TCL Sports Desk: Canada Loses To USA (2-1) In Overtime Heartbreak

Canada lost 2-1 in overtime to the United States this morning at the Milano Santagiulia Arena. Jack Hughes — off a Zach Werenski pass after Werenski stripped Nathan MacKinnon in the right faceoff circle — ripped a wrist shot past Jordan Binnington 1:41 into 3-on-3 overtime. And just like that, forty-six years of American drought ended on a puck that bounced the wrong way in the most Canadian of miseries.

We outshot them 41 to 26. Forty-one shots. We owned that ice for two periods. Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and 19-year-old Macklin Celebrini were relentless, forming a line that looked like it was built in a lab. They terrorized the American defence all game. And still, we came home with silver.

You want to know why? One reason. One man. One goaltender from Winnipeg who decided today was not going to be Canada's day.

Connor Hellebuyck.

Say it slow, because that man deserves his flowers even if they're painful to hand out. Forty-one saves. He stopped a McDavid breakaway in the second period that — in any other universe, any other night — goes bar down. He made a desperation stick save on Devon Toews that defied the laws of goaltending physics. He stood on his head, pulled miracles out of thin air, and single-handedly kept the Americans in a game they had no business staying in. He was the best player on the ice today. Full stop. That's the truth, and we're Canadian enough to say it.

Cale Makar tied it up at 18:16 of the second — a snap shot from the faceoff circle that found the far corner — and for a moment, the whole country exhaled. This team played without its captain. Without its greatest player of his generation. And they still pushed the Americans to overtime an overtime game for the gold medal.

That's not a team to be ashamed of. That's a team to be proud of.

Matt Boldy had opened the scoring in the first period — a goal that was (honestly) a beautiful piece of individual effort. He chipped the puck to himself through two Canadian defenders and slipped it past Binnington. Painful. But hockey is hockey.

What happened in 3-on-3 overtime, though — that's the part that's going to sting longest. The Canadians gambled, pushing for the win the way Canadians do, and the Americans exploited the three-on-one rush in the blink of an eye. It was over before you could breathe.

Here's what I'll say to every Canadian who had their heart in their throat this morning: hold your head up.

This team — without Sid, without Morrissey, without the greatest captain in the game — went toe-to-toe with a loaded American squad on the biggest stage in hockey and pushed them to overtime. McDavid played his first-ever Olympics. MacKinnon was magnificent. Celebrini, a nineteen-year-old, showed the world that the pipeline of Canadian talent is as full as it's ever been. Jordan Binnington made 26 saves and was, frankly, good — he just happened to run into a guy having the game of his life on the other end.

The scoreboard says USA 2, Canada 1. The shots say 41-26 Canada. The heart says Canada never quit.

Silver doesn't feel like silver today. I know it. You know it. Every Canadian who cried in their Team Canada jersey at a watch party knows it. But in ten years, we're going to look back at this team — at McDavid's first Olympics, at Celebrini's skills, at Makar's clutch shot, at an entire country waking up at sunrise to care this much about a game — Canada’s game.

The Americans get their gold. They waited 46 years for it, but they needed a goaltender to have the game of his life, a stripped puck at the worst moment, and a 3-on-3 format in overtime to do it against a team who had lost their captain.

We'll see you in four years.

True North Strong & Free.