After the gold-medal game, Sidney Crosby — as if this area had any more reason to dislike him before his winning goal for Canada — offered a curious quote.
When asked about the game, he said it was “a lot closer than we expected.”
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Crosby needs to start paying attention. That’s the last time anyone will go into a game against the United States with that sort of foolish attitude. Maybe America did not win the gold medal, but it definitely proved a point: This country has arrived on the international hockey scene.
And just think: Most of the roster that won the silver will return in 2014, including goalie Ryan Miller. Fourteen players are 25 years or younger. Miller is 29.
Even if the United States doesn’t win there, of this there is no doubt: The expectations have changed. Its presence in the finale was not a fluke. Not one bit. The Americans are no longer some plucky group of kids trying to make us proud. There’s now every reason to think they can win a gold in the future.
The United States has improved its development system, and that is being noticed with the young players producing in the NHL and in the Olympics. The core of this team is full of high draft picks from the 2005-08 classes. Don’t forget, too, that the United States won the IIHF world junior championship (beating Canada, no less) in January.
That’s not going to change. This country will continue to produce better players. The development system is modeled more after Canada now than ever before. So the elite hockey players are playing junior hockey at a young age — as the Canadians do. It’s a legitimate program that should continue turning out high draft picks.
What a fun time for hockey in this area. The casual fan in Washington can carry the momentum from the Olympics over to the Washington Capitals for an expected deep run this spring.
The nice thing is, with both the USA and the Caps, we’re confident we’ll say the same thing again in four years.
