Ron Wilson: No gold, no positives

I realize I haven’t had the chance to talk about the gold medal game here. As a loyal USA fan, it hurt. A lot. I had a bad feeling going into it, but the tying goal with 20 seconds left gave me some false hope ... only to be crushed in overtime by one of my own: Sidney Crosby.

I finally knew what it felt like to be anyone who is not a Penguins fan. I understand why people dislike Crosby. He's really, really good. He is also a little bit of a bitch, but he’s MY bitch. I felt a sting of betrayal when he put in the OT game-winner. But what a story this kid is, hey? He’s won just about everything, and he’s only 22 years-old. It’s disgusting and awesome all at the same time. I’m glad he’s back on my side.

I pouted when the game was over. I'll admit it. I whined a little about how it would have been a much better story if the US won (I blame it on my PR side). But I recognized that Canada was an unbelievable team just like they were supposed to be. I also recognized that what the US managed to do throughout the tournament was unexpected and amazing. They were inspirational to watch. This young squad wasn't expected to be undefeated until the very last game in the Olympics. They surprised everyone and won people over. A silver for them is still an incredible feat.

So today when I came across a headline on my THN newsfeed that said, “Ron Wilson says there is no positive in gold medal loss for US” a giant record scratched somewhere in my head.

No positive in the U.S.’s gold medal loss?

Okay, I agree with Teemu Selanne when he says that the bronze medal is an easier emotional win because you actually win the game to get the medal. When you get bronze, it’s because you won. When you get silver, it’s because you lost.

But honestly Ron Wilson, how do you get zero positives out of coming up just short of the gold?? I can think of a few:

1.       Um, you won the silver medal. This is pretty obvious. You could have finished dead last in the tournament or pulled a Russia and embarrassed yourself.

2.       Your little underdog team turned out to be pretty darn good. So good that they went undefeated up until the very end. They worked hard and played well. They weren’t really supposed to be as good as they were.

3.       The USA team captivated America. I had friends who could care less about hockey but were all fired up for the gold medal game and publicly displaying their support. By ‘publicly displaying’ I mean putting it as their Facebook status, but that’s a pretty big deal these days.

4.       Ryan Miller. Zach Parise. Chris Drury. Brian Rafalski. Ryan Kesler. And so on…

5.       The hockey was great. The first USA-Canada game was one of the best hockey games I’ve ever seen. Ryan Kesler’s empty net goal? Yes, please. Six goals in, like, ten minutes against Finland? Wow. Not to mention the gold medal game.

6.       Millions of people tuned in to watch. 27.6 million to be exact. That’s just the NBC broadcast. Numbers haven’t been this good since the 1980 miracle. And the ratings weren’t only good for that game – 8.2 million people watched the first US-Canada game on MSNBC (second highest for the network ever). As an American hockey fan, I’m proud of that. I’m not saying there is going to be a huge new following of hockey fans in the States (because there wont’ be), but the ratings are something to speak of.

Those are just a few that come to mind. I know it’s hard to come that far, tie a game with 20 seconds left and lose the gold medal in overtime. I was heartbroken too. But that’s hockey. That’s what we love. As far as I can see, the positives outweigh the negatives. 

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We. Want. Gold.

Take any of us back two weeks ago, and we'd shake our heads in doubt if you said the USA men's hockey team would be playing for the gold medal. Canada and Russia were just too strong on paper to even think about anyone else.

But here we are. And the little Yankee boys are making everyone fall in love with them. They're working hard and getting things done. Upsetting Canada. Scoring six goals in like ten minutes. Not to mention goaltender Ryan Miller has been ridiculously good. They're so much fun to watch. Now the whole country is paying attention.

Sean Leahy over at PuckDaddy tweeted that tomorrow will be the 50th anniversary of the 1960 men's hockey gold medal game. The "forgotten miracle" as they like to call it. Gives you the chills doesn't it?

I'm definitely more scared of Canada this time. A few days ago the US upset them 5-3 on their home turf. They're going to be angry. They're going to want revenge. They're going to want to prove to everyone that they are the best just like everyone assumed going into the tournament. They're going to be good. Really, really good. But I truly believe if the US sticks to its game and outworks Canada, they will succeed.

And America can fall in love with its hockey team again.

U.S.A.

Photo: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images.

"We Know We Can Beat Anybody Now."

Wow.

If you missed last night's USA-Canada game, you missed one of the most intense and exciting hockey games anyone's seen in awhile.

It was the most watched sporting event in Canada's history. The American boys left them silent.

Some people are saying it didn't even mean that much. But it did. These kids were passed off as a team in its 'building stages' for 2014. They beat one of the tournament favorites.

