I had planned to finish up an entry after the game tonight. Then the United States hockey team set North America on fire. This was a huge night for hockey and I have a few things to say about it.
Before I get into the game specifically, I want to add a bit more to the NBC-MSNBC discussion.
I’m interested to see what the ratings were like this evening on NBC in comparison to that of MSNBC during the hockey game. I don’t know a whole lot about TV ratings so I don’t want to guess but lets assume that MSNBC was a little higher. Even if that were the case, which is unlikely, NBC could still rationalize their decision because going with the hockey game would certainly have meant sacrificing commercial revenue. The dollars are always the bottom line. Even with that in mind, it seems like a really bad mistake after the fact in my opinion because they could have fortified a really strong viewership for the medal round games. This is all hypothetical but I feel like the eyes that missed this game because it wasn’t on NBC will be less inclined to watch the primetime hockey games on NBC later in the week. If they had seen it, the medal round games are can’t miss, right?
A couple of people have said that it would have taken away from the greatness of the game had it been broadcasted on NBC because NBC would have played commercials during the periods like they do during NHL games. That’s not true. All Olympic hockey games are played without commercial time-outs during the periods. Playing the game on NBC instead of MSNBC would have done nothing except for added viewers.
Now onto the game:
Martin Broduer, you need to listen up. I get that you’re a difference maker with your puck handling ability but twice you turned the puck over and it ended up in the back of your net. Your team is made up of NHL All-Stars who are quite capable of retrieving and moving it out of your own zone. Your team needed those goals because…
Ryan Miller was in net for the Americans. Sometimes on the Sabres, Miller makes his saves look so easy it’s tough to recognize how dominant he’s been until you realize there are ten minutes left in the third and Miller has made 35 saves. He made some jaw droppers tonight, though. I’m not sure what more I can say than that. Some of his saves were just unreal. He wasn’t perfect but as usual he was good enough to win the game. That’s Miller. He wins games.
I loved seeing how excited the American players were after they scored. It was so genuine. The energy; the smiles; the fist pumps; it would have been impossible to hide their happiness even if they wanted to. The US hockey team was celebrating the same way that gets lazy sports writers hard when they watch Brett Favre.
After Drury scored, he was screaming in that angry way like he’s yelling at his neighbor’s kids to get off his lawn. He’s got that mastered. He’s got to be the most demoralizing player to compete against. By the way, Drury getting in Miller’s face after the triple zeros, I really, really liked. Miller is such a tightly wound player. Everyone knew he would have to come up huge for the States to take this one. Drury definitely knew it and if Miller wasn’t going to let it out, he would rip it out of him. He made Miller get a little emotional. Feel it, Ryan! You played incredibly! You could tell in the post-game interview that Miller was barely keeping it together. He’s always a modest person but he knew he came up huge. Players like Drury who he obviously respects a great deal reaffirmed it.
The only other thing I’ll say tonight is this: Ryan Kesler, you broke hearts with that goal which pretty much symbolized how your team was able to win this game. You outhustled the guy in red and black and made an incredibly athletic play. You wanted it more. Your effort was the difference. Nicely done.
Go U-S-A!