USA Beats CANADA!!!!

[Department stores *sigh*]

I disagree, it is never a good thing for people to know Crosby's name. I hate him. He is a sissy on the ice. That's probably the thing I hate the most about losing to Canada.

And yet he has a cup and an Olympic gold at age 22 :P Granted Ovechkin is a better player imo but the accolades don't lie in this regard.

[NimrodJess]

Hm, game in Canada, with all Canadian refs, and a LOT of missed calls that should have gone against Canada...

Whatevs.

There were also a ton of missed calls that would have hurt the US. It happens. You can't expect a ref to see everything all the time.

Look at it this way: What better team could the US have lost to than the one from the country that INVENTED hockey?

[mikoyan29]

You know, I don't really mind Crosby. But I do mind the constant showing of him whenever he is on the ice. I wish the dolts at NBC would realize there are 19 other players on the team.

The US has nothing to be ashamed of. NObody gave them a chance before the Olympics and they took the Canadians to an overtime. Heck, even the bobbleheads before the game were saying that not one of the US players would make the Canadian team keeping in mind this is the same Canadian team that was beat a week before. I wish Wilson would have had that feed so that he could plaster that on the locker room.

[Jester]

I watched the game at my local sports grill. I did the typically American thing: drank too many beers and ate buffalo wings while watching it, and yelled my ass off at all the appropriate times. There were only about a dozen people there, but every single one of them was there for one reason and one reason only: to watch that damn hockey game.

When USA tied it with 24 seconds left the place exploded....as much as a place built for 100 but holding only 12 can explode. I heard later that the major sports bar downtown was packed to the rafters and went ballistic at that moment. From the same source (a bartender there), I heard there were about a dozen Canadians in the mix, and they went just out of their fucking minds when Canada won, oblivious to the dour Americans around them. Kudos to them.

And kudos and major congratulations to the Canadian team, and to Canada as a whole. Congrats, my Canuckistanian friends. All busllshit smartassery aside, congrats. I bow to you.

And it was an awesome game. Could the refs have called more penalties? Yes. On both sides. But they let the teams play....on both sides. And despite my hopes and prayers and wishes, the better team did indeed win.

So any American that is bitter and bitching and moaning and not being nice to his Canadian brethren, I say to you: shut the fuck up. It was an awesome game, it was fun to watch, and while it could have gone either way, they won. Congratulate them, cry in your beer, and other than that, again, shut the fuck up.

Team USA was not supposed to even medal in these games. Their only loss was in the gold medal game, in overtime, to the prohibitive favorite, the host country's team, the team of the inventor of the sport. All in all, not too fucking bad!

Props to Miller. Props to Parise (I think that's his name.) And props to the entire American team. It wasn't the Miracle on Ice. But it was damn good, damn better than anyone expected, and one of the most watched hockey games in USA history, if not world history.

In the words of the South Park movie, BLAME CANADA! But congratulate them as well. Well done, boys. Well done indeed.

And look out for the Americans in 2014. That team will be dangerous.

[Spiffy McMoron]

I watched the game at my local sports grill. I did the typically American thing: drank too many beers and ate buffalo wings while watching it, and yelled my ass off at all the appropriate times.

That's pretty much a typical Canadian thing to do too.

[VComps]

Hm, game in Canada, with all Canadian refs, and a LOT of missed calls that should have gone against Canada...

Whatevs.

You know, I bet you weren't complaining in 2002 in Salt Lake about the same thing during the women's gold medal game...

Canada fought through an inordinate number of penalties in the game -- 13 for the Canadians to four for the U.S., including eight in a row against the Canadian side - called by an American referee. Although worked to the bone, the penalty-killing unit was at its finest and the team seemed energized rather than worn down.

IIRC, that team got fewer penalties in all their other games COMBINED than they did in that game. Oh, and we still beat you.

You know, here in Canada we were actually wondering how long it would be before we heard whining about the referees.

For the record, in that game, the US got a total of 4 penalty minutes. 4.

You know how many penalty minutes Canada got?

4.

So... clearly a huge bias there.

[Boozy]

Some friendly and light-hearted ribbing is okay, but let's not turn this into a debate, please.

If anyone insists on arguing about referee bias, Fratching would be the place.

Thanks.

[VComps]

Some friendly and light-hearted ribbing is okay, but let's not turn this into a debate, please.

If anyone insists on arguing about referee bias, Fratching would be the place.

Thanks.

Can I argue about the merits of dill vs sweet pickles?

Seriously, though, I'm not really mad at all - I know it's hard to suffer a really close loss like that. The US team played very well, and damn near beat us. At our own game! With the home crowd!

That takes some doin'.

[Jester]

Can I argue about the merits of dill vs sweet pickles?

What argument is there? Clearly dill is far superior. There can be no debate.

Regarding the ref "controversy," I know a lot of sports fans, and I hang out in a lot of sports bars, where I meet even more sports fans. Most of the aforementioned sports fans I encounter are American. Many of them are quite opinionated, and not shy about sharing their opinions. Some of them are the type to pick any little excuse to blame a loss on something other than, well, losing. You get the idea.

Of all of the sports fans that I have discussed this game with, not one of them has said diddly about the refs. The only suggestion that I have heard since the game that Canada got an unfair advantage from the refs has been right here. On this site.

Personally, I don't think it had anything to do with the refs, and had everything to do with a great hockey game that eventually someone had to win in overtime. My American sports fan hat is off to the Canadian team and to the Canadian fans. Well done, folks. Well done indeed!

[Becks]

Clearly dill is far superior. There can be no debate.

I agree with you there!

My mommy, on the other hand, would disagree.

[Jester]

Then your mommy must be a Canadian hockey ref, clearly.

[Bella_Vixen]

Then your mommy must be a Canadian hockey ref, clearly.

I'll have to ask her about that.

[Greenday]

You know, I bet you weren't complaining in 2002 in Salt Lake about the same thing during the women's gold medal game...

IIRC, that team got fewer penalties in all their other games COMBINED than they did in that game. Oh, and we still beat you.

You know, here in Canada we were actually wondering how long it would be before we heard whining about the referees.

For the record, in that game, the US got a total of 4 penalty minutes. 4.

You know how many penalty minutes Canada got?

4.

So... clearly a huge bias there.

No I wasn't complaining in 2002. I wasn't following Women's Hockey cause I don't care as much about it.

And yes, I know they missed calls against the US. But if you watched the game and looked for missed calls, there were a lot more missed hooking penalties and tripping penalties that would have gone against Canada than missed calls against America.

[Ree]

And yes, I know they missed calls against the US. But if you watched the game and looked for missed calls, there were a lot more missed hooking penalties and tripping penalties that would have gone against Canada than missed calls against America.

Still stewing about that?

How about a nice big bowl of....



Sorry...it was too easy.

[wolfie]

Greenday, do you by any chance work for the Chicago Tribune?