THEY'RE FOR REAL

Before I really get into what was one of the finest hockey games in a long, long time, can I just point three things out?
1) Ryan Miller is an absolute giant.
2) With Kesler's empty-netter sealing it, a Vancouver Canuck buried the canucks in Vancouver.
3) For the first time since before the Leafs, Blackhawks or Bruins won a cup, we beat Canada.

What a game, though; but it's tough to see exactly what to make of it.

As much as I love Tim Thomas, for one, I hope neither he nor Jonathan Quick gets within 90 feet of a net within the next week, and barring any injury, they won't.

Ryan Miller is a very likable guy, despite this commercial, and he is about as home grown as it gets, hailing from Michigan, having won a Hobey Baker in NCAA hockey, and spending his entire career to this point in a city that, though it is somewhat obscure, way up there, and probably not on the forefront of anyone's GPS in, say, Oregon, is oddly representative of USA hockey. Buffalo is small as sports towns go, in a forgotten corner of arguably one of our two most significant states. It also lives just down the QEW, in the shadow of the hockey capital of the world, Toronto, where sits the hall of fame (and with it the original Cup), Leafs Nation, and the origins of any who's who in hockey history, at least the anglophones. Buffalo is the small, blue collar, devoted hockey town, on the world's end of New York, looked down on by the Big Bad Canadians from the CN Tower, that seems to have a chance because they have a goalie, which leads me to the point: we got him, too.

I'm a goalie. I actually played a very intense game (that we won, against the 1st place team/highest scoring team in our league, ahem....) immediately before watching USA-Canada partially DVR'd. I've seen a lot of goalies put on shows that would make me shiver to partake in, but what I saw from Ryan Miller in the 1st and 3rd periods was beyond. I actually turned to my wife at one point, and said, "that's Sidney Crosby!", emphasizing, in my own head, that when I face a point-blank rocket from my opponent's star, in a tight one, I feel like my head is exploding, but this guy was doing it repeatedly, against the Chosen One and the ferocious Red Leafs, in the olympics. And make no mistake, the US played very well, at times, particularly the old guard of Rafalski/Langenbrunner, but Canada ran that game. They outshot us 45-22, and Miller's 19 stops in the 1st were, per Mike Eruzione, more than Jim Craig saw from the Soviets in any period.

Our attack looked plenty good, what lacked was consistent defense. I couldn't disagree with what Eddie Olczyk said in postgame more, that our young defenders were great, that he only counted one odd-man rush all night? Really? Cuz I sure saw a few...

If Miller doesn't have his AAAA+++, does this defense hold Ovie, Kovy and Co.? Does is hold the Sedins, especially when Lundqvist can match Miller on the other end? We shall see...

As for Canada, I have to say, half with a sigh and half with a smirk, that Marty looked cooked, case in point USA goal #2. He unmade his own save, dropping into an awkward pad-stack that opened up a hole that hadn't been there in between stick and pad. But more than anything, his willingness to come out and play the puck has not aged, while his quickness and recovery have. We've seen this in a much worse way with Marty Turco, but at this level we saw some with Mr. Brodeur. If Yzerman, Babcock and Co. want to keep their heads, Luongo starts every game from here on out, including what will presumably be an awesome quarterfinal against Russia. Canada must beat Germany to get there. They're not done, by any means, but A) They're shook, and B)one of Russia or Canada will not medal, which no one would have called.

As for us? Burke and Wilson were geniuses with the silent underdog routine, and they're keeping it going. Can't wait to see what's next.