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Vancouver Canucks: Gold for Dan Hamhuis and Roberto Luongo, Utica News |
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They did it! Canada becomes the first team to go undefeated in men's hockey at the Olympics since the Soviet Union in 1984 and the first to repeat as champs since the Soviet/Unified teams tallied three wins in a row in 1984, 1988 and 1992.
It's hard to believe that we were all so worried just a few days ago, after the narrow victory against Latvia. But full points to the Canadian team, which came together at the right time and didn't allow a single goal in its last two games—only three in the whole tournament.
Those Norwegians and Latvians (and to a lesser extent, the Finns) have to be feeling pretty good about themselves now, getting pucks past Carey Price when the Americans and Swedes could not.
Full credit to Price. He couldn't muster a shred of emotion in his post-game interview but shut the door at the most important time. And while I'm not one for hyperbole, it is pretty special to be witnessing perhaps Canada's great period ever in international hockey history. The four years covering these two Olympics will go down in the history books next to the Canada/Russia Summit Series from 1972 and Gretzky-to-Lemieux in the 1987 Canada Cup.
Canada finished the tournament with a team GAA of 0.50 and save percentage of .9767. Not bad.
Here's Jeff Paterson's quick summary of Canuck contributions:
Daniel Sedin was the most visible of the bunch, but his biggest play was turning over the puck to Chris Kunitz in the third period and allowing him to post his only point of the Olympics. Daniel was also on the ice for Canada's second goal—the Crosby breakaway.
Alex Edler is blameless. The pair of Kronwall and Jonathan Ericsson was on the ice for two goals against, and Hjalmarsson was with Ekman-Larsson for the third.
Dan Hamhuis did get onto the ice for the final 1:04, giving him the longest average-shift time of the entire team. I'm happy for him that it wasn't a goose-egg.
Roberto Luongo is taking it all in stride, and looks pumped to be marching in the closing ceremonies:
At this point, I'm happy for him that he got into a game—and was also perfect. He seems like he thoroughly enjoyed his Olympic experience.
Since the NHL players never get to participate in the opening ceremonies, it's nice that they'll get to stay till the end today.
In addition to all the gaudy stats I've already mentioned, Team Canada never trailed in the entire Olympic tournament.
I fear it's going to be quite a shock when we get back to reality with the Canucks on Wednesday.
For today, the Canucks have a day off—to celebrate our new national holiday? They'll get back to practice on Monday.
Notes from the Farm:
The Canucks are looking to recall one or more players from Utica, and Nicklas Jensen is (finally) making a case for why he should be chosen. He scored his 14th of the season on Saturday to tie the game against the Binghampton Senators as the Utica Comets recorded their first third-period come-from-behind win in franchise history. Frankie Corrado potted the winner.
The Comets have performed well during this Olympic break, with their full complement of players. They're 6-3-1 in their last 10 games and have moved out of the basement of the Western Conference. Utica's now in 13th place, just six points out of a playoff spot.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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