold medal match (outcome notwithstanding). I think both teams *really* wanted it, but the experience of the Canadian squad really shown when it got to 4-on-4. There is just absolutely no margin for error at that point, and that was what made the difference in the end. I am really proud of our team and they should hold their heads up very high for getting so far in a tournament where coming in they weren’t really that highly regarded. Miller easily deserved the MVP award, and played amazing all the way to the end.
Loved the photo Susan…I played goalie myself growing up (in soccer though!) and it is definitely a very tough position to play. During the coverage, NBC talked about how Miller badly wanted to be a goalie when he was younger. I was the opposite, I hated that kind of pressure, even though I was by far the best at that position. I knew how to play it and played it well, but I hated being the one that ultimately let the goal get past. It really takes someone strong mentally to handle that position, particularly at that level.
Hadn’t heard that Petra actually *broke* ribs, wow! During the coverage of the event they reported that she was badly bruised and I wonder about it as she seemed to be in so much pain. Amazing to come through that with a bronze.
It really was a great Olympics. Well worth the time I spent watching all the coverage…but now, time to get back to work! 😉
I became a fan of Canada after visiting for one of your camps. Since then, I’ve met some amazing Canadians in our main sport – disc dog. This Olympics, I was totally cheering for Canada to bring home the hardware! Even in the hockey game!
I agree about the lessons we can learn from these individuals, the strength and dedication is inspiring!
—-So wondering how your girl is doing, I have been thinking about her since you mentioned the issues she was having in Ohio….I hope things are improving.
I think both Joannie and Petra were awarded the Terry Fox award for what they did.
Very exciting Olympics this year with many ‘WOW’ moments. I love seeing the atheletes in the final stages just before their performances you can see them in deep thought likely going through every step of that performance working through their appropriate stages for preparation.
And the hockey game…..ahhh….great game and YAHOO for Sid the Kid our East Coast boy who earned that final goal.
As a Vancouverite and someone who was not alive for expo ’86 😉 this experience is something I’m going to be taking with me for the rest of my life. Never have I felt such a connection and warmth with the people in my community. The world got to see a different, more proud side of Canada these past two weeks. We let ourselves feel and express the love for our country that we’ve really always had but never felt comfortable “shouting from the rooftops” … until now 🙂
GO CANADA!!!!!!!
(Should have spell checked it first, but I was in an Olympic moment:))
Wow, when I started reading this entry and you were talking about great acoomplishments, I thought, our Petra did it too! And then you have it written – I am from Slovenia:)) Yep, she broke 5 ribs. The first exam showed nothing was broken. So she went into her quarter final 1-mile sprint. With excrutiating pain. By then the pain killers started kicking in. They she had to run semi-final 1-mile sprint (getting 19th place and barely making it into finals). All these runs in just couple of hourse. The later exam showed she indeed did have 5 ribs brokend and during the runs she punctured her lungs severely. In finals she gave it all and won bronze. She said for her it was as golden, covered in diamonds. Truly inspirational in all ways possible!
Katarina