USA Hockey Making a Statement: Olympics, U-20, and U-17 Teams All Defeat Canadians

Excellent game played by team U-S-A! Couldn’t take my eyes off this one! GO U-S-A!! Go for the gold! Timmy Gleason made a few nice defensive plays in the 3rd, and even got recognition for one of them by Doc Emrick I do believe..?

there is still a lot of hockey left in vancouver.
and while i think the juniors wins ARE statements about the future of US hockey,
i think any type of equalization of dominance is years away in the nhl.

This is not good: Joni Pitkanen is suspended one game for his elbow to the head of Hormqvist. From Canes Now

Here’s the link to see all 12 teams placed in the bracket.

Team USA plays Wednesday at 3pm. But the Team USA Women’s semi-final game is today at 3pm, vs Sweden.

Give Ron Wilson and his coaching staff a ton of credit. They’ve got this group playing like a team in a very short time-frame. Sounds like his legendary .pdf files he was sending out over the past months had some good stuff on them.

i as a guy who did play on the city ponds and rinks in chicago as a kid all the way through High School…and in my intrests and involvement in youth hockey in the midwest and northwest…it took a spark called the mirical on ice back in 1980 which helped start the expantion of youth hockey programs here in the usa…True Canada may have the market on youth hockey…but the USA is catching up and in some places 7 programs…passing Canada….USA USA USA !! But like many here i too am shocked about “Yanni’s” suspention…as while he is a tough player, but not a cheap shot artist…but international rules are a wee bit different huh ??

There is no one who is more of a fan of USA hockey than me, and no bigger Caniac, I’m just like all of you, fanatical. That being said, and realistically stepping back and analyzing each of the teams playing for a medal, sadly I can’t honestly say that I believe USA has this thing in the bag. Canada was tough last night. Both the Russians and the Czechs looked like medal contenders. I agree with wylde4canes that the Russians have some chemistry problems though (surprise, surprise). Mike Milbury was asked, if he were a GM again, who would he pick? Ovechkin or Crosby? And he picked Ovechkin. But if I were a GM Ovechkin’s “chemistry problem” would make me think twice about that choice. So, I think we were amazing through the neutral zones and Miller is obviously the best goalie in the Olympics right now. But….the Canadians just seem like they are waiting to bust out. It gives me goosebumps just hearing their lineup. While he scored twice, once for us and once for his home team, I think Crosby is still trying to figure out where he fits in on his team, IMO, and when he does he is going to be something to watch. And then there is Staal. I wish he had that jump in his step when he played for us this season (guess it’s tough staying motivated in last place, new C or not). He has the opportunity right now to “make up for” the horrible season the Canes are having. The captain of our Canes has the chance to come home with the Gold. That’s big enough to motivate him to play with all his heart, which is already huge. While I love him and truly hope he comes back to us healthy cuz I am all things Canes first, I have to admit that last night I found myself wishing someone would put a hurt locker on his whiney, bitchy little ass. If it was Gleason so much the better. Nash was amazing. Brodeur is pissed. And while we were physical, the Canadians matched us in that department, and maybe edged us out a little bit. And I think that in winning last night we might have might have done ourselves more harm than good. We might have awoke the proverbial sleeping lion. So I am going to pray that we get this done, and I am going to cry if we don’t, but my gut tells me that the Canadians will prevail at home. I’m trying to shake it, talk myself into believing that good ‘ol American spirit will carry the day, but I saw something in team Canada last night, in a loss, that tells me they are just too stacked with talent to be beat. But then, there was Dustin Brown. Probably the best individual performance I have seen on any team so far. If Team USA can catch his spirit, maybe, just maybe, I’m wrong. I hope so. Because Team Canada gold is going to feel pretty lousy. Watching Team Russia celebrating would leave a scar.