A Great Day To Be An American

I will start out by saying never have I ever been so happy to wake up at 7 am on a Saturday. The USA-Russia game had so much hype going into it, and as big as the hype was I think everyone will agree that the game exceeded the expectations.  As cool as it is to win a game at home in front of the hometown fans, I think it's even cooler to go into the opponents' home arena on foreign soil and silencing the crowd with their leader Putin in attendance.

The game had everything a hockey fan could want.  Hard hits, highlight reel goals from both sides and great goaltending.  Ironically two rules that are different in international play than in the NHL helped the US in their 3-2 shootout victory.  The Russian goal that would have put them up 3-2 late in the game and was disallowed due to the net being ever so slightly dislodged would have most likely counted in an NHL game. Also, in the NHL you can't continuously use a player in a shootout after the first 3 players have gone.  Only in International hockey could the legend of Warroad, MN (in my mind now the best name of a town in America) T.J. O$hie be born with his 4 goals in 6 attempts in the shootout.

If there was something that was both a negative and positive to today's game for the US it was their special teams play.  While it was encouraging that both regulation goals came on the power play, on the other hand the US found themselves in the penalty box far too much.  Against teams like Canada and possibly the Russians again, the US cannot afford to allow their opponents to be on the man advantage, especially on a larger sheet  of ice where it is easier to find holes in the defense.

While this was only one win in group play, it was one of those great games where you could tell by monitoring social media platforms that it galvanized a country. Bars throughout the country were packed as the sun just began to rise and numerous people who normally don't watch hockey appeared to be in awe of the intensity of the game.  It is my hope that a game like this will help hockey become a more popular sport in America.

As for Team USA going forward, they have a quick turnaround as they take on the Seattle Seahawk look-alikes in Slovenia tomorrow.  The US should win this game comfortably and will thus help them advance to the quarterfinals of the Olympic tournament with earning 8 out of a possible 9 points in group play.  The one big question tomorrow I have is who will get the start in net?  Jonathan Quick played a hell of a game today, but with the short turnaround and facing an inferior opponent I wonder if coach Dan Bylsma will go with Ryan Miller who was the star of the 2010 games.

As tough as it is, I'm looking forward to getting up again tomorrow bright and early to root on the Red, White and Blue. And remember folks this may be the last time we get to witness the pros in the Olympics so I encourage you to try and enjoy every second of it.