Jason Brand Reporting
No, this game did not earn the United States a gold medal. No, this did not knock Canada out from the next round, but this win felt just as if it did. Coming into tonight’s game as the underdog, the United States wanted to prove that they were not too young to compete with the ‘big boys.’ A quick goal less than a minute into the game by Brian Rafalski had the Americans believing. Rafalski had two goals for the Americans tonight, his second two goal game of the Olympics (he has only had four two goal games in his 750 career NHL games). A lot of people were saying that if the U.S. was able to withstand the initial flurry of Canadian talent they would have a chance to win. They did that better than anyone expected.

What many people didn’t expect was the sensational goal-tending by Ryan Miller. Miller stopped 42 of the 45 shots thrown at him tonight, saving them anyway he could. While Canada was clearly the stronger team in the 2nd period Miller helped weather the storm. A goal by Dany Heatley tied it up in the second, the last goal Miller would allow. After Chris Drury put the puck past a scrambling Martin Brodeur, Team USA never looked back.

Ryan Kessler finished the game the way Team USA played all night, with a hustle play coming in behind Corey Perry, reaching around and hitting the puck into the open net for the 5-3 win. Team USA did not win because they had more talent. They won because they played as a complete team that hustled to loose pucks, finished checks, fore-checked well and because they had a player by the name of Ryan Miller on their side. If they continue to play like this the rest of the tournament, Canada may not be donning the gold medals on their homeland yet again.