US Win Over Canada Establishes New Order
Craig Custance - SportingNews.com
Feb 22, 2010
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- It was no miracle, but it was still pretty darn impressive.
For the first time since 1960, the United States beat Canada in the men's Olympic hockey tournament and now -- 30 years to the day after the Miracle on Ice Americans beat the Soviets in the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics -- Team USA finds itself atop the Winter Games standings. A 5-3 win over Canada on Sunday gave the U.S. top status in Group A and earned the Americans a bye to the quarterfinals.
By beating Canada, the Americans are the No. 1 seed and the new favorites to win gold."It was probably one of the biggest games I've ever played in," said Ryan Miller, who was outstanding in leading Team USA to the win.
With the preliminary round wrapped up, there's a new group of gold medal favorites.
1. Team USA. As much as we wanted to call them the underdogs, the U.S. players have been telling us they're not. It's time to believe it. They were perfect in the preliminary round, and Miller looks like a goalie capable of doing something special -- especially if the Americans continue to get goal-scoring help from unlikely sources.
"Obviously we know we can beat anybody now," said defenseman Brian Rafalski, who scored twice against Canada. "It's a huge step for that and the confidence of the players."
2. Sweden. The reigning gold medal winners played their best game of the tournament in a late 3-0 win over Finland on Sunday night. And things are going just as the veterans on Team Sweden predicted -- a slow start that gradually builds into a gold medal run. Loui Eriksson's strong play -- he scored two goals against Finland -- shows just how deep this team is.
3. Team Russia. The Russians have arrived. For most of the preliminary round, Team Russia has played uninspired hockey. That changed the moment Alex Ovechkin flattened Jaromir Jagr at center ice to set up Russia's game-winning third-period goal in a 4-2 win over previously undefeated Czech Republic on Sunday.
Staff writer Craig Custance covers the NHL for Sporting News. E-mail him at ccustance@sportingnews.com.
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