Sidney Crosby saves Canada, USA takes home silver
by FrankD on Feb 28, 2010 6:56 PM EST
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PrintComing from a Team America supporter, I guess if anyone had to place the final nail in the coffin it might as well be Sidney Crosby. For once I, and any other USA supporter, gets to feel the wrath of El Sid and witness once again just what amazing things this guy is capable of.
As infamous and fictitious stock car racer Ricky Bobby once said, "If you ain't first, you're last." But Team USA's silver medal is nothing to shrug off either. No one, casual fans, experts and pundits alike, expected the US to advance this far into the medal rounds. It almost seemed like a Canada-Russia match was waiting in the gold medal round before the olympics even started. But this team hushed a lot of cynics and put up a really incredible effort. All in all you have to applaud both teams for a tremendously entertaining game.
Just when you think a game is out of reach and the olympic run is over, Zach Parise comes out of nowhere in the dying minute of the 2010 Games and sends one home to force overtime. That moment alone - jumping up from my friend's couch, jabbing him in the gut and screaming, "America, F yeah!" was enough for me to remember and carry over for another four years.
Thus wraps up a highly entertaining and fairly exciting Olympic run. A precursor to the playoffs? Perhaps. I definitely didn't expect teams to go at one another as hard as they did. Granted I wasn't expecting an all-star like atmosphere, but I guess some of these guys are willing to do anything for their country, even if it means potentially missing time when the NHL season continues.
Speaking of, regular season play resumes Tuesday night against none other than Ryan Miller's Buffalo Sabres. Hopefully he got that good play out of his system and returns to his regular season form. At least that which he seems to display against the Penguins.
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It’s absolutely frightening to think of what is ahead for Sidney Crosby.
At age 22, he’s won a scoring title, an MVP, a Stanley Cup Champion, a Gold Medal winner, and is the hero of an entire nation.
And to think that he still remains humble, just an amazing kid. We are so lucky to be fans of such a once in a lifetime athlete and person.
It was a new experience for me to cheer Ryan Miller and Zach Parise on, and another one to cuss and tear up when Sidney Crosby scored a really clutch goal. Plus I was flipping channels and watching a driver I hate win the Las Vegas race. I do have to say my mood got a bit less evil when I realized exactly which Canadian had scored that goal. The scene will look much better when everyone’s back in their NHL sweaters.
My friends and I decided that a Crosby biopic is inevitable now, and had a brief discussion about who we’d cast and what it should be called.
"Darling, you say Brooks Orpik 'checked' that guy. He did not 'get under him and put him into the wall'."--Beloved to me, Winter 2007
Cocktails With the Penguins, where Pens fans toast victories and drown defeats.
Crosby will forever be a Canadian legend.
As an American, I’m sad to see the US lose. They played their hearts out and either team could’ve won it all.
As for Sid and the Canadians…congrats. You too played your hearts out and deserved the gols.
As a Pens fan: Way to go Sid! Look for him to tear it up when he comes back to NHL land. Man, he’s got everything at freakin’ 22…the Cup, the Hart, the Pearson, the Art Ross, and now a gold medal (what a 8 months it’s been for him)…all that’s really missing is a Rocket Richard hmmm….
I wonder what Ovechkin is thinking right now? I would’ve loved to see his reaction after Sid’s goal. “I’m always of people who win the Cup score the GW goal to win the gold medal.”
871
I can’t imagine a better ending to the tournament. USA can hold their heads high, having won 5 in a row to get to the final game, then coming back from 2 goals down to force overtime.
As a fan of the Pens and Sidney Crosby, I am so happy for him and look forward to watching him lead the Pens for many years to come.
by PensAreYourDaddy on Feb 28, 2010 7:38 PM EST reply actions
I watched the game with mixed feelings, as an American and a huge Crosby fan. In the overtime, though, I was rooting for Crosby to score the winning goal — when the other lines were out I kept thinking “not yet, not yet…” And then when he scored, I was on my feet screaming and cheering for him. (Sorry America)
So I’m very happy with the outcome, but even more happy that the the Olympics are over and my team will be reunited. Suffering from serious Penguins withdrawal.
