Word: canadianism
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...Canadian captain Cassie Campbell, who played in her third and very likely last Olympics, looks at video from the women's debut at Nagano in 1998 and thinks, "it's crazy how much bigger and better the game is today." She recalled the boost given hockey in the U.S. by the victory over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, suggesting the same kicker might occur for women's hockey in Europe now that the Big Two don't appear invincible...
...contrast, the American and Canadian veterans are being pressed by a new generation of players who have been inspired to play by the exploits of their national teams. The Century Line (so named due to their combined ages) of Campbell, 32, opening ceremony flag bearer Danielle Goyette, 40 and Vicky Sunohara, 35, understand that it's time to go. Dozens upon dozens of players with equal or better talent, speed and toughness ready to take their place. Not so, in Russia, Italy or even Sweden...
...lack of competitiveness makes for a routinely boring product. During the final, the pro-Canadian crowd mostly sat silent, stultified by the stagnant play. Lacking speed, Sweden followed a strategy that amounted to stacking the neutral zone at mid-ice with all five skaters in hopes of gumming up the offense. Sweden failed to manufacture legitimate scoring chances, even on power plays...
...Should Canadians, who expect nothing less than perfection in hockey, be worried? Upsets, of course, are always part of the equation in any Olympic event. And, says coach Pat Quinn, who also skippered the team at Salt Lake City in 2002 when Canada snapped a 50-year Olympic-gold-medal dry spell: "Talent isn't the only thing that wins here." Proper chemistry and discipline factor into the mix as well, and Canada showed little of either against the Swiss. Canadian forward Dany Heatley put it succinctly: "Things didn't go our way." In order to attain gold, this disparate...
...Canadians prevail, men's hockey gold would cap what is shaping up to be one of the country's finest winter performances ever. There were certainly high expectations. The Canadian Olympic Committee (coc) brazenly targeted third place in the overall medal standings--likely requiring 25 medals, compared with the 17 that Canada took home four years ago. Canada might not make it, especially after several failure-to-convert performances in the Games' opening days. As the unfulfilled expectations initially piled up--as when all four female snowboarders failed to qualify for the half-pipe final, or when Emily Brydon finished...