Stupid, Herb Brooks called it.
The day before Sunday’s massive gold-medal hockey game, the coach of the United States’ team was talking about Canada’s preference for dump-and-chase hockey. Brooks thinks it is “stupid” to get the puck, then give it away in hopes of getting it again deeper in the offensive zone.
Brooks prefers a “hybrid” style of hockey–passing, skating, puck control. He called his way more “profound,” as compared with Canada’s “stupid” hockey.
So who is stupid now that the Americans got sucked into playing Canada’s game in the most important game of the Olympics?
Canada imposed its NHL style on the U.S. team, no matter that the rink was 15 feet wider than in the NHL. That’s how good the Canadians were. That’s why they deserved the gold medal after a 5-2 victory in the E Center.
“Our attitude coming into this game was, `We’re the better team. We’ve got to go out and prove it,”‘ U.S. captain Chris Chelios said. “But [Sunday] Canada was better.”
Canada snapped up its first men’s hockey gold medal in 50 years, which was the only thing Team Canada Executive Director Wayne Gretzky said would be acceptable for his country and his roster worth about $120 million in NHL salaries.
“They have a certain pride about their game,” Chelios said. “It might be the only game they’re any good at. That and curling.”
The Americans, icing a roster worth about $97 million in NHL salaries, came into the gold-medal match with the best record in the Games (4-0-1), and they did it with a quick adjustment to the east-west, circling, patient style that usually wins on the bigger ice.
But by the second period, after the U.S. team had blown a lead on a goal by Blackhawks captain Tony Amonte, it was clear the Canadians were going to have their way.
The Americans started dumping the puck, losing patience and shooting way too soon to allow their snipers to set up for one-timers–clear signs they were playing someone else’s game and that the coach with the golden touch from 1980 had no touch when it mattered most.
“What hurt us was we weren’t able to utilize our speed,” former Hawks defenseman Gary Suter said. “We had the quicker team. Their forwards bottled us up at times.”
The Americans showed pluck in killing off a 78-second two-man disadvantage midway through the second period, then tying the game on a Brian Rafalski goal that caromed in off Canadian defenseman Chris Pronger’s stick.
But less than three minutes later, the U.S. team was unable to stop tournament MVP Joe Sakic, who fired a 40-foot screen shot off a couple bodies for a 3-2 lead.
When the U.S. needed to skate in the third period, it managed only five shots in the first 14 minutes.
When NHL scoring leader Jarome Iginla popped his second goal of the game and Sakic followed suit, it was 5-2 late. Canadian fans began singing “O Canada,” growing louder as the seconds ticked off, finishing as time ran out, erupting as the Canadian players mobbed goalie Martin Brodeur.
“This is the proudest moment of my career,” Canadian forward Theo Fleury said.
It appeared to be one of the toughest for the Americans. They had to stand and watch as the Canadians celebrated, skated around with Canadian flags and took back the game they gave the world.
“You could tell that they needed it,” U.S. center and former Hawk Jeremy Roenick said. “It felt like 50 years of emotion pent up in the way they played.”
While the Canadians exulted, the American players moved to center ice as a group and raised their sticks to the fans, delivering a closing moment far classier than the one they had left in Nagano.
“Herbie said, `Salute the crowd. They’ve been behind us the whole tournament,”‘ Hawks defenseman Phil Housley said. “What a great feeling it is for me to play in my home country, represent the USA, and I’m sure Tony and I will never forget this.”
Amonte spent the postgame in the dressing room, icing down an ankle injured in the first period. But Housley seemingly spoke for his Hawks captain and U.S. teammates in finding some perspective amid the pain.
“It’s the first medal we’ve won in 22 years, so you take the positive out of it,” he said. “We have nothing to be ashamed of. We put ourselves in position to win the gold medal.”