I realize I will probably get banned for saying this, however it must be said that this is an example of the worst kind of hockey fan in this country. Never in a million years would I ever cheer if Mike Richards or Chris Pronger scored the game-winning goal in overtime for Team Canada and all real American hockey fans should feel the same way about their players playing for another country. During international competitions, you forget about names on the back of the jerseys and you root for the name and the symbol on the front of it. I did not see Richards and Pronger as Flyers for the past two and a half weeks and it is rather disheartening and decidedly un-American of you and any other Penguin/Crosby fan in America screamed and cheered when he scored that goal.
I know and realize that Penguin fans love like nothing else Crosby and you can feel free to adore him when he is wearing Penguin uniforms, however he was not a Pittsburgh Penguin today and he was not on your team today. I applaud the Penguin fans that were right in their rooting for the Americans against Crosby and were upset rightfully upset as all real American hockey fans were when he scored that goal. As for Cari, I can only hope that you develop a new respect for the game real fast.
If Frank wants to ban me for this, a Flyers fan coming on a Penguins blog and attacking something a Penguins fan said, he can, however I believe Frank is a reasonable guy and a reasonable American hockey fan and he will understand what I am saying here as truly, I put the above comment the nicest way that I possibly could.
Proudly supporting a Flyers team with "no honor".
I for one respect your right to speak your mind, but maybe you just don’t get it. Contrary to what you probably think, for fans of Crosby it is often Sid vs the World. I have travelled to many Penguins away games, including frequent visits to Philly, DC, and more recently, Detroit, and the treatment that Sid receives is nothing short of disgusting. Frankly, if Flyer fans like you are rooting for USA, then all the more reason for me to root against them. 20 years from now, no one would have cared if USA won gold. This wasn’t Miracle on Ice. It was a bunch of NHL millionaires taking a Vancouver vacation and playing a little hockey. I thought the Olympics are about nations coming together, not about jingoistic ultra-nationalism.
No, you shouldn’t be banned, but you might avoid passing judgement on other hockey fans. If you are going to do that, clean up your own house first. Flyer fans could start by actually rooting for their team instead of spending so much time rooting against the other team. You know what, forget that…..keep booing Sid, saying he sucks, and much, much, much worse things, and you’ll just keep getting him fired up to bust Philly in the mouth over and over again.
by PensAreYourDaddy on Feb 28, 2010 10:24 PM EST up reply actions
Heh. If you think the treatment Crosby gets is bad, try being a Flyers fan. Believe me, the Flyers are not exactly loved in the hockey community. More than anyone I understand the “us against the world” mentality when it comes to supporting a hockey team. That being said, cheering for Richards and Pronger against the U.S. never once crossed my mind.
The Olympics are about nations coming together, there is no doubt about that, but that does not mean that above all else I will still support my country. That being said, my hats are off to Canada. They were the better team today and they won the game today fair and square. Crosby scored the game-winning goal off of a great play from Iginla. I have no gripes about that. Canada won. Congrats to them!
I feel like you might be passing judgment on to me the way you accused me of doing to Cari. I have never been to a Crosby game, and thus, have never said “Crosby sucks!” at a hockey game.
Proudly supporting a Flyers team with "no honor".
It wasn’t just a great play from Iginla, don’t forget that it was Sid’s work on the boards that even got the puck to Iginla.
That being said, I somewhat agree with you. Sid was the enemy today. I won’t criticize others for not feeling the same way thought. But he was the enemy, and he beat us today. I just knew it would be him…
If Mike Green were playing for Canada
I’d probably wish him luck to be the 2nd-best player out there, behind Ryan Miller, just like I’d wished Brent Johnson to have a 0.00 GAA in Pittsburgh but not win a game.
Ovechkin = Green Backs
by red army line on Mar 1, 2010 9:46 AM EST up reply actions
I don’t see how you gave me any grounds to ban you. I mean, you stated your case and didn’t necessarily say anything mean to Cari, you were just speaking your piece.
With that said, I do agree on the one part in that I wouldn’t cheer for Canada in any of their games, to be completely honest. I cheered like mad when Parise tied it up (think I’ll do the same Wednesday or Friday night when the Pens play the Devils? NO). I went ballistic with every crazy, sprawling, out of control save Miller made. Again, the Pens play the Sabres Tuesday night. Think I’m going to cheer him on? Hell no.
