Vitt's Voice

We weren’t even supposed to qualify. It would have been known as a present day Cinderella story, not near the magnitude of the 1980 Miracle on Ice, but the closest thing this generation may have gotten. For now that story will be put on hold as Canada’s reining ambassador to hockey laid to rest the thought of team U.S.A. winning a gold medal for the first time in 30 years.

It was not the road that Canada thought they’d be taking to win the gold. A team made up of all-stars and future Hall of Famers, lost to team U.S.A. when they first played in the preliminary rounds, and had several close wins where they won by only one goal. The man who will be known by the time he retires as the greatest goaltender to ever play the game, Martin Brodeur, was pulled half way through the tournament. Lines were changed, and the team reshaped itself in the midst of not even qualifying.

Team U.S.A. was a different one, not one that contained the usual Modano, Tkachuk, and Guerin. It was a team made up of a bunch of young kids, most of who have never played in the Olympics prior. This team was made up of “phantom players and no-namers” according to ESPN’s Jim Rome.

Many compared the team to the 1980 team, lead by guys like Zach Parise and Patrick Kane, with Ryan Miller in net it looked as if the team had enough momentum to win the tournament, going undefeated until the gold medal game.

As said previously, the team of now was being compared to the team of then-- trying to create a modern day Miracle. It wouldn’t have been. With the political and social issues at hand in 1980, and Herb Brooks behind the bench, Mike Eruzione on the ice, and Al Michaels calling the play, that series will forever be known as the Miracle on Ice. The only Miracle on Ice. But the events of the 2010 Olympics were close.

America’s “dying sport” of hockey seemed to make its way into the homes of many during the two-week Olympic span. No, team U.S.A. didn’t win gold– and that’s that but for a two-week period of time they had a nation in the palm of their hands; glued to their televisions, watching every move they made. Most importantly they brought a nation that is facing a battle overseas, a political and economic crisis, and recession together.

Because of this team, for two weeks, each night, we seemed to put our minds at ease, and problems aside and enjoyed what was happening to the team that everyone seemed to write off from the start. They brought a nation together, and that’s the most powerful thing any team can do.

After the gold medal game, Forward Chris Drury was quoted by the Yahoo Sports when he said, “before this game most Americans didn’t even know who we were, now the whole world knows who we are.”