What an embarrassment. What a joke. Less than one day after losing to the favored Canadians in one of the most highly-anticipated games in the Olympic tournament, the United States was shutout by Finland, 5-0.
34 years ago on this day, the United States pulled off the greatest upsets in the history of sports. America was coming off of one its worst decades, where inflation and unemployment problems were manifest. Then, the Soviet Union entered Afghanistan, and the United States was clearly shown as the second best on the world stage.
Then, on a sheet of ice in Lake Placid, a group of college kids beat the C.C.C.P., widely accepted as the best team ever. Of course, this didn’t solve any of the problems that plagued America at the time period, but it gave Americans hope. It made them proud to call themselves citizens of the United States.
Fast forward 34 years to Bolshoy Ice Dome in Sochi, where the United States choked. On Friday, the Canadians defeated the Americans 1-0. This was somewhat expected, because Canada was the reigning gold medal winner and was favored again in 2014. Though the loss was understandable, the effort put out by Team USA was not. They did not show the true skills that they possess, and it seemed like they quit by the third period. Canada was in the Gold Medal match, and the Americans would play Saturday for the Bronze.
Then, with a chance to take home third place, the United States put up a stinker. Unlike in the game against Canada, goaltender Jonathan Quick is not free of blame. He let in five goals. No disrespect to Finland, but the Americans were the superior team. Many of the Fins do not play in the NHL, and their best skater is Teemu Selanne, the age-less wonder.
After a scoreless first period, the Fins tallied two goals within 11 ticks of the clock in the second period. One came off of Selanne’s stick. In the third period, the United States took careless penalty after penalty, and Finland added three tallies to the score sheet, including Selanne’s second. Tuukka Rask, Finland’s goalie, marked a shutout. Team Finland won the Bronze, and the United States team finished without any hardware.
The Miracle on Ice showed us that gritty and tough Americans could beat the greatest team in the world. On Saturday, we learned that the converse is true. The legendary Herb Brooks, coach of the 1980 team, would have been appalled with this effort. Had his team gave the amount of effort that the 2014 team gave, they would have run laps for weeks.
34 years later, the United States embarrassed themselves with a pathetic effort, and what looked like apathy. They quit on their coach, their country, and their history.
They don’t deserve to wear the same colors that the Miracle team wore in Lake Placid.
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