An emotional afternoon

For the second day in a row, a stinging defeat. 

The gold medal for women's hockey was awarded today in Beijing and as has been the case each time said medal has been distributed but once (Torino), the gold medal game featured the United States against Canada. The United States won the original gold medal in Nagano in 1998 and won the most recent in 2018 in PyeongChang, but in between, Canada had taken every one of the gold medals.

When the puck dropped on today's game at Wukesong Sports Center, I was sitting above the US goalie in the press tribune hoping for an upset. The Canadians had beaten the Americans in the only previous matchup between the two teams in these Beijing Olympics and I was hoping for a repeat of PyeongChang, with New Hampton School graduate Cayla Barnes and her teammates coming out with the win.

As most everyone knows by now, that did not happen. The Canadians got out to a 3-0 lead and then withstood an American rally that saw them score two goals in the final period but they couldn't get the tying goal and Canada took the 3-2 win to reclaim the gold medal.

When the Americans won the gold medal in PyeongChang, I was standing in the mixed zone at the alpine venue waiting for an interview (with either Mikaela Shiffrin or Lindsey Vonn I am sure). I was following the game on my phone with just about everyone else in that US media corral when the US won in a shootout to clinch the gold. It was an exciting moment, even for us miles away in a remote alpine ski area.

So this time, being much closer to it, it was also set to be an exciting moment. But, it wasn't quite the excitement that we as Americans were looking for. Instead of the tears of happiness as gold medals were draped around their necks, it was tears of wondering what could've been had one bounce gone the other way. 

You had to feel for them as the cameras focused on the Canadians celebrating at the other end of the ice. The processes that all the athletes have had to go through just to get to these Olympics, be it due to COVID or any other factor, is immense and when it all comes to a sudden end like it did today for the Americans, there's just a release of pressure, a release of emotions and it results in emotions coming to the surface.

To their credit, the women came out to the mixed zone after the game and spoke to the press, most of them still fighting back emotions. They didn't make excuses and didn't back down from the questions. 

The team was full of women who are class acts. It was a great run and while they didn't win the gold, they are still winners in a lot of books. And here's betting these women, like the team has done many times through the years, have inspired more and more young women to get out on the ice and play hockey.

The victory ceremony for women's hockey featured Canada taking the gold, US taking the silver and Finland winning the bronze.