Even in all of my lividity after the game last night, I surprised myself by actually getting a rather decent sleep, skipping the expected notion of tossing and turning and just getting right down to the slumber that I desperately needed to get the bad taste of that game out of my mouth. But despite the solid 9 hours that I registered last night, I still awoke to the expected praising of the now interested-in-hockey American media and the unbelievable amount of Canadian Brodeur bashers that surfaced upon my daily ritual of surfing.
Now, as I said, I expected all of this, but it was still a little bit more than I can bare. Having serious work that needs to get done, I felt that this was a suitable way for me to get this whole situation off my mind just long enough so I can get more important matters completed. So, just be aware that this note is filled with a lot of complaining and not much more. It is just to help put my mind at ease, and to give me a little closure...well, at least until tomorrow night's game.
And we're off.
Last night's game was not reminiscent of "The Miracle on Ice". Do you hear that American media?? They weren't even close. The 1980 team was made up of a bunch of amateurs who no one believed would be able to MAKE it to the gold medal game, let alone handle themselves against the Soviets who a pretty damn stacked team. Also, in case you didn't catch that, it was a GOLD MEDAL GAME. This years USA team, were in the very least, expected to make it to the semi-finals. Yes, Canada was a favourite to go all the way, and hey, they still have a chance to, but last night's game was NOT a miracle. It was the work of some damn fine American goaltending, and a Canadian team who has not meshed as quickly as we anticipated. I don't wanna go off on this for too long, so just read this article for a better idea of what I'm getting at. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bd-gallof/us-hockey-win-was-no-mira_b_471325.html
So, putting aside the fact that I've now had to deal with the swarms of the American public who, before the win last night, never cared for hockey in their entire lives, I've had to deal with something much more frustrating, and that is the Canadians who are blaming everything last night on the decision to put Brodeur in net over Luongo.
I will say it now, and I will not say it again: STOP. YOU SOUND LIKE AN IDIOT.
Brodeur did not lose that game last night. He did not play his best, but he damn sure didn't lose it for us. The first goal went in off of Crosby's stick. Not much you can do there. The second goal should have been cleared out of the zone by Dan Boyle, but he coughed it up and allowed the scoring chance to happen in the first place. The fourth goal took an unfortunate bounce off of Langenbrunner's skate (which, by the way, Brodeur almost SAVED, despite it's flukiness) and the empty net goal was completely at the mercy of Corey Perry (but I'll get back to that in a second).
So really, Brodeur allowed one goal at the fault of his own. Two, if you want to argue that miscue of batting the puck up the middle after Boyle turned it over. That's two goals. A decent performance. And had the unfortunate circumstances not happened, this would have made the final score, 3-2 Canada. (I know, dealing in hypotheticals is not really valid, but I'm just using it to convey a point. I know it wouldn't have turned out that way, but bare with me).
And don't even try to tell me that you would have pulled him after one of these goals. Again, they were mostly all so unfortunate, that Babcock obviously realized he couldn't be completely blamed for them. And Brody was playing great hockey towards the end of the second period anyway, proving that the man can bounce back pretty quickly from mistakes.
I will reiterate again though, that I do not believe that he had the goaltending game of his life. Absolutely not. Hell, it was one of his weaker performances in recent memories. But he was not downright awful like a lot of people are claiming, and a lot of the onus should be placed on the shoulders of the rest of the team too, and not just Brodeur and "whoever decided to start him."
I hear it over and over again. "This is Sidney Crosby's team." Oh really?? Then how come it took him until the last 5 minutes of this game to actually show up and attempt to start giving a damn?? The right players on the US showed up last night (Rafalski, Drury, Miller), and that's why they won. Where the hell were our leaders?? Crosby has a goal in the entire tournament, one which he waited a damn long time to get last night, and yet he has 42 in the NHL. Yes, you're right, he did score the shoot-out winner against the Swiss, but it took a shoot-out miss before it made him mad enough to actually WANT to tally the game-winner. And what were the veteran defencemen doing last night?? Neidermayer and Boyle were giving pucks away like they were playing for the Americans. Chris Pronger was doing the same thing, all the while backing off from every play, seemingly refusing to use his massive 6' 6" frame to do nothing, except knock the opposing team into his own goalie from time to time.
And can anyone tell me how Patrice Bergeron, Mike Richards, Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf have contributed to this team thus far in the tournament?? It seems that Bergeron can only win faceoffs and then skate off the ice. Richards, who was supposed to be the guy who "would get Crosby going" lost that spot rather quickly last night, and Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry continually seem to show that they couldn't care less that they were on this team. They have combined for just two goals in the tourny so far. If I could, I would take Perry's away from him though, after allowing Kesler to reach that puck and secure the win for the US. Like what the hell was he thinking?? HE HAD A STICK LENGTH ON THE GUY!! All he had to do was put his stick ON THE ICE and the puck was his. Nope. Instead he just tried to block the guy from the puck, and a lotta good that did.
These so called "star" players better start to earn their spot on this team, and they better do it quickly.
Anyway, all of that was just to put further emphasis on how last night's game was not Brodeur's fault. Yes, he was to blame to a degree, I will whole-heartedly agree with that, but in retrospect I still think that Babcock made the right decision in starting him. Seriously, think about it. Brodeur played a solid game against the Swiss. Yes, he let in a weak one, but the second goal was just bad luck in the deflection off of Marleau's skate. Not much you can do there. And the very last thing that we saw of Marty was his saving grace during the shoot-out. He had a solid game. Combine that with the fact that he won us a gold medal in 2002, was the ONLY good thing to come out of the 2006 games in Turin, and the fact that Luongo simply wasn't challenged enough in the game against Norway to get a clear sense of how he was playing, and you have your reasoning behind the Brodeur decision. I mean, it's not like either guy is outplaying the other this regular season anyway. So, yes. I would have started Brodeur too. It was the sensible choice.
That being said though, Luongo starts the Germany game. No question. I do love Marty, and he is one of my favourite players of all time, but you have to turn it over to Roberto, and see what he can do now. If we had won last night's game, maybe it would be different, and again, it's not that he played badly, but the fact is, he didn't give us his best, and now we need to see if Luongo can do that. It's a tough call, but that's what I would do.
So that's pretty much it. I hate it as much as anyone that we lost that game last night, and I am going to have to hold my tongue when taunted by the millions of brand new hockey fans who want to gloat that they are now superior to Canada as far as hockey goes, but the bottom line is, not enough people showed up last night. Nash and Doughty had spectacular games. Weber continues to prove himself in this line up. Iginla, despite the shockingly short ice-time he is putting up, is a force (I am still not 100% sure why he has been basically demoted on the team), and the San Jose line is the only one who seems to be able to move the puck. But we need every player to step up to the plate (because they are playing baseball, right guys!?!?).
It's games like last night that make people yearn for the Mike Green's, Shane Doan's, Dion Phaneuf's and Steven Stamkos' who didn't make the roster.
1 comment:
Too much oboe here, Wade.
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