Whoever said there’s no such thing as a moral victory has never been an underdog.
The United States hockey team may have lost Sunday’s gold medal tilt against our neighbors to the north, but they have no reason to be ashamed of themselves.
Taking the behemoth that is Canada to the limit is a good reason not to be ashamed, but elevating hockey to the “it” topic of the weekend is an even better one. The gold medal matchup was absolutely exhilarating.
The US overcame an early 2-0 deficit with a game-tying goal by Parese in the game’s final thirty seconds. Although Sidney Crosby dashed the Yankee dream with a quick wrist shot around the halfway point in overtime, the majority of Americans couldn’t have been too upset.
Crosby had done nothing except lived up to his hype as the new great one. "Sid the Kid" had 27.5 million viewers in the United States alone watching as he did it. That rating is second all-time among hockey viewership to the 1980 gold medal game, when a miraculous US squad defeated Finland after shocking the Russian team at Lake Placid.
Hockey will probably always be a fringe sport in this country. It’s stuck below the three ball sports that dominate American sports culture. Ryan Miller, Zack Parese, and the rest of the Yanks were able to capture America’s sporting mind if only for an afternoon.
The sport of hockey is a beautiful one, and like many other Olympic sports, deserves attention more often than once every four years. In order for hockey to get to the next level in the US, it needs American stars in a constant showcase.
Yankee hockey may never reach the heights of Canadian genius led by artisans named Gretsky, Lemieux, and Crosby. But who says it needs to?
All that American hockey needs is for its players to bring the competiveness, never say die attitude, and the constant commitment to team that was shown during the 2010 games. If all those three things come to fruition, how can you not root for hockey to succeed in this country?
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