Issue date: 3/4/10 Section: Sports

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Going into the 2010 Olympic games in Vancouver the U.S. Men's Hockey team certainly was not the overall favorite to win gold. After all, Canada's roster was filled with NHL superstars and Russia's first line composed of Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, and Ilya Kovalchuk was arguably one of the scariest lines ever assembled..

Meanwhile, looking through the U.S. roster, many people questioned if the young players could gel as a team and have a chance at making something happen. 18 of the 23 players on the roster were born after 1980; meaning most of the players were not even old enough to witness the Miracle on Ice the story of the 1980 U.S. Men's Hockey Team gold medal run first hand and instead watched the Disney remake from 2004. But boy did these young players quickly change our minds about what they could accomplish.

The U.S. team played outstandingly the entire tournament. In their first two games, they beat Switzerland and Norway by combined scores of 9-2. They even managed to beat Canada 5-3 midway through the tournament to gain the top seed in their division. In the quarterfinals they played Switzerland who managed to put up a good fight. However, the U.S. was able to advance after a hard fought battle and a 2-0 final score. In the Semifinals, they played Finland who they easily beat by a score of 6-1 after six first period goals.

The gold medal game was sure to be a good one as they again matched up against Canada, the heavy favorites to win it all coming into the games. Hockey fans everywhere couldn't ask for two better teams to face off for the gold medal. The matchup game according to NHL.com, was the most watched hockey game in 30 years, with an average of over 27 million viewers.

"That's one of the greatest sports events I have ever seen."remarked NBC's Bob Costas.

Zach Parise from the U.S. team managed to score a goal to tie the score 2-2 in the closing minute of the third period pushing the game into sudden death overtime. Sidney Crosby scored the game winner for Canada, capturing the gold and leaving the silver for the U.S.

The Americans should be proud of themselves and what they accomplished. They came in as young team, not favored at all and managed to bring home an extremely respectable silver medal. It's not what they came for, but miracles don't happen all the time. Almost over night Ryan Miller and Zack Parise have become national heroes. The two young and upcoming stars were highlights of the Olympic tournament.

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