That's hockey

Wow. That's just about all I can say about that World Junior Championship gold medal game last night. I try to think about it and my brain just folds in on itself. What an incredible game. I'm still spent from having watched it, I can't even imagine how the players feel today. I certainly hope the Canadian players don't feel as though they've let anyone down, or like the choked, or as thought they disappointed anyone. They played really well and they played the kind of gutsy hockey Canadians expect. They did everything we fans could reasonably ask for, and there's no shame at all in the way they lost, or in the way they defended their title. We've seen over the years some odd choices for top forward, defensemen and goaltender, but there's no doubt Alex Pietrangelo was the best defensemen in the tournament-- heading into the medal round he was tied for the scoring lead. And while you could probably flip a coin to choose between Jordan Eberle and Derek Stepan of the US team for top forward, Eberle was more than worthy of the award, and of the tournament MVP award. A story like that hardly makes it seem like anyone failed. So what happened? Simply put, this American team was awesome. I don't know if they're as good as Canada's 2005 team, but I think they will have the same resonance in the US that Canada's '05 team does in Canada. With the score tied after two Canadian-dominated periods, the American team found another gear in the third period, and when Canada improbably tied the game, the Americans played with the kind of resolve Canadians expect from their teams, dominating the early part of overtime, getting a big save, then quickly putting their lone scoring chance to good use. Again, "Wow," just seems to sum it up so much better than anything else here. Congrats to team Canada on their silver medal and a great performance.