A miracle: America claims Canada’s sport

I’m writing this column because I have to. I’m writing this column because yesterday’s U.S.-Canada matchup for the Olympic gold medal in hockey was one of the best sporting events that I have seen in a while.

Yes it was better than the Super Bowl—let’s face it, it was only interesting at the end. Yes it was better than the World Series. And yes, it was better than the 2008 Olympic men’s basketball tournament (everyone knows we were supposed to win that).

As a patriotic American, I am, of course, devastated by the outcome. But as a hockey fan and advocate for the game, yesterday’s war on ice has the potential to restore hockey to its former glory as one of America’s cherished sports.

From the outset, the game featured every attribute that makes hockey an amazing sport—speed, finesse, endurance, physicality and stellar goaltending. Lucky for NBCand the NHL, Zach Parise scored a timely goal to send the game to overtime where it was then ended by one of the league’s top young stars.

In placing Sunday’s contest in its proper context, over the weekend, nearly every sportswriter in America referenced the 1980 “Miracle on Ice.” From what I read, the general consensus was that even if the U.S. beat the Canadians again, it would in no way equal the performance of the 1980 team.

Indeed, Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press declared, “This isn’t a miracle in the making.” According to Sharp, the Americans of 1980 were “amateurs” while “these Americans are NHL players.” He further argued that, “There was still a Cold War then. There’s an occasional cold shoulder now.”

But as a diehard hockey fan, Sharp, and most of his colleagues in the sports world are dead wrong. We may have NHL players now, but the Canadians had star NHL players. If the U.S. hockey squad tried out for Team Canada, only a few players would have made the Canadian roster. In many ways, the U.S. team of 2010 was just as scrappy and physical as the 1980 squad that beat a much more skilled Soviet team.

And while the Cold War is over, America’s position is arguably just as tenuous in the world. Over the past week, Americans rallied behind a team in a way that they haven’t for a long time. And this is especially critical, at a time in our history where our standing in the world is being questioned on a daily basis.

A victory would not have taken anything away from the 1980 team, but sports fans tend to add lore and nostalgia to events after the fact. Maybe the two events weren’t of equal stature, but a U.S. win would certainly have been a miracle.

Growing up as a Jew, I quickly learned of the power of a miracle. But who are we to judge the grandness of miracles against one another? You can’t tell me that when you saw Parise stuff the puck in the back of the net with 24 seconds left, you didn’t jump, scream, and high-five the person next to you. I know I did, and I’m still hoarse from it.

That’s what amazing sports moments are, and yesterday’s contest had all the attributes to be entered into public memory. But the U.S. lost and only some people will remember the game years later.

Still, this hockey tournament generated excitement and interest for the game. Just in my own apartment, several friends of mine with negative or mild views of hockey, gained a different perspective in just one week’s time. Jay Mariotti wrote that for the week, hockey served as “the unexpected lifeblood of a land that never has given a puck about the game.”

While the U.S. team was not as talented or as deep as the Canadians, Jay Mariotti is right when he notes that Team USA is at its “most vibrant hockey apex.” A silver medal, a victory against Canada (albeit in the preliminaries), and a close loss in the final game serves as strong validation for the state of hockey in the US of A. And this is all for a team that was not ranked in the top five coming in to the Olympics.

With a boring NBA season, and an average college basketball year, the Olympic hockey tournament has the potential to complete the rejuvenation of hockey in America. The NHL goes back to work tomorrow, and new fans will be tuning in just in time for the playoffs.

In my view, if yesterday’s game helps bring back a great sport with a strong tradition in America, it would certainly be a miracle. Amen.

Jacob Shapiro is a List College senior majoring in history and Talmud.
sportseditors@columbiaspectator.com