I have watched a total of 2 hockey games in my life, both of which were in the last week. It is such a small number I am not even sure if it is called a match, game, etc. If there was anything I could do to go back and watch those games for the first time again, I would. Which is a very weird feeling for a sport so new to me.
With that being said, I am very upset the US could not win the championship as my American pride was at an all time high going up against the fellas up north. While I was informed many times by the broadcast, X, and other friends that Canada was the best ever Best-On-Best hockey team (if not ever, for sure in the last 25 years), I was excited to watch the US take their turn at the top, and, as we all saw, that did not happen.
I warn real hockey fans that this is where the blog will start to sound like a U10 hockey analysis instead of being a nerd and going into advanced analytics.
Game 1 started out with such a big BANG! Within 20 minutes, the US national anthem was booed, and 3 fights happened. All of which was within 9 seconds of the first puck drop. The broadcast Thursday night had mentioned the US initiated those fights to show that they wouldn’t tuck their tail behind their legs once boos came out. They were in Montreal to punch a team in the face and show they belong.
Fast forward about 5 minutes into the first and the best hockey player in the world showed himself to me. Connor McDavid. He scored the first goal of the game and I was thinking it was over, given the history and me knowing nothing about the sport. His quickness and ability to move/handle the puck was very impressive to see. I will definitely be looking forward to watching him on the ice more.
The game then started to turn. The US was HITTING, and from the sounds in that first game it seems they were maybe not expecting to see hitting at that level for that game, given that these players have some of the NHL season remaining. Brady Tkachuk was one of the people I loved to see on the ice because he will hit anyone, and hit them hard. Brady was giving the team momentum and fire when sending opponents into the boards.
That momentum got us to a 1-1 score after the first period after a Guentzel goal and still firing going into the locker room. Which brings us to the 2nd period. It was quieter on the scoring side of things, but my eyes were still glued. Enter Dylan Larkin. 2v1 in favor of the US in transition and he just sinks it in. This event reaches into the top 3 for sports moments watched in my lifetime. It was such a pure stroke, and it simply meant more.
The third period was very exciting and came down to the wire. Connor Hellebuyck was not letting shit slide. He was protecting that 2-1 lead with all of his Michigan Man willpower. Since this was the first hockey game I had ever watched, he was the best goalie I had seen. It comes down to a Canadian empty net and they could not get it done. The US got one more goal on the board because of that to make the final score US 3 – Canada 1.
This brings us to Game 2 on Thursday night. The game was on US soil for the championship game so, I was expecting a different style of game from the jump. That is exactly what we got. 2 goals for each team in the first 2 periods, with neither team going up by more than 1. The United States goals both happened on the Austin Matthews/Tkachuk line and that proved to be a good choice by head coach Mike Sullivan to put those animals together.
The 3rd period was smash mouth hockey (I think.) Defenses were hard to budge and shots were getting off at times, but not finding the back of the net. McDavid seemed to not look like himself as he got tripped up on himself a few times and was losing the puck a lot more than I thought the best hockey player in the world would. There is a good chance that if on just one of those instances he was able to keep himself, the game wouldn’t have gone into overtime.
As I spoiled just at the end there, the game did reach overtime where the golden goal wins the game for either team. In between the 3rd period and overtime is when Jordan Binnington made the goal look the size of a pringles can. Anything and everything that was shot (mostly from the stick of Austin Matthews), were blocked, deflected or caught. There were plenty of chances for the United States to put the game away but no break could be caught by the Americans.
This is when my hockey euphoria of the last few days ended. A faceoff on the US side pushes the Canadians ahead. Canada gets possession and moves it around to get the United States defense moving. Did that work? Yes. Who got left wide open in the slot? That would be Mr. Connor McDavid, the best hockey player in the world. Such pain. He ended a great run by the Americans and showed that he is clutch and can make an impact on the game even when he isn’t playing the best for 3 periods.
With all that being said, here are my final takeaways. The United States played hard for 2 games but simply were outworked in the end. It will be interesting to see how that lights a spark under their ass for the future. McDavid is awesome to watch for his sheer ability, and, last but not least, fights are awesome on ice. I enjoy hockey and will be watching more in the future. I am excited for the Olympics next year to see some more Best-On-Best hockey and hopefully watch the United States win Gold.
This Newbies Favorite 5 to watch:
Brady Tkachuk
Connor McDavid
Connor Hellebuyck
Noah Hanifan
Jaccob Slavin
HM: Dylan Larkin