Classic

There's not much more to be said about yesterday's game -- it's just nice that after the two most anticipated medal round games of an otherwise excellent tournament fizzled it was gratifying indeed to get a game that exceeded high expectations. I was right about at least one thing in my post-first-loss diagnosis, in that Babcock's puzzling insistence that Niedermayer was still a top 2 defenseman in this context very nearly blew up on him -- I have no idea what the hell he was doing for any of the dozen or so seconds leading up to Parise's tying goal, and many will forget that the Crosby goal came after a gruesome turnover very nearly ended the game the other way. (It underlines how smart Burke was to generally privilege younger players.) Otherwise, both teams were very well-constructed and played as hard and well as anyone could expect -- to me, tight-checking hockey without clutch-and-grab is always the most exciting. And Pierce is right that Kane's hustle to break up the 3rd period Crosby breakaway shouldn't be forgotten (as well, of course, that deciding this game by shootout would have been an abomination in the face of the Lord.)

In a properly internationalist spirit, I'll make my designated charity Doctors Without Borders, with condolences to Thers. I don't have much to say about the rest of the games; I should do some token bragging about Canada surprisingly winning the most gold medals, I guess, but I often didn't have time to watch and the hockey was so good as to dwarf many of the other events (although it was nice to see that Carrot Top has gone from being a failed comedia to a championship snowboarder, and Joannie Rochette's courage certainly merits the praise it's received.)

Ultimately, I'd have to say that an overtime winner set up by Iginla after a devastating last-second goal to send the game to OT at GM Place is a formula I won't get tired of...