H-O-C-K-E-Y It’s Olympic Fun For Me

Posted by Cynical Sarah on February 24, 2010

Living in Canada’s world with a true blue Canadian, there’s really only one sport of major importance during the Winter Olympics. There are lots of popular Winter Olympic events like figure skating, speed skating and even snowboard halfpipe, but to Canadians, hockey is nearly the only one that matters.

So when tickets to events of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics started to get released, the ones that were going the quickest were the hockey games – especially those with Canada in it.

Helper Troy and I signed up for an account to try to get tickets in hopes of going to the Canada vs. USA preliminary game. No such luck because of memory and timing issues, but with a little research, Helper Troy found out the game Canada would play in the Qualifier Playoff round.

We purchased two tickets and later had to pin our hopes on Canada doing well, but not too well in the preliminaries so that we’d get to see them play. (The top four teams automatically advanced to the quarterfinals and didn’t have to play the qualifier playoff round.)

It all came down to the USA vs. Canada game on Sunday. Canada wins, we have tickets to a game with no Team Canada in it. USA wins, we get to see Team Canada play. I being the good wife and American that I am, chose to cheer on the USA and help out our efforts to get to see a truly Canadian Olympic hockey event.

Team USA won, but I nearly lost my chance to go to an Olympic event because of it.

So Tuesday afternoon was all about getting through security and standing out in the rain and waiting for the stadium to reopen and let us all in for the game. It was a sea of red and white (with little hints of German yellow and black), so there must have been plenty of other Canadians who pinned their hopes on Canada not doing completely wonderful or plenty of other Canadians who didn’t fully read the schedule.

Germany was a pretty easy team for Canada to play, so the game wasn’t overly exciting. It was more about being a part of an Olympic event and part of the rallying Canadians cheering on the home team. It was about the experience rather than the actual game.

That experience included buying an official Olympic hockey program, wearing Canadian t-shirts, bringing a Canadian flag to wave around, and cheering like crazy anytime Team Canada was on the ice or on the jumbo screen.

You could also tell who the superstars of the team were. Sidney Crosby has the hopes of a nation riding on his shoulders. At 22, that’s a tough spot, but Sid the Kid has already taken his NHL team to a Stanley Cup, so an Olympic gold isn’t that far of a stretch.

The cheers were almost as loud for Roberto Luongo – the hometown hero. The Canucks captain and goalie got his shot in net again last night against Germany, and this Vancouver crowd was more than happy to show their appreciation.

Canada did win the game, as they were expected to do. Luongo let in two goals for a final score of 8-2, so at least the Germans had some points against Canada to take home with them.

I think that has been the biggest issue for Team Canada at the games. Because they are considered one of the top teams, the underdogs are gunning for them. These underdog teams have a central emotion/goal to rally around besides trying to make it to a medal. They all want to beat Team Canada, and that thought unifies them.

Underdog teams may not have all the talent that Canada or Russia has, but they come out playing like a unified team. that proved to be Canada’s downfall in the USA game. Russia suffered similarly against Slovakia.

Today Canada has a chance to find that same unity as it faces Russia in the quarterfinal game. This was the game everyone hoped to see in the final round – the two giant teams going head to head. But even among giants, only one can be the clear favorite, and by most accounts that’s Russia.

If you listen to hockey fans and analysts, Team Russia has a size advantage, speed advantage and Alexander Ovechkin. So now it’s Canada’s turn to come together with one thought, “We can beat them.”

Team unity guys. Bring all those individual skills together as one and play with the heart and soul that Team Swiss used against you and Team USA used against you.

It’s not about gold today. It’s not about a medal at all. It’s about one game and a chance to be the team to topple a giant.

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Tags: 2010 Olympics, olympic hockey, team canada

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