MILAN — These Canadians, they vowed to scratch and claw, to turn this thing into a bloodbath, to avenge a year’s worth of losses and buck the odds and silence the critics and rep the flag.
Belief and effort can only bring a team so far, however. And the mighty Team USA, an Olympic wagon that rolled unbothered through the preliminaries and knockout bracket, came into Thursday’s inevitable showdown with its northern neighbours as weighty favourites to dethrone the 2022 champs.
Heck, the speedy and skillsy Americans had defeated Canada’s best no less than seven straight times, most recently last week, when they laid a 5-0 beatdown on the Red and White.
But sport is sport.
God invented it to surprise us.
And on any given Thursday, one united group determined and stubborn and focused enough can upset. Then rejoice and cry and fling its mitts high into the Milano Santaguilia Arena air.
Canada nearly conjured a stunning upset.
So, even though Team USA leaves Milan as the most dominant hockey team of the fortnight — and wholly deserving of its gold medal — Team Canada should leave with its head held high.
Boy, did they give the U.S. a test, coming hard out of the gates and snatching a lead before eventually breaking 37 long minutes later, then losing a heartbreaker 2-1 in overtime.
A soccer score in a calico nation.
“We’ve been there before. We know how to do it,” Canada’s Brianne Jenner had said. “It’s just a matter of us showing up.”
They showed up, all right.
In an airtight game loud and fast and blessed with stingy defence and superb goaltending at both ends (Ann-Renee Desbiens for Canada, Aerin Frankel for the U.S.), for a while it appeared one clean look would do.
Kristin O’Neill got that chance shorthanded early in the second, converting a backhand deke after a feathery 2-on-1 feed from Laura Stacey.
The potential golden goal, followed by 37 minutes of holding the fort and a nation’s breath… until a pulled goalie and twist of the plot.
U.S. captain Hilary Knight drove to the slot with six skaters and infinite desperation. Knight got her blade on Laila Edwards point shot and tied the final with only 2:04 to gold. (She also became the all-time scoring leader in USA women’s Olympic history.)
Cue the 3-on-3 overtime and clean ice for Megan Keller to script history, complete the dramatic comeback, and throw the Santigiulia into thunderous chants of “U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!”
Canada’s Julia Gosling figured they were just fine with their underdog status, heading in.
Outside doubt can embolden or crush an athlete.
“It makes us more hungry,” Gosling said. “We haven’t won against them for a year. We’re ready to take that and heartbreak them.”
They nearly did.
But sport is equally cruel as it is rewarding, and it was Canada’s bench that sat silent and sunken as Keller’s puck slithered through and the clock froze.
USA finishes the tournament with a ridiculous 33-2 goal advantage. They came in hotter and younger and, seemingly, more confident than Team Canada.
But the Canadians, on this night, hardly resembled the hockey team we saw last week. Or in any of this season’s Rivalry Series, for that matter.
One that should, tough as it is, fly home from Italy proud of their silver.
Fox’s Fast Five
• Marie-Philip Poulin at the Olympics: three gold medals, two silver.
Hayley Wickenheiser at the Olympics: four gold medals, one silver.
• Team USA women’s shutout streak reached 351:23, becoming the longest in Olympic history.
• Stand-on-her-head Swiss goalie Andrea Brändli stopped an incredible 116 of the 119 shots she faced in elimination games (.975 save percentage) and backstopped her nation to its second Olympic medal in women’s ice hockey (both bronze).
“It’s huge. It shows, really, what Switzerland is doing,” the upbeat Brändli said. “We have so many people now that play in the Swiss League, and being 2-1 against Canada (in the semis) shows that we’re doing the right jobs. You know, we’re just not there yet.
“Our shot count is very low. So, there needs to be more work done back home in Switzerland. But overall, we’re going in the right direction.”
• Auston Matthews on rooting for the American women: “Watching them, being around them, they’re a very determined group. There’s a lot of high-end players there. Some girls that have been around for a little bit and some that are coming up that are extremely impressive. We’re rooting for them big.”
• U.S. defenceman Caroline Harvey averages more than two points per game for the University of Wisconsin (54 points in 26 games) this season and was noticeably the best player on the ice. She’s everywhere.
