How can you not believe in destiny after what you saw yesterday with Canada's women's team? Whether you do or not, there was a sense all throughout yesterday's game that anything could happen for either team, and you should have the same sense about today's matchup between the American men's team and the Canadian men's team.
You could say that Team Canada has the edge on paper, and you could say that no one's played better than Team USA has in the tournament, and really, that'll only serve as justification in trying to explain the result, when in fact, all of that should be tossed out the window.
Before the tournament started, you could've looked at both teams and realized that either one of them would be good enough to beat the other, and let's face the facts, both teams were built to play each other.
This is going to come down to coaching, goaltending and special teams.
Dan Bylsma's been working on a gameplan to beat Canada since well before he was awarded the honor of coaching Team USA . Mike Babcock's been steadily preparing his team to win a close hockey game, which in a game of unexpecteds, is the one thing you probably should expect.
Bylsma's plan is likely to include running David Backes, Ryan Callahan, Dustin Brown, Ryan McDonagh and Ryan Suter up against Crosby's line. Ryan Kesler, Zach Parise and Patrick Kane may get some of that assignment as well, as one would imagine that nasty US forward line might see some ice against Canada's Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Jamie Benn.
The storylines are pretty transparent. Canada's lack of scoring finish disappears today if they win. USA's goal-scoring prowess prevails if they win. But we all know that Carey Price and Jonathan Quick are both going to be tested with the best shots and scoring chances they've seen thus far, and it's really going to come down to which one of them shines brighter. I know, it's cliche, but cliches are often true.
You hope the officials aren't a factor as they were yesterday, but either team will expect that they will be a factor. Whoever's more prepared to win the special teams battle likely wins the game.
You hope this game will live up to the hype. With both teams as evenly matched as they are, you hope it's the best game we've seen since they met four years ago in an epic clash for a gold medal.
Enjoy it!