Gold Medal Up for Grabs!

Heading into the game against the good ole’ U.S. of A, some thought Miikka Kiprusoff was hotter than any other goalie including Ryan Miller. Well those some thought wrong! Miikka’s world was turned upside down Friday afternoon when the U.S. beat him for 4 goals on 7 shots. Kiprusoff was replaced by the Wild’s own Niklas Backstrom who was subsequently beaten for two goals in four shots. Other Wild contributors for Finland included Antti Mienttinen who scored the Fins’ one and only goal. I hated to see Finland lose because of Mikko, Antti, and Niklas but I am not quite 30 so I have never seen the U.S. win gold….and boy it is time!

The U.S. is now guaranteed at least a silver medal in the 2010 Olympics. Now don’t get me wrong but I think a silver medal would be an absolute success……but c’mon bring home the GOLD BOYS! Zach Parise (tip of the cap to the UND Fighting Sioux) has been playing out of his mind! I heard a Canadian caller on the radio the other night describe Parise as “America’s version of Sidney Crosby.” I won’t go that far just yet but yes he is indeed one helluva player. Oh and off the topic: Parise please come back home to the Twin Cities! Back on topic: Lagenbrunner and Parise who are both members of the “ZZ Pops” line have been really leading this U.S. team. Hopefully they have one more great game in them.

Now the Canada-Slovakia game was a much more contested battle between two star studded teams. Canada jumped out to a 3-0 lead on goals from Marleau, Morrow, and Getzlaf. Roberto Luongo was looking like very……..well Roberto Luongo-ish. Then finally in the 3rd period with less than 10 minutes to go in the game, the Slovak’s jumped back into the contest with goals from Visnovsky and Handzus. Then with roughly a minute to go Slovakia pulled its goalie and with six attackers they tried to even it up. Unfortunately they missed a wide open net with about 15 seconds left and that was their last opportunity.

So there you have it! Canada versus the United States for the Gold! I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. This game does in fact scare me for two reasons:

#1 Canada is out for revenge and they are talented enough to on any given night beat any team to a pulp.

#2 I am in the military and I fear we might have another war on our hands if we beat Canada again………..plus they already hate us for that whole not having the Stanley Cup since 1993 thing. It’s like as if they created the sport or at the very least like it’s their national sport or something! I mean c’mon it’s just a game fellas (insert LOL here). Just remember U.S.A. act like you’ve been there before……30 years ago……and 20 years before that. No need to celebrate.

Make sure to tune in Sunday at 2:15 p.m. CST. It’ll be a great day for Hockey!