A National Tragedy

(BOD - Anna K)

What the hell happened last night?

How does a team go from having a three goal stranglehold after two periods in a gold medal final to committing such an epic collapse in the final twenty minutes of play?

Was it hubris? Inexperience? An extreme case of nerves and anxiety flooding Team Canada’s bodies after the Russian Beast scored two goals in quick succession early in the third frame?

Whatever it was, I can confidently say that last night’s game, without succumbing to hyperbole, was the most spectacular and demoralizing collapse in Canadian hockey history.

It was way worse than last year’s gold medal loss to the Americans. That game was a see-saw battle and our boys just fell a little short in overtime, which was nothing to be ashamed of. Last night’s game was even worse than the time we lost to Kazakhstan in the sixth place game back in 1998. Yes, the loss to the Kazakhs was embarrassing, but we all knew our team was shit before that game even started. It was just the rotten cherry on top of a diarrhea sundae.

But now, Canada has such a huge built-in competitive advantage in this tournament that there’s no way we should ever lose if we want to be considered the nation of hockey. We’re the only country that truly cares about this championship and the amount of money spent in this two week period on our team is astronomical.

I don’t even fully understand why we care so deeply about a group of pimply-faced teenagers, but there we are, every Christmas season, turning every medal round game into appointment viewing.

The way the gold medal was frittered away was the most disheartening aspect of last night’s loss. And to the Russians? Seriously?

Falling apart with the game on the line is not supposed to be part of our hockey DNA. Canadians are supposed to rise to the occasion and tackle adversity head on; not wilt in the face of pressure.

I know it seems like I’m being too hard on the boys, especially since this team wasn’t expected to win gold in the first place. First of all, I don’t buy the “leave them alone”, they’re just kids bullshit. They want to be professionals (all but one has already been drafted), they’ve played in big games before and I guarantee they’re the cockiest bunch of eighteen and nineteen year olds you would ever meet in your life.

I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but just look at the way they carried themselves in the first two periods. Jumping into the boards and treating every goal like it was Stanley Cup winner, then ripping around the ice slapping hands with their teammates. They played great when the momentum was flowing in their direction, but as soon as the Russians stuck a finger in their face, Canada couldn’t find an answer.

Every member of that team needs to do some serious soul-searching if they want to have successful careers as NHL players. They will either learn a lot about themselves after this loss and become better acclimated to pressure-packed situations or they will fade into obscurity, not having the ‘stones’ to play hockey at the highest level.

I have to give credit the Russians. They weathered the Canadian storm, kept their composure and silenced 20,000 fans in an intimidating playing environment. That’s not an easy thing to do.

In honour of an impressive Russian victory, here is a clip from Rocky IV which features my second favourite national anthem (after ‘O Canada’ of course).