But I also can see why some people, not necessarily lacking national pride or anything but instead possessing an incomparable loyalty to a player, may consider cheering on that player’s team. Doesn’t make them wrong in my mind, but to each his/her own.
I was prepared to cheer on Team USA until I couldn’t cheer them on anymore. I didn’t, in my wildest dreams, think it would be Canada vs. US for the gold. I wanted it to be, but I felt like many that Russia was the powerhouse to worry about. But then again, in the realm of “anything is possible,” look how that turned out for Mother Russia.
I wasn’t happy with Crosby ending the US gold medal run, but as a Penguins fan I can at least be happy for him. Hindsight of course. I was pretty pissed and stunned with the goal. This doesn’t make me anymore of a Team Canada supporter, but like I said in the post above, I guess if anyone was going to do it – as in, if Canada was going to win no matter what – it might as well be Crosby.
Although I’m sure that’s something many Flyers fans would argue to no end. And rightfully so.
Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com and twitter.
I had never been so happy in my life to see Zach Parise score a goal. I was screaming and going crazy as well when he tied the game.
And I perfectly understand being happy for him that he scored but not happy with the result. Had Richards or Pronger scored, I would have been happy for them, sure, but more so, I would have been upset that the U.S. lost and I would not have been standing up or cheering for them and hoping from the start of overtime that one of them would score and I would not have cheered when they did score.
Even as a Flyers fan, I had that sinking feeling that I did not want to believe it would be Crosby who would score a game-winner today. He had been too quiet this tournament to put me at ease whenever he touched the puck today.
Proudly supporting a Flyers team with "no honor".
I think it’s silly that you are getting worked up over my cheering decisions — it’s a game, not a war — but I’m not sure why you thought you would be banned for it. Don’t worry, I can live with a random Flyers fan thinking that I’m a bad American. You should have been around at the beginning of the Olympics when I was cheering for Russia!
The difference with the Russians though is that they never played the USA. The Flyers fans at Broad Street Hockey, including myself, were supporting Team Latvia in addition to our US support. Now had Latvia faced the US, I am sure that project would have gone out the door real fast. I’ve personally always had an indescribable dislike of the Russians, but I don’t have any problems supporting another team or a country when they are not facing your own. The problem I have is supporting a player playing a game against my country. When Canada is in the process of trouncing Germany, I was definitely hoping that Richards and/or Pronger would get in on the action. But when they were playing against the U.S., I was rooting against them all the way and never thinking twice about it. In fact, I even cheered when at one point Kesler cross-bodied Richards against the boards in the corner.
Proudly supporting a Flyers team with "no honor".
I guess I should that it’s more about the general sentiment of rooting for a player against your own country. Yours was not the first I had seen or heard about it after Crosby’s goal and sadly, it probably won’t be the last. However, it is a sentiment that angers and disheartens me greatly and being an opinionated person, I felt the need to say something.
Proudly supporting a Flyers team with "no honor".
are you sure thats not BECAUSE your a flyers fan? that was easily one of the top 5 games i have watched. easily. we are ALLOWED to root for our players to do well. when sid scored i let out a rsounding #@$%, and follwed it with a bit of pride to see a kid who again showed why hes the best in the game today.
" Lord Stanley, scratch thier names on your fabled cup" Mike Lange june 12, 2009
by oldtimehockey09 on Mar 1, 2010 4:33 AM EST up reply actions
I think a natural response would be “Oh ****, USA lost!!!” and find the silver lining—it was one of your favorite players, Sidney Crosby.
Ovechkin = Green Backs
by red army line on Mar 1, 2010 9:48 AM EST up reply actions
I was one of those people who didn’t feel much of a rooting interest in any of the games, that one included. It’s just hard for me to care about the represented countries when individuals I’m a fan of are spread all over the tournament. I watched the game for the hockey, not to cheer one team over another, just like if I watched a game between the Sharks and the Blackhawks, or something like that. They were just two great teams going toe to toe, and that’s enough for me.
