USA Hockey

Many countries seem to think the United States is a strange country when it comes to sports.

If it isn't football, baseball, or basketball, we don't care. If your team starts to really suck, then loyalty has a tendency to go down the drain.

So what happens when you mix USA hockey with a not-so-great amount of talent?

"Hockey programs exist in the USA? I thought those were only in Canada?"

According to Larry Brooks of The New York Post, the New York Rangers have agreed to terms with 2008 second-round pick Derek Stepan.

Stepan, who played two years at Wisconsin, helping the team reach this year's Frozen Four, reportedly agreed to a three-year, entry-level contract worth $875,000 base salary cap. However, as per the NHL's collective-bargaining agreement, the deal cannot be registered with the league until July 1.

I had a dream. 

It had nothing to do with civil rights, but it did have everything to do with American history.

I dreamt—well, day dreamt actually—that Team USA pulled out a victory in the gold medal hockey game of the Olympics. 

USA hockey drew a lot of attention and respect by over-achieving at the 2010 Olympics, but they were left just one paltry overtime shot away from euphoria.

As I sit here sipping my third glass of wine and watching Sidney Crosby skate around the ice surface of GM Place waving an oversized Canadian flag from a pole, I am reminded of how proud I am to be Canadian.

The emotion that surrounded Canada's dramatic overtime win today was palpable over the course of the weekend.

I woke up from my nap Wednesday night to JR being completely shocked the Slovaks had beaten Sweden.  Now, it is an upset, but really is that shocking?

I can only compare international hockey to international soccer and basketball, and I’ll try to do so the best I can.

This is where the real games begin.

No more Norway.

No more Swiss.

No more three freebie goals, courtesy of Martin Brodeur miscues.

Make no mistake, the USA faces a very tough test against Finland on Friday.

Finland was a narrow runners-up in both the last Olympics and hockey World Cup.

Sweden, the team that defeated Finland in the last Olympics and the only team to defeat them so far in this Olympics, is out.

The Finns don't give up goals easily and indeed, are fresh off shutting out a high-powered Czech attack.

Just four teams remain in the Winter Olympics’ men’s hockey tournament, but all eyes are focused on the United States and Canada.

After the two teams met for a monumental preliminary round matchup that few people will forget, a meeting in the gold medal game is now a very good possibility.

I'm a diehard hockey fan. It's something that most of my friends can't understand. They see the game as boring, confusing, and pointless.

They laugh at me for loving a sport that is so different than anything that they like.

They can't understand why I eat, sleep, and breath this game. While they're all induced in the sports-coma that is ESPN coverage, I'm scouring the Internet reading bios and scouting reports on foreigners with strange names.

I woke up today on what has been deemed the "Super Sunday" of hockey, with rematches of the last three gold medal games all slated on the same day.

But when I switched to NBC at 12 noon to get my Czech Republic vs Russia fix, I found that there was no hockey to be shown.

As a matter of fact, even though the Tivo description listed "Men's hockey, Czech Republic vs Russia," all they showed was various types of skiing and none of it featured Lindsey Vonn, so why would I want to watch?

There's something right with the world today
And everybody knows it's wrong
But we can tell 'em no or we could let it go
But I would rather be a hanging on

Livin' On the Edge
You can't help yourself from fallin'
Livin' On the Edge
You can't help yourself at all
Livin' On the Edge

Maybe Team USA was blasting a little too much Aerosmith in the dressing room before they took the ice at against Norway today.

With their risky play, they were certainly living on the edge.