Canada and the US are opening a fresh chapter in their epic Olympic rivalry today in Milan, Italy, facing off in a heaven-sent gold-medal game that North American fans were praying for in the men’s ice hockey tournament.
The NHL could scarcely have written a better script when they agreed to send their players back to the Games for the first time in 12 years, with the world’s foremost ice hockey powerhouse nations facing off with their all-NHL rosters.
For Canada, the final represents a chance to underline their legacy and bring home a 10th gold to the country that originated the sport and regards it as a national religion.
Photo: AP
For the US, it offers a chance at revenge, 16 years after Canada denied them the top of the podium in overtime heartbreak and 46 years since they last claimed Olympic gold.
“NHL players have not had the ability to play in the Olympics since 2014, that’s 12 years. Some of these kids were in diapers then,” Canada coach Jon Cooper said, referring to the Sochi Games in Russia.
“They’ve never been part of this. There is so much pride. The hockey has been so great and so close. That’s why the Olympics are unique. There is nothing like it in the world,” Cooper said.
Both teams confidently marched through the group stage, providing little intrigue in what at first appeared to be an inevitable trip to the championship game. That narrative got obliterated in the quarter-finals, where each team faced a major overtime test that nearly derailed their respective campaigns, as Canada clawed back from a deficit against the Czech Republic and the US kept their cool after Sweden netted the equalizer with just 91 seconds in regulation.
Their paths diverged at Friday’s semi-final stage, where the US easily cruised by Slovakia 6-2 while Canada had a harder time holding off the defending champions Finland without their injured captain Sidney Crosby.
Cooper said on Friday that it was too soon to say whether Crosby, who left the ice during their quarter-final match with an unspecified injury, would return for the final.
Either way, Canada can expect to rely on the absurd talent of 29-year-old future Hall of Famer Connor McDavid — the points leader through five games with two goals and 11 assists — and the prodigy 10 years his junior, Macklin Celebrini, who poured in five goals. They also have the NHL’s leading goalscorer in Nathan MacKinnon as an added bonus.
“It’s everything. It’s the gold medal at an Olympic Games,” said MacKinnon, a forward for the Colorado Avalanche. “We are very lucky to be here and it’s a great opportunity. We have got to be ready.”
The US, uninterested in handing more golden hardware to their neighbors to the north, would hope to replicate the success of their female counterparts, who on Thursday beat Canada for gold in a thrilling women’s final.
Quinn Hughes, the tournament’s highest-scoring defenseman with a goal and six assists, would hope to make winning a family affair for the US with his brother, Jack, who has contributed three goals and three assists through five games.
“We believe this is the best group in the whole tournament and the best group in the world,” said Jack Hughes, who scored twice in Friday’s 6-2 win over Slovakia.
“We are proud Americans, and we are excited to have a chance at the gold medal,” he added.
Wilyer Abreu watched the ball leave the park and tossed his bat high in the air. His Venezuela teammates streamed out of the dugout in celebration. The comeback was on and the win over the reigning World Baseball Classic (WBC) champion Japan was within reach. Japan, their 11-game WBC winning streak on the line, held a 5-4 lead in the sixth inning of Saturday’s thrilling quarter-final matchup when Abreu put his team ahead with the biggest swing of the game: a three-run shot off Hiromi Itoh that sent the loanDepot Park crowd into a passionate roar and helped seize Venezuela’s 8-5
A BREATHLESS BATTLE: France clinched the championship in a vicious back-and-forth match with England, denying Ireland the title by just a few points France won back-to-back Six Nations titles after beating England 48-46 on a last-second penalty-kick by Thomas Ramos in a thriller for the ages on Saturday. England scored their seventh try in the 77th minute and converted for 46-45. If the score held for a few more minutes, Ireland would have been crowned the champion. But France pressed yet again with 14 men, lost possession, regained it, and earned two simultaneous penalties after the fulltime siren. Captain Antoine Dupont debated with referee Nika Amashukeli where the penalty spots were. Ramos, who did not miss a goal-kick all night, finally lined up his seventh
Home runs are greeted with a celebratory shot of espresso and the donning of an Armani jacket. Victories are marked with bottles of red wine while the soaring voice of opera singer Andrea Bocelli echoes through the locker room. Welcome to baseball, Italian-style. Written off as 80-1 underdogs before the World Baseball Classic started, Italy’s fairytale tournament has carried them all the way to today’s (Taipei time) semi-finals in Miami against Venezuela. On Saturday, Italy — who scored a stunning upset of a star-studded US lineup during the pool phase — kept their unbeaten campaign alive with a nail-biting 8-6
Kimi Antonelli became Formula 1’s second-youngest race winner with a composed drive to victory for Mercedes in an eventful Chinese Grand Prix yesterday. The 19-year-old Italian was the youngest pole position starter and briefly lost the lead to Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari at the start, but retook it soon after and was in control after that. “We did it! We did it!” Antonelli shouted to his team on the radio amid laughs and whoops. It was another 1-2 finish for Mercedes to start the season as Antonelli’s teammate George Russell came through a battle with both Ferraris to finish second. Lewis Hamilton was
RSS