I marveled at Miller’s saves all tournament long. I marveled at the timing of Parise’s last goal. I marveled at Sid’s OT winner, and at how awful Russia looked against Canada. It’s all great hockey, and I shouldn’t have to apologize to anyone (/looks up a couple posts) for that.
Exactly — the Olympic tournament means different things to different people, and for some people a team that exists for two weeks does not symbolize “America.” How I feel about the olympic team has absolutely nothing to do with how I feel about the U.S. in real-world matters. It’s just a game, and I can cheer for individual players if I want. When you start talking about the “right way to be a fan” of anything, you are taking it too seriously.
Not once did I ever ask anyone to apologize for their thoughts nor did I ever accuse anyone of not being a patriotic American in real-world matters and affairs. I merely expressed my disappointment that some people would root against their own country in a big game for the sake of one hockey player and only one hockey player. It boggles my mind that at the end of that game, an American could instantly stand up and cheer upon seeing Sidney Crosby, a Canadian, score the game-winning, gold medal clinching gold. It is not an uber-nationalistic, radical sentiment to ask that for 2-and a half weeks that you forget about what club a player is on and instead or and root for your country to win an olympic gold medal. You can be happy when your players do well, sure, but physically cheering for them in a game against the U.S. is disrespectful to American hockey, in my opinion.
I mention the “right way to be a fan” because that is exactly how it comes across. I don’t know how long you have been a Penguin fan for. You may have been a hockey fan all your life or you may be one of the infamous Penguin/Crosby bandwagon fans that just jumped on recently. I don’t know which you are, but when you cheer for a player scoring against your country, in the eyes of other fans, you sure as heck come across as the latter. I talked about this with many other hockey fans about being an American and cheering for a player against the USA, and they all agree with me and that sentiment that fans that do that come across as, in this case, Crosby bandwagon fans. I would say the same thing if this was Russia and Caps fans were cheering Ovechkin scoring an OT, game-winning, gold medal-clinching goal.
And as mentioned before, there is a difference between cheering for Crosby and being happy that Crosby scored while at least being initially disappointed that the U.S. lost.
Proudly supporting a Flyers team with "no honor".
I’ve been a Pens fan since I was a child, but even if I were exactly the kind of fan that you describe I don’t know why it upsets you that those fans exist. This is a sport that people watch for entertainment / recreation. Life is too short to be unhappy that other people enjoy the game differently than you, or cheer for different outcomes than you — or that some people decided they like Sidney Crosby one year ago and don’t know anything else about hockey. I’m pretty sure the NHL is still glad to have those people watching and buying tickets. If being a “Crosby bandwagon fan” makes some people happy, then just let them be happy. They aren’t hurting hockey, or America, or you. You are still free to take the Olympics very seriously in this great free country of ours.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I rooted for Mario to win gold in 2002.
If team USA taking silver instead of gold means fewer American kids deciding to play hockey, or fewer Americans deciding to watch hockey, then frankly I don’t care. If those people can’t see the amazing achievement of USA hockey in these Olympics without a gold medal, then they aren’t the kind of fans I really care about.
I realize you are only expressing your opinion, and apparently the opinion shared by those to whom you spoke, but in expressing your opinion you have a habit of saying “this is the way you should act, or else”.
When it comes to hockey, I am a Pittsburgh Penguins fan. I can’t just turn that off for 2 weeks because the quadrennial hockey circus happens to be in town interrupting an otherwise fine NHL season. From 1984-2005, Pittsburgh Penguins = Mario Lemieux. From 2005 to present, Pittsburgh Penguins = Sidney Crosby. I wasn’t rooting for Canada. I was rooting for the Penguins.
Some may not understand this, but you can actually cheer for a team without necessarily being against another team. I was elated when Parise tied the game. It set the stage for what was sure to be an incredible ending to an already exciting game.
it must be said that this is an example of the worst kind of hockey fan in this country.
