Heartbreaker

On a day when Canada's Olympians had already won four medals, one loss overshadowed the rest. Many of Canada's favourites in Torino had already fallen, and the men's hockey team became another casualty, losing 2-0 in the quarter-finals to a fast, skilled Russian squad.

The second-guessing, if it hadn't started already with two straight 2-0 losses in the preliminaries, is surely rolling along now. Were the right players chosen? Was the coaching to blame? Were injuries to Scott Niedermayer and Ed Jovanovski the downfall of the defence? Was the gambling scandal that clouded Wayne Gretzky's aura a distraction? Was the lawsuit filed by Steve Moore against Todd Bertuzzi enough to throw him off his game?

Wayne Gretzky, for his part, has heaped all the blame upon himself, though anyone with a clear head can see that, for the most part, it's not his blame to accept. For whatever reason, Canada's players failed to perform; they didn't work as a team, and they didn't raise their games to that higher echelon that is so vital to success at this level of play. Despite that, an emotional Gretzky told reporters in a post-game news conference, "I feel tremendously responsible that we didn't win. And quite honestly, I'm going to re-assess where I fit and what I'm going to do in the future...Hockey Canada is wonderful, my country is great, and I love it dearly. But I'm also human, too. It's tough and it's nerve-wracking. It's not fun when you don't win." The Great One had even stopped watching the game before the third period had drawn to a close; when asked why, he said he had "wanted to change our luck."

It didn't work.

Those who believe that Wayne Gretzky was a distraction over the last week - I'm looking at you, Brian Williams - may have had trouble on their own part looking past the gambling scandal surrounding the Phoenix Coyotes, but you can be sure that when Team Canada's skaters had trouble setting up on the power play, or keeping their defensive assignments, it wasn't because they were thinking "Gee, that sure is something about that gambling ring." Wayne Gretzky has earned these players' respect, and allegations against Gretzky's wife and friends aren't going to shake that respect.

The lawsuit filed by Steve Moore, on the other hand, may have shaken Todd Bertuzzi just a little bit, as at times he appeared very tentative, unsure of what he could do. While Brian Williams suggested that if Moore was trying to get back at Bertuzzi with the suit's timing, it was perfectly fair, I would argue that "two wrongs don't make a right." Maybe Williams skipped that day in kindergarten; it's an honour thing. But if that was indeed Moore's intention, I hope he feels good about being one of the many pieces of the puzzle in Canada's loss.

One would have trouble arguing that Canada's offence even approached the level of "adequate" in this tournament, as they scored an average of 2.5 goals per game (compare with the Pittsburgh Penguins at 2.80 GFPG), with 12 of their 15 markers coming against Italy and Germany. Veteran forwards that the team was counting on didn't deliver, and the young guys didn't step up either - I won't name names, because it's a long list. On the back end, the team only allowed 1.83 goals per game, but when you're getting shut out in half of your games, defence can only do so much. None of the goals could ever really be chalked up to spectacular efforts by the opposing squads, but they were in the right places at the right times, while the Canadian defencemen weren't.

On the bright side, Shane Doan, Kris Draper, and Brad Richards all acquitted themselves well, albeit largely in their own end of the rink. If the NHL returns to the Olympics in 2010, Canada will still be in tough, but they will also be able to challenge a plethora of young stars to step up. Look for a kid named Crosby, at least one Staal brother, Jason Spezza, Dion Phaneuf, and possibly even GM Wayne Gretzky, who closed out his press conference with this:

"This country will be back in 2010 and we'll hold our heads high. I'll be there to answer all your questions, I'm not going anywhere, I'll take the responsibility no problem."


Meanwhile, in the American camp...

Though Team U.S.A. made a game of it in the end, Finnish forward Teemu Selanne remarked after the game that "We know we can beat anybody when we play on our level, and we didn't even didn't have to play that well tonight." Unfortunately for the U.S. team, that's a fairly accurate assessment, and while no one has heard of any trashed hotel rooms yet, there was still some drama from them after the final buzzer, as Mike Modano sounded off on what he thinks is a broken system. "You'd think USA Hockey would be a well-oiled machine, but it's not," said the Dallas captain. "Basically we were on our own for hotels, tickets, flights, stuff like that. Normally we wouldn't have to worry about stuff like that."

The comments from Modano, who spent most of the game's latter stages warming the pine, were at odds with GM Don Waddell, who maintains that "the people at USA Hockey do a tremendous job." Waddell was in tears at the post-game press conference, but truth be told, this team was the weakest on paper of the Big Seven, finishing the preliminaries with a 1-3-1 record, and never really hitting their stride, if they had one to hit (as opposed to Team Canada, who had a stride to hit, but never even approached it).

One thing is for sure: Modano, who will be 39 years old by the 2010 Olympics, doesn't feel like he's closing any doors by badmouthing his country's hockey program; at worst, he's lashing out after feeling that he was unfairly benched, but at best, his comments will lead to an overhaul of the system that could see them successful again. They have a load of young talent that will be developing in the NHL over the next couple years, but will that translate into a medal in Vancouver? Time will tell.


...By the way, Harry Neale couldn't help but compliment Bryan McCabe on his quickness in the third period, after the Leaf charged back to strip a Russian player of the puck on a dangerous-looking rush. Well, that salvaged the game for me...Not.

Sigh...