This was in Russo's twitter today. The missing gold medal has arrived from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Wisconsin's and Rangers draft pick Derek Stepan just texted me: "I got my medal!"
I had a feeling this is what happened. Being around airports it’s not uncommon for luggage to get lost in the shuffle moving it from one plane to the other. A lot of times a plane will land and there isn’t much time to get the luggage off of the one flight and onto the connecting flight, especially if the plane landed in Minneapolis.
I would be willing to bet that in Stepan’s case this is probably what happened. Yet there were some that wanted to blame the TSA for his lost luggage, as if they don’t have enough problems of their own.
Finally, I would be willing to bet that no one from the TSA actually touched Stepan’s bags, they were inspected by Canadian security. This was all on the airlines. I would be willing to bet that Saskatoon was very busy getting everyone out after the WJC.
It doesn't get old watching that video, for me it’s something special, especially as an American hockey fan. It had been too long since the last USA title in the World Junior Hockey Championship. There is no doubt about it, team USA’s win in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada was big,no matter how you spin it Team USA was the underdog.
I also don’t know if the has USA caught up to Canada in hockey, this argment might be a bit premature. Hockey is Canada’s game and they have enough talent to field two or three WJC teams. I do think team USA has closed the gap between the two countries, there is still a ways to go.
This also makes one wonder what USA hockey could be like in the future. The Canadians are still the king of international hockey but USA has had some big win in hockey as of late, Fargo U-18, Saskatoon U-20…
On the heels of Canada's loss to the U.S. at the world juniors and Al Maki's story today on the development of hockey in both countries, I wanted to chime in on the topic a little.
My own theory as to why there’s a shift is that there are simply a lot more Americans playing hockey these days than a decade or two ago. USA Hockey is just a far bigger organization than it used to be.
All of those American juniors in the tournament were born around 1991 and would have entered the system five or six years later, right as participation in hockey in the U.S. was beginning to catch up with Canada (in terms of overall numbers).
I'm just using the data provided by Hockey Canada and USA Hockey on their websites, but it does make sense that with so many American youngsters now playing in places like California (and going on to the WHL for junior hockey) that the number of total players in the U.S. is up significantly.
It's a trend that's been evident in the NHL for a while, too. Ten years ago, Canadian players made up roughly 60 per cent of the NHL, a number that was down to around 52 per cent last season. American born players, however, are up from about 16 per cent of the NHL to close to 20.
[Globe and Mail]
Team USA’s win in Saskatoon doesn't require a lot of pontification, one of the first words that comes to mind is F’N awesome. It’s about time and not since 2004 has team USA been able to lay claim to the crown.
Enjoy the game winning goal scored by John Carlson. I swear my heart was in my throat during the overtime until the game winning goal, then I had tears of joy in my eyes. Yes, I did the dance again.
This win means so much for American hockey; it’s one of them defining moments in history like the 1980 Olympic team win in Lake Placid. The Canadians were the over whelming favorites to win the gold medal game and what makes this win more significant is team USA beat the Canadians on their turf. What makes it even more specials is after listening to their fans boo our players for almost two weeks our guys get to walk out of Canada carrying the gold.
Fighting Sioux forward Danny Kristo leads team USA [in a song]
This video brings back some really good memories. There were 3 Fighting Sioux hockey players on that USA WJC roster; Brady Murray, Drew Stafford and Zach Parise.
It's been a long six years since USA has won the WJC. The Canadians are on a roll, it’s time for the Americans to stop them dead in their tracks. I hope that team USA can finally break the Canadian stranglehold on the WJC. I want to hear the American anthem at the end of the game.