No offense dude, but what are your credentials to pass judgement on other hockey fans? This still isn’t clear to me from your earlier responses. Maybe I did judge you earlier, and you don’t go to games, so you aren’t one of the thousands at Wachovia Center who spend so much time booing Penguins and saying certain players suck that they don’t have any energy left to actually cheer for the Flyers.
by PensAreYourDaddy on Mar 1, 2010 2:24 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
this gets a +1
" Lord Stanley, scratch thier names on your fabled cup" Mike Lange june 12, 2009
by oldtimehockey09 on Mar 1, 2010 4:31 PM EST up reply actions
Holy crap.
Just realized our next game is against the Buffalo Sabres.
Does Miller get the start against Sid or does Lalime?
871
Lalime probably gets one in the back to back
But does Ruff go Miller against Pittsburgh or against Washington?
Ovechkin = Green Backs
by red army line on Mar 1, 2010 9:49 AM EST up reply actions
Perhaps Washington. He hasn’t done all that well against the Pens this year.
Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com and twitter.
With all due respect, eat it Americans!
Now that that’s out of the way, this tournament was incredible. As it went on, the hockey got better and better. The game tonight was seriously off the hook. Team USA has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. Nobody really gave them a chance, and they took the gold medal game into overtime. Tremendous job, USA!
by Hatt the Moople on Feb 28, 2010 8:00 PM EST reply actions
Just read this on the Toronto Sun:
“Speaking of Lemieux, he predicted the ending to Sunday’s gold-medal game, sending a former player who was at the game an e-mail that simply read: ‘He [Sid] will score the OT winner. Watch.’”
http://www.torontosun.com/sports/vancouver2010/hockey/2010/02/28/13062181.html
If that’s true: wow, what a call by 66.
871
Thinking Positive
Now that reality has set in and I am done being pissed off about losing to the freakin Canadians and having Sid be the one who nailed the coffin two minutes after my buddy said “if the Canadians win, I hope Sid pots the goal”, I am really optimistic about USA Hockey. We have a really good team. And I realized after watching this Olympics that the reason we played as well as we did was that we had a TEAM.
The Russians, Swedes, Slavs, Finns and Czechs all were considered as good, or better, going into this tournament based upon individual talent. What they didn’t have were the guys who play with heart and do the little things it takes to win hockey games. I keep remembering Kessler’s diving play to hit the open net in the first Canada game. Parise driving in the goal to put us into OT versus the juggernaut. Malone and Backus camping out in front of the net. Kane backchecking Sid on a breakaway and catching him. Brooks freaking Orpik making EVERYONE pay in the corners. Langenbrunner and Drury killing penalties and keeping everyone calm. Suter, looking more like his uncle after 10 years as a Blackhawk, than a young 20-something. WOW. These guys are going to keep giving us chills for the next 2 or 3 Olympics and are only going to get better.
CONGRATULATIONS USA HOCKEY. HOLD YOUR HEADS HIGH!
No doubt, I’m very proud of the Red, White and Blue…No one thought the youngest te in the tournent would get a medal at all. Silver is impresssive. Not what they wanted, but not bad in the big scheme of things.
I gained a lot of respect for guys like Kesler, Backes, Suter, Rafalski and E Johnson along the way. And Ryan Miller was the best player in the tournament.
Wayne Gretzky had it wrong: 100% of the shots Gary Roberts doesn't take DO go in.
by Hooks Orpik on Feb 28, 2010 10:21 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Yeah, he’s definitely a special player. He honestly plays at a pace of his own, and I don’t know if there is anyone else in the league you can say that about. He is always so under control and really doesn’t make a whole lot of mistakes.
by packallday555 on Mar 1, 2010 1:07 AM EST up reply actions
As most comments in this post, I was sad that the American team did not win, but knowing Sid like all Pen fans , I knew he was going to be the guy that would score. He is an amazing athlete in terms of ability as we all know, but he has that rare quality to come up with the great performance at the time when there’s more pressure. Not too many of those, in any sport. Lets enjoy the performance of a player that is part of our town.
Most of all the American players , who gave it all. They have nothing to be ashamed of. They where beaten by a genius of the sport. They gave us one of the best performance ever by an American team. They played as a team, with a great coaching job by all the coaching staff, in my opinion the best coaching job of the tournament. They contained Sid for 60 minutes, but with fatigue they gave him that split second that he needed.
AMERICAN HOCKEY CAN HOLD THEIR HEADS HIGH.
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