Hockey, hockey, hockey

I worked my first HSBC Arena standby shift yesterday, spending sixteen hours covering the "Super Sunday" hockey games. Super Sunday, I learned, is the culmination of the playoffs for all of the high school and club hockey teams in the area. Eight championship games, one after the next, make for an exciting day. It was especially fun to watch some of the games from the Zamboni entrance, which was closer to the action than I'd ever been before.

Speaking of hockey, Team USA's overtime loss to Canada in the gold-medal game was a heartbreaking end to a remarkable run. Still, the American players and coaches exceeded all expectations and have a great deal of which to be proud. Goalie (and Buffalo Sabre) Ryan Miller's selection as tournament MVP speaks volumes to the high level of play Team USA displayed game in and game out.

Whether it's high school hockey or the single-elimination Olympic playoffs, defeat is heartbreaking. But Team Russia head coach Vyacheslav Bykov seems to want to break more than that. He said of his players, who lost 7-3 to Canada in the Olympic quarterfinals, "Let's put up a bunch of guillotines and gallows. We have 35 people on the hockey team. Let’s go to Red Square and dispatch with them all.”