United States 3, Canada 1
Nagano
For the longest time, the Canadian women stood on the ice in stony silence. Like statues.
Then, after the silver medals went around their necks, they looked over at the first Olympic gold medal ever awarded to a female hockey player being presented to American captain Cammi Granato -- and the emotions spilled over like water from a bursting dam.
Try to imagine how it feels to pour your soul into a cause for four, eight or 10 years and then see your dream on someone else's face.
The face of the only enemy your cause has ever known.
"At first, you feel disbelief," said Canadian captain Stacy Wilson. "You have a dream for so many years and all of a sudden it's over. Then, the thoughts go through your head of your family and friends and all of Canada -- and thoughts lead to feelings. You see the medal and it's silver -- feelings kick in pretty quick.
"Yes!" cried Granato, receiving the medal and looking skyward, covering her face to try to contain herself. She had imagined this moment her entire, storied career. Now that it was happening, her mind was racing. Almost one by one down the line, U.S. hockey players who had lost four times to Canada in four world championships wept as they received their gold medals.
It was sinking in now, on both sides. Emotions rushed to the surface. Tears of joy. Tears of pain. So distraught were Karen Nystrom and France St. Louis, they looked physically ill. They skated off, Canada's team, and if they'd had to travel much farther, baskets would have been required to cart them.
Canadian coach Shannon Miller rushed through the tunnel to the Canadian dressing room, escorted by assistant coach Ray Bennett. In her signature black suit, with tears running down her cheeks, Miller looked like a grieving widow.
Tough ex-cops have feelings, too.
Even in her distress, Miller was thinking about the big picture.
"When I saw Cammi's face, my feelings changed," said Miller. "Joy ran through my body as I thought about a gold medal being hung around the neck of a female hockey player. I couldn't believe the impact that had on me."
Whether Miller will be around to see any further medals being hung on the necks of Canadian and U.S. players remains to be seen. Her mandate as the first full-time Canadian women's hockey coach was to deliver the Olympic gold medal. She promised, in her own words, to deliver the gold medal.
Not only did Canada lose 3-1 in the most important game it has ever played -- it deserved to lose.
A Canadian women's team that owned this sport for the first eight years of international competition was outshot and outhustled. It played in disarray.
The outcome might have been different if Hayley Wickenheiser, playing with a bad knee and suspected broken right elbow, could have converted a couple of her chances. Wickenheiser played with heart. She was also on the ice for ridiculously long shifts in the third period.
Miller has to answer to the fact that her team's best player in this tournament, Danielle Goyette, was sitting on the bench in the final minute.
Mostly, though, she has to answer for the fact her team played scared, especially in the early going. Were it not for goaltender Manon Rhéaume, this game could have been over in the first period, not in the third, when Sandra Whyte scored into the empty net. (Whyte? The Goyette baiter? Is there no justice in hockey?).
The first evidence that the wheels were coming off this team appeared during the Three Nations Cup just before Christmas. In the final game, Canada didn't show up in a 3-0 loss. It was the first time Canada had ever lost a significant game to another nation, and it was an omen.
After that loss, Miller blew a gasket. Check that. Two gaskets. It didn't add up to much two months later. As likeable and quotable as Miller is, as much as Nystrom calls her "the best coach I've ever played for or ever will play for," the simple truth is that the Canadian team never played three solid periods of hockey in any game during these Olympics.
Veteran Swedish forward Asa Elfving said the Canadians didn't move the puck as they used to, that they seemed to play more as individuals.
She predicted this U.S. victory.
No doubt, it's another sign of progress in women's hockey. People care about and critique the game's coaches.
From the other side, the room of the giant killers, there was sympathy for Canada's situation.
"Though I don't know any of them personally, I feel for them," U.S. forward A.J. Mleczko said. "They've always won the worlds, and that's a big deal, but it's nothing like the Olympics."
If only this sport had been sanctioned in 1994. There was still a gap then. The teams didn't, in U.S. coach Ben Smith's words, "look at each other like looking in a mirror."
Canada had everything to lose in this matchup at this time. The U.S.A. was like a runner, a cyclist or a speed-skater coming up from behind, knowing exactly what kind of effort was needed to overtake the leader.
"They were extremely hungry," Canadian defender Judy Diduck said. "We've been on top so long, we won all the major tournaments. They were determined to knock us off."
They did. Ah, but it's only a game, right? Canada's game.
