Unbelievable game

The USA/Canada game was one of the best sports events I have ever watched. Unreal levels of talent on each side. Every minute was full of action. Every moment was played as if it were those player’s last moments on a hockey rink. To say that the game was played at a playoff intensity is a grand understatement.

Ryan Miller playing at a super-human level. Brian Rafalski comes through with not one, but two goals.

The empty netter at the end of the game was symbolic of the Americans’ effort — Ryan Kesler went full blast into the Canadian zone past Corey Perry and slid towards the puck, which was stationed at the bottom of the left-wing face-off circle, and slapped it into the empty net to put the game away for the Americans.

Prior to the empty-netter, the Canadians were putting intense pressure on Miller, who responded with world-class saves. Miller made 42 saves in the game, but it seemed like he made 42 in the last five minutes alone. Canada put together quite the shooting gallery late. Miller stood tall.

The entire nation of Canada will have Miller haunting their dreams for quite some time.

Rafalski, too. How many people thought Rafalski would be the top performing defenseman in the game? Two goals? Wow.

And how big was that goal 44 seconds into the game by the Americans? Settled down the Canadian crowd right away.

The way this American team was constructed, at this point, looks just about perfect (knock on wood.) They left behind aging stars like Bill Guerin, Keith Tkatchuk, and Mike Modano and went with a roster loaded with young talent. This is the new age of USA Hockey was the message, seemingly.

The team also seems to have a unique blend of heart-and-soul guys and scorers along with speed and size. Character and chemistry seemed to also be key components of the team selection (as Kurt Russell says in “Miracle,” I didn’t pick the best players, I picked the right ones.) Players on Team USA are willing to take a shot to the gut in order to win.

Team Canada seemed like it’s a bunch of stars — and Canada has plenty of them — thrown onto the roster. Sure, talent is on the side of Canada as opposed to any other team in the Olympic tournament. But can you throw a bunch of stars together on, say, a penalty kill? Are top-notch forwards going to kill penalties effectively?

Chemistry also doesn’t seem as strong with the Canadians as it does with the Americans. Character, too — on that empty netter at the end of the game, didn’t it look like Kesler just wanted it more than Perry?

I also thought that Martin Brodeur looked a bit average in net. He gave up four goals, one of which looked like he could have saved, and the other came off of a bad clearing effort from Brodeur. Before the tournament began, I felt like Roberto Luongo was a better option for the Canadians, and I haven’t seen anything to disprove that yet.

Look, the Canadians may very well come back and win the tournament. But right now, Team USA, led by their goaltender, is at the top of the hockey world. A big upset and a fantastic game. The upset is no where near a miracle, as Team USA is compromised of just as many NHL players as Canada is. But it’s still a big upset.