The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

It's amazing how I took for granted Team Canada's chances in the Olympics. I was expecting a 5-0 preliminary record, some tough fought elimination games but of course Canada would come out on top, and a gold medal around their necks would be the end result.

I saw their most intense and best play from Canada in the third period of the Russia quarterfinal game. The style of play that was sorely lacking in every other game they played. The only player on the team that played with any consistency was Martin Brodeur, everyone else you were left thinking, "huh?" Some say leadership was a problem, with Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman sitting out. No way...if anything I thought there was not enough youth on the team. I cringed every time I saw Kris Draper for a shift in the third period, a guy with a grand total of four goals in the NHL season thus far, while Eric Staal has been lighting it up all year and he's relegated to waterboy. We need to score goals and we're turning to Kris Draper? Yikes. The last 12 periods of play, a total of 3 goals scored. You look at the Russians and see the speed and enthusiasm of Alexei Ovechkin & Evegni Malkin and think wouldn't a motivated Sydney Crosby playing alongside Staal just be the perfect antidote for that? Well, I thought so some time ago, but Gretzky and company didn't. In any case, Canada deserved to lose, and the better team clearly won.

The only good thing out of this for Team Canada fans is that the next major international competition will mean a little bit more. I have to admit, out of all of Team Canada's losses in the past, this stung the least. Maybe because Canada has won everything lately. Perhaps this will make their next victory a little more special.