Paint the USA puck red, white and extremely blue, the latter being the mood following Saturday's awful performance against Finland in the bronze medal game.
It's understandable that the Americans would have a letdown after losing to Canada in the semifinals. No disrespect to the Finns -- they deserved this medal, and congrats to Teemu Selanne, one of the game's really good guys -- but there's no excuse for getting hammered 5-0 with a chance to come home with a medal, regardless of the color.
Hard to believe a U.S. team that scored 20 goals in the first four games would get blanked in the final two games, the most important of the entire tournament.
I guess a little humility -- in this case, a lot -- can be good for the soul.
Paul Stastny didn't have a shot on goal Saturday, but he won all three of his faceoffs and had an even plus/minus rating in 10:13 of ice time.
So that leaves two Avalanche forwards, Canada's Matt Duchene and Sweden's Gabriel Landeskog, to compete for Olympic gold on Sunday. One of them will have plenty of bragging rights in the locker room when all of the players are back from Russia to resume the NHL season.
But while Duchene and Landeskog are guaranteed a gold or silver medal, Stastny and Russia's Semyon Varlamov have nothing to show for their time and effort but the experience. Hope they at least were able to enjoy that to some extent despite the obvious disappointment.
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Forward Alex Tanguay underwent season-ending hip surgery Friday, but defenseman Cory Sarich said his back is healthy and he's ready to start playing again. Sarich missed the final 13 games before the Olympic break. His back flared up after he played 19:07 Jan. 11 in a 4-2 win at Minnesota.
Tanguay's absence will give PA Parenteau another opportunity to get his game untracked, and the Avalanche will need more production from him to enhance its chances of moving up in the Central Division standings for a chance at home ice in the first round of the playoffs.
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How to ruin a vacation: Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson was handed his two-game suspension by the NHL on Feb. 11, the day he arrived in Mexico for a few days of R&R during the Olympics break.
Johnson received a text message from Avalanche executive Joe Sakic shortly after his plane landed, letting him know he'd take part in a hearing with the league's Department of Player Safety for his slash against the New York Islanders Frans Nielsen on Feb. 8.
Nielsen sustained a non-displaced fracture in his left hand, an injury that is expected to take about a month to heal.
Johnson was given a minor penalty for the slash and he expected to be fined, not realizing that Nielsen was injured on the play. The two-game penalty will cost him $38,461.54 salary and cause him to miss games Wednesday and Friday against Los Angeles and Phoenix.
"In the heat of the moment I don't think you realize what it looks like or the impact that it has," said Johnson, who is back practicing with the Avalanche as the team prepares for the resumption of the season next week. "It was definitely a penalty and I thought for sure I'd get a fine. I think a two-game suspension is a bit steep.
"I think a lot of the time they base their decision on the result of the play. They look and say, 'Ok, we're going to do something about this because the guy got hurt.' I think there's probably some plays out there that don't (result in) suspensions because a guy doesn't get hurt. I think it's a knee-jerk reaction. I don't agree with the length of the suspension.
"Definitely I thought it should have been a fine and it definitely was a penalty, but I had no intention of hurting that player. I feel badly about that. I realize the suspension department has a tough job, too. I thought at max I would get one game and for sure I would get a fine. I'm a little disappointed in the result. I never had any supplemental discipline before and I'm not a dirty player.
"Really the only reason for the suspension is the guy broke his hand. It's unfortunate, but I didn't mean to do it. I don't agree on how they suspend guys based on the result of injuries. If he hadn't broken his hand would they have suspended me two games? Probably not. It shouldn't be because someone gets hurt."
Johnson, 25, is having his best season since joining the Avalanche on Feb. 18, 2011 in a trade with St. Louis involving four players and two draft picks. He has seven goals, 17 assists and a plus-5 plus/minus rating in 58 games, though his play slipped in the weeks leading up to the Olympic break. He was a minus-11 in the last 10 games and he hasn't scored a goal in 17 games.
Johnson said he feels refreshed and ready to get off to a good start, but he won't be able to play until March 2 against Tampa Bay when the Avalanche closes out a three-game homestand.
"You have to forget what you've done before the break and focus on how you're going to start anew," he said. "I think we'll be rejuvenated and ready to go. When you're away from the rink this long and away from all your friends -- teammates and staff -- you get the itch to come back. It's going to be a fun last stretch of games.
"I'm disappointed that I'll miss those games, especially two big Western Conference games. You kind of feel that you've let the team down in a sense. I've never played a full 82-game season and I was on pace to do that this year."