An Olympic Review

I must say in all my years of watching Olympic hockey, and hockey in general, the past two weeks in Vancouver were arguably the best two weeks of hockey I've ever seen. What we saw was a display of twelve countries showcasing the best players it has to offer, and none of them disappointed. It also didn't hurt that NHL represented about 60% of all the players in the tournament, including the entire rosters for the U.S. and Canada.

And speaking of which...

Yesterday's Gold Medal game between the U.S. and Canada was arguably one the greatest hockey games ever played. And to think the U.S. almost pulled off a miraculous upset against arguably the best team in the tournament in which no one gave the U.S. much of a chance to medal, let alone play for the Gold Medal. Many felt the U.S. was probably, at best, the fifth best team in the Olympics behind powerhouses such as Canada, Russia, Sweden, Finland, and perhaps even the Czechs and Slovaks.

But instead, the U.S. held its own throughout the tournament, and behind Ryan Miller's spectacular goal-tending, earned a well-earn chance at the gold medal.

Down 2-0, the U.S. got a late second period goal from Ryan Kesler, who tipped in a shot from Patrick Kane to make it a game again. With the same 2-1 score late in regulation, the U.S. pulled Miller for the extra attacker. It paid off. With just a little over 24 seconds left on the clock, Zach Parise netted a rebound past an outstretched Roberto Luongo for the equalizer, sending it into a sudden death overtime.

It wasn't until the overtime, when the teams were forced to play four-on-four, that we really saw how much of an advantage the Canadians really had over the U.S. And with about 13-plus minutes left in the overtime, Sidney Crosby netted a give-and-go from Jerome Iginla to give Canada the win, and the Gold Medal.

Still, the U.S. has nothing to hang their heads about. They saved their best game for last, and nearly beat the odds. And in a sense, they did beat the odds because they weren't expected to even medal in Vancouver, and came away with a Silver Medal.

Sadly, though, yesterday's Gold Medal game was getting many unfair comparisons to the "Miracle on Ice" in which a team of U.S. amateurs upset a powerful Soviet Union team during the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York. To an extent, the comparisons are valid because this year's U.S. team, albeit a team full of NHL players just like Canada, was a far younger team than the group of veterans the Canadians put together. But in all actuality, the circumstances of the two games were far different.

Anyway you slice it, though, the game (and the tournament) didn't disappoint. For the U.S., Miller was at his best in goal as he had been throughout the entire tournament. Despite giving up the three goals that would help give Canada the Gold Medal yesterday, Miller was named the tournament's MVP, and deservedly so.

Miller played out of his mind throughout the Olympics, and was the sole reason the U.S. beat Canada last week to earn the top seed heading into the medal round, despite the fact the U.S. managed to score five times on Marty Brodeur.

Four of the five Kings players who participated in the Games also received medals. Drew Doughty picked up a Gold Medal for Canada while Dustin Brown, Jack Johnson and Jonathan Quick earned well-deserved Silver Medals for the U.S. Only Michal Handzus of Slovakia returned empty-handed after his Slovakian team lost to Finland in the Bronze Medal Game.

I was really pulling for the Slovakians to medal for other reasons than Michal Handzus. The Kings also had four former players on the Slovakian team (Ziggy Palffy, Josef Stumpel, Lubomir Visnovsky and Pavol Demitra), as well as one additional player they currently own the rights to (Lubos Bartecko).

But looking back on the entire tournament, especially after yesterday's Gold Medal game, you can't help but think the sport might have won over many new fans, and perhaps even a handful of fans who gave up on the sport after the 2004 NHL lockout, especially here in the U.S.

Think about it. This game was originally going to be aired on a tape-delay here in the States. Instead, the entire country got it live - yes, including the West Coast, who was getting most of these games on a three-hour delay, anyway - and it turned out to be the most watched hockey game in the U.S. since the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" game, which wasn't even broadcasted live.

NBC earned a solid 15.2 share overnight. That equates to approximately 26.7 million viewers, up 45.5% over the 2002 Salt Lake City Gold Medal game between the same two countries.

And in Canada, the game shattered records country-wide. The game there, aired on nine different networks and in eight different languages, was the most watched television broadcast ever. Roughly half of the nation's population watched yesterday's game.

When all is said and done, the real hockey Gold Medal winner of these Olympics was the sport itself.

That said, the Kings are back in action tomorrow night in Dallas.