The Gold Medal Game - A Lesson

If you missed the hockey game between the USA and Canada yesterday, you missed out.

It’s rare that I would say such a thing about a hockey game, but I so thoroughly enjoyed watching the Gold Medal Game yesterday that I cannot help but believe it.  Of course, I suppose such a statement is especially true for those folks from either the United States and Canada.  But still, no matter where you are from, it was a great game.

As I said to Erin before the contest, it is impossible to draw up a better script.  The USA team lost to Canada eight years ago in Salt Lake City.  And here they meet again for the gold, in Vancouver nonetheless.  Not only that, but the USA squad had already beaten the Canadians, just one week prior.  And considering hockey is Canada’s sport, well, that just makes it all the more intense.  Not to mention the two countries neighbor one another.

Canada got off to a 2-0 start, but the US team got a goal in the second period to cut the lead to one.  The third period was full of intense play, but neither team could score.  Until, of course, the USA removed their Goal-tender.  With less than a minute to play the US scored to tie the game and send it into overtime…sudden death overtime.

Though I am not a hockey fan per se, I am a huge fan of hockey’s sudden death overtime.  Sure, I know soccer and American football have it, but they can’t measure up to the intensity of a sudden death overtime hockey game.  For only in hockey is the action so fast-paced that the game could literally be over at any moment.  In soccer the shots on goal are pretty spaced out.  And in American football, more times than not, a team drives methodically down the field in order to get into field goal range to end it.

So here you have one of the best match-ups in sports, some of the greatest hockey players in the world playing for their respective countries.  And the game goes to sudden death overtime.  Beautiful.  I was tuned into every single move.

As you probably know, the Canadians ended up winning it.  Good for them.  Really, it was great for them.  I felt for the American players, but after viewing such a contest as a fan, I really walked away satisfied.  Sure, I wanted my USA guys to win, but I didn’t want them to win so much that I couldn’t handle the loss.  Things were in their proper perspective.  I was able to enjoy the game in all its facets for what it was:  A game.

I don’t always watch or play games like this, but I want to.  For I believe this is the way sports are meant to be played and enjoyed (and the way they are best played and enjoyed).  Should we want to win?  No doubt.  But should we also be able to walk away satisfied after giving the game everything we had?  Absolutely.  And that rings true for both the players and fans.