Oh Canada!

  • By John Boyle Herald Writer
  • Thursday, February 25, 2010 10:03pm
  • SportsSports

VANCOUVER, B.C. — The past four years has all been build up for this day, this game, this 60-minute showdown for a gold medal.

So don’t expect the U.S. women’s hockey team to feel great about silver following Thursday’s 2-0 loss to Canada in the gold medal game of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

“It’s disappointing,” said forward Jocelyne Lamoureux. “I’m sure it will wear off in the next couple of days, but our goal was to come out here and win gold, so right now silver is not feeling too good.”

Like so many other Olympic sports, women’s hockey is ignored by much of the world for all but two weeks every four years. And over these two weeks, it was evident that, as expected, the U.S. and Canada were the class of the eight-team field, and would inevitably battle for gold for the third time in four Olympics since women’s hockey was added.

Canada came into the game having won gold in each of the past two Olympics. The U.S. is the two-time defending world champion. Blowout after blowout led to this showdown, a game both teams have spent the last four years since Turin preparing to win. So no, there wasn’t a lot of consolation to be taken from the silver medal hanging around the necks of U.S. players as they walked off the ice.

“We’ve worked really hard for this the last four years,” said forward Jenny Potter. “Our goal was to win the gold medal, and as much as I’m proud to win silver, the immediate reaction is disappointment. You go out there and battle for 60 minutes and come up short, it is a little disappointing.”

Conversely for the Canadians, this win is cause for the biggest of celebrations. Playing in front of what players from both teams called the best environment they’ve ever played in, Canada jumped ahead with two first-period goals from forward Marie-Philip Poulin. Then the Canadians held on thanks to the stellar goaltending of Shannon Szabados.

“I was standing on the blue line after the game and thinking, ‘Did I really just get a shutout?’” said Szabados. “But I would have been just has happy had we won 9-8.”

Szabados turned away all 28 of the American’s shots on goal, and along with her defense denied the U.S. on a number of power plays, including two that gave the U.S. two-man advantages.

“Two five-on-threes for a long period of time?” Canadian forward Cheri Piper said. “That’s a testament to the character of our team… Coming out of those penalty kills, it gives us momentum.”

The second goal, in fact, came almost immediately after Canada had killed one of those five-on-threes.

U.S. goalkeeper Jessie Vetter was also impressive for most of the night, but was unable to stop Poulin in the early going.

The differences between the two teams were minimal, but on this night, Poulin’s goals and Szabados’ reflexes were enough to send the U.S. home with silver medals that felt like little more than weights pulling down on already slumped shoulders.

Almost 90 minutes after the final horn had sounded, a dozen or so Canadian players, still in uniform, found their way back on the ice, bringing with them cigars, beers and champagne. After living up to the tremendous expectations put on them leading up to the Winter Games — we are talking about a hockey tournament in Canada here — it was time to celebrate. Tournament MPV Meghan Agosta and Haley Irwin sprawled out on their backs in the empty arena, trading puffs of a cigar and swigs off a bottle. Charline Labonte and Poulin mugged for a photo at center ice while holding a giant bubbly bottle.

For another four years, they have what the U.S. so badly wants.

“We didn’t come here to win anything less than gold,” Szabados said.

And in Sochi, Russia four years from now, the two countries will almost certainly do it all over again.

“It’s a one-game season,” said U.S. forward Karen Thatcher, who is from Blaine. “It’s the two top hockey teams in the world. It’s a great hockey game, two great teams battling it out. We didn’t come out on the side we wanted to, but we’ll be ready in four years.”

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Olympics coverage, go to heraldnet.com/olympics

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