No, it wasn't a miracle.

It was a pleasant surprise.

It made Americans pay attention to hockey.

It made us proud. 

Thank you. 

Now bring us the gold.

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Terriers Lose Trivino For Season

The Terriers swallowed another dose of bad luck when sophomore forward, Corey Trivino, fractured his right fibula during Saturday night's game against Maine. He's donezo for the year. Trivino had 15 points (4+11) in 28 games; considering the Terriers have struggled for scoring at various points this season, losing any amount of contribution is not a good thing.

You gotta feel for the kid; he battled an injury last year as well.

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AHL To Get Some Southern Lovin'

Lots of news buzzing around the American Hockey League these days. Namely the two big items are the new additions to the league for 2010-11.

The Edmonton Oilers will shift their affiliate from Springfield to Oklahoma City. Say what? I'll be interested to see how the team does down there. I mean hockey is not the first thing that comes to mind when I think of OKC. Nevertheless sometimes locations like that surprise you. In the meantime Springfield's president is determined to find another NHL partner in order to keep the team there for at least the next year. As if that wasn't enough for him to do, the franchise also has to work out a new lease for their rink.

The other snippet is that Carolina will be moving their affiliate, the Albany River Rats, to Charlotte. It makes sense for the Hurricanes; their affiliate will be nearby which will cut down on the amount of travel players will have to go through. But it also makes me sad. The Albany River Rats have been around for what feels like forever. They have possibly the worst name and the ugliest logo, but they're also a classic. The River Rats have also been really bad for a really long time, and now that they're finally getting decent, they're moving. Poor fans. Hopefully they can get another team in there. President Garen Szablewski is already working on it.

Kreider's Beanpot Goal

Here's a clip of Boston College's Chris Kreider and his goal mentioned in the post below. Not sure Max Nicastro enjoys this one as much.

No Miracles This Time

Down 4-3 with 2:46 to go, Boston University fans started to believe. Deficits don't scare us as much after what happened in last year's national championship game. But this isn't last year, and last minute miracles (or any for that matter) are hard to come by in '09-10. So I left the Garden a little heartbroken that my Beanpot career as a student comes to an end with a record of 2-2.

If you were to rewind back to the fifteen minute mark in the third, the score was 4-1 in favor of Boston College. I wish I could say it was ugly, but it wasn't ugly at all. The game was unbelievable. Kieran Millan was the best I've seen him all season. He had some remarkable saves, and you can't fault him for Chris Kreider's work of art early in the third. On the other side, John Muse looked better than I've seen in awhile too. If he doesn't stop Nick Bonino with 19 seconds left, the game goes to OT, and then I put my money on BU. There was Kreider's goal and Dave Warsofsky's shorthander. There were nail-biting third period penalties and more. It was just a really great game.

Quick recap in terms of scoring: The Terriers opened it up in the first with Kevin Shattenkirk's goal. BC responded with three straight: two in the second from Steve Whitney and Carl Sneep and one in the third from Barry Almeida. It looked like BU might be up to its old tricks with Warsofsky's shortie and Colby Cohen's goal late in the third. But that's where the scoring would end.

So, yeah. I didn't get to win my last Beanpot as a senior. But it was a great game, and it's still the best college tournaments out there. And I mean, we have to let other teams win sometimes. It's the nice thing to do .... ;-)

Linkage:
+ Keeping the lid on (Boston Globe)
+ Classics like this make familiar title game anything but stale (Boston Globe)
+ Honors roll in for goalie Muse (Boston Globe)
+ Quite the experience for freshman (Boston Globe)
+ Eagles pot 15th title (Boston Herald)
+ Jack Parker Praises Terriers (Boston Herald)
+ Bean-tossed (Daily Free Press)
+ [BC] Men's Hockey Wins Beanpot (The Heights)
+ Boston College Edges Boston University to Capture 58th Beanpot Championship (USCHO)
+ BC Goalie Muse Named MVP (ESPN) 

Photo: AP, Winslow Townson

R.I.P.

So, so sad. 21 year-old Brendan Burke was killed today in a car accident. Burke is the son of Toronto GM Brian Burke. He had been in the news semi-recently for coming out that he was gay. It breaks my heart that his life was taken from him so young. We're the same age. It hits you hard.

Count your blessings folks.

Rest in peace, bud.




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Quote Me

"I’ve never been impressed when a guy brags about how hard he’s perspiring shovelling dirt back in a hole when he dug the hole."
- Brian Burke

See the entire transcript of the Burke interview with James Mirtle here.

The Babies Thus Far

Each year during my month-long winter break, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have graciously managed to schedule in homestands -- as in I usually get to take in between nine to 11 games during that stretch. It gives me a good enough look at what type of group my #1 team is.

