The Olympic gold medal hockey game is a major rivalry between Canada and the United States
By STEPHEN WHYNO
MILAN (AP) – Dylan Larkin has been thinking the U.S. is against Canada for Olympic gold all year. All the dreams he had as a child came true after he and his teammates lost to their opponent in the final of the 4 Nations Face-Off.
“I thought about it a lot,” Larkin said. “It’s what everybody wanted, this meet in the gold medal game. Yeah, I’ve thought about it a lot.”
Those thoughts become reality on Sunday when the North American nations that have become the dominant forces of the hockey world face off in a titanic final of the best tournament against many of the NHL’s stars. The US taking on Canada on the biggest stage in sports should be a hard-hitting, fast-skating, must-see adventure.
“It’s going to be a big boys’ game,” said Canada’s Tom Wilson. “It’s going to be as fast and efficient as you can imagine. Right now it’s the two biggest hockey countries in the world. Everyone is going to do their best at all times.”
Favorites reach the finals
Canada and the US entered the tournament as favorites and played like them. Each team went undefeated, winning all five games, with the US outscoring their opponents 24-8 and outscoring them 201-124 and Canada 27-8 and 202-106.
“They’re two of the best teams, maybe,” US winger Matthew Tkachuk said. “We have a lot of respect for the players there and what they have done in the past, and we want to be the best team.”
There were scares and moments of panic along the way: Canada needed late tying goals to get past Czechia in overtime in the quarterfinals and Finland in the semifinals, while the US also gave up a late lead against Sweden before winning in OT.
Unlike the first round, the US and Canada were each assessed against elimination.
“It wasn’t a smooth quarter and semi for us,” said Connor McDavid of Canada, who scored the most goals in the Olympics with 13 points, a record in the NHL. “But I see that difficulties are good, going through them brought us closer, you can feel that the team enjoyed playing in those games.”
Canada is committed to maintaining the gold standard
In the last two Olympics in which the NHL participated, Canada took home the gold. In 2014, the team did not follow through. In 2010, Sidney Crosby scored a goal in overtime to beat the US and win on home ice.
Canada has won three of five games with NHL players to give it a record nine gold medals. Hockey was born in Canada, and expectations are always the best in the world for it.
“You always feel that responsibility as a Canadian,” Wilson said. “We want to be the best. It’s been our game for a long time. The guys who wear the jersey, it’s our responsibility to go out there and try to prove why we’re the best and why we should be the best. And continue to be the best.”
Arguably Canada’s greatest Olympian in history, Crosby, may not play due to an injury that took him out of the quarterfinals. Coach Jon Cooper did not reveal his hand on whether Crosby will be available.
“Obviously we’d love to have him,” Cooper said.
The US is trying to achieve something that has not been done since 1980
America’s last men’s hockey gold medal at the Olympics was 46 years ago in Lake Placid. A 1980 team of college players pulled off a “Miracle on Ice,” defeating the heavily favored Soviet Union en route to one of the most talked-about underdog stories in sports history.
Not a single player on this US team lived to see it; coach Mike Sullivan was about to turn 12. The respect for that team lives on as the current generation of players seek to join the likes of Mike Eruzione and Jim Craig in USA Hockey lore.
“Unbelievable,” said pitcher Brock Nelson, whose uncle Dave Christian was on the 1980 team. “It’s fun. The adrenaline, the chills, everything. This is the kind of thing you dream about as a kid and why you want to play the game.”
Eruzione captained the US in 1980 and toured with the players in last year’s 4 Nations in Montreal. Auston Matthews, the captain of the American team, said that Eruzione’s best advice was, “Leave it all there.”
“This is what you play,” Matthews said. “This is what you came here for: to get this opportunity and put ourselves in this situation. We have to go out there and leave it on the ice.”
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