This year the Baby Pens are in the middle of the pack: 42 points in 39 games; good for third in the East Division. They're in a tough position this year because of division re-alignment. In order to make the play-offs they have to not only be in the top four of the East Division, but they also have to be better than the fifth place team in the Atlantic Division. Right now the fifth place team in the Atlantic is Bridgeport with 46 points; the Pens have three games in hand.

The best thing the Baby Pens have right now is their work ethic. Man, they work hard. I love teams like this. It's the type of team that can pull off some surprises in the post-season -- that is, if they can dig deep and find some scoring. These guys outshoot their opponents almost every game, but they cannot finish. Granted they don't have any Chris Minards or Jeff Taffes, but they are getting shots to the net. Their defense is pretty good -- I'd argue Deryk Engelland is the best player on the team right now. Goaltending is a little shakey. There isn't a high confidence level in John Curry or Adam Berkhoel (or the games that Brad Thiessen squeezed in while he was in the Dub-B). But at least they try. The only time I thought they looked lazy was six minutes of a second period against the ridiculously good Hershey Bears. It cost them the game.

So I love this team in terms of how hard they work. I'm always a supporter of the workhorse teams over the skill-based teams (:cough: San Jose :cough:). They're going to have to start generating more offense and allowing fewer goals to really give themselves a chance. Sounds like common sense, I know.


In terms of individual players and who stuck out to me, here are my thoughts:

Eric Tangradi -- What is eating Eric Tangradi? Seriously. People might say I'm being harsh. He's on a point streak afterall. But the only thing that has stuck out about him is his size. Maybe I got caught up in the hype that is Tangradi. He was one of the top players in the OHL and a highly ranked prospect. Getting him in a trade from Anaheim was a big deal. Tangradi currently has 15 points in 31 games (9+6). He was caught off-guard with a shoulder injury at the start of the year, so when I saw himover Thanksgiving break, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was still getting back into the groove of things. A month later it's time to get going. He's a bit slower than I thought he would be (I understand he's bigger so it doesn't look like he's skating as hard. Bottom line is, I don't care how big your strides are. You're either fast or slow.). He hasn't done anything breathtaking on offense. He scored a nice goal or two over the ten or eleven games I saw him. I still have high hopes for him. It very well could be an adjustment thing. Either way, people in Pittsburgh hoping he gets called up are going to be waiting for awhile. He is not ready.

Deryk Engelland -- Best player on the team. I'm making that argument now. I always feel comfortable with him out there. He's created a good reputation for himself by playing well. He's a good D-man who isn't afraid to be aggressive when he needs to be. He just does things that make you go 'Nice. I like that guy.' Class act, and I'm very happy to see how he's turned out.

Brian Strait - Okay so I'm obviously a bit biased towards a BU boy, but Strait's game has transitioned exactly the way I thought it would. Watching Strait for three years at BU, it was easy to see how smart of a defenseman he was. He's not going to score goals for you. Offense is not in his game. But he will always be in position. Plain and simple: he makes smart plays. He doesn't overthink things. He does what he's supposed to. Talk about solid. He has pleasantly surprised a lot of people in his first year pro. Not me. The kid will be just fine in his career.

Dustin Jeffrey -- Second best player on the team. Jeffrey has certainly evolved into an awesome player. He's fifth in the league in scoring with 41 points in 37 games (12 + 29). He's an AHL All-Star starter and deservingly so. The kid's on fire. He can score. He should easily be the next call-up to Pittsburgh should they need a center.

Chris Conner -- So tiny (listed at 5-8"). So fast. Can't finish. That about sums him up -- at least during the December-January stretch I saw him.

Joe Vitale -- The definition of workhorse. The kid battles the entire game. How can you not like him?? He knows his role, and he fills it well.

Tyler Spurgeon -- He found his way back on the Baby Pens' roster this season. Not one of the more talented guys on the team, but he NEVER stops moving. I like that.

John Curry -- It breaks my heart to say I think he can be doing much better. I LOVE Curry. I saw him perform miracles in college. Not to mention he has a GREAT story of being a walk-on at BU and working his way up from third-string to number one. He has two habits that seem to bite him in the ass sometimes: going down too early and playing the puck behind the net when he shouldn't. Don't get me wrong: Curry is not bad. He's just not what he could be. He's sitting on a 2.54 GAA and a .904 save percentage over 31 games. Eh.

Here's to hoping the Baby Pens have a strong second half. If they start getting some more goals, I think they'll be fine. If everything clicks and they get more goals & better goaltending? They can be dangerous. They have some work to do until then.

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