Bruins guarenteed a gold medal winner in Sochi.

As an American, I am honestly a little disappointed that Team USA will end up competing for the bronze medal in men’s’ hockey in Sochi. I’m also a little disheartened that the women’s team had to settle for silver. That both losses came at the expense of Team Canada is a little hard to take but not surprising. Canada played a better game and were dominant in every aspect of the game for the men. (As for the women, it was a bad call and a barely missed goal that made the difference there.) The 1-0 loss didn’t reflect how reserved the Americans played, and now the men will just hope to medal now. (But hey, they did better than the Russian team.)

So, now it’s Canada vs Sweden for the Gold. Either way, this is a big win for the Boston Bruins. Four years ago, Patrice Bergeron brought back a gold medal for Team Canada and didn’t mind showing it off when in Boston. He will have a chance to do it again on Sunday. (Frankly, I like the Vancouver medal better than the Sochi medal, but that’s a rant for another day.) Even if Bergy and Team Canada don’t win gold (although they are the favorite), the gold medal will go to Loui Eriksson and the Swedes.

Loui Eriksson has had the toughest season of his professional career to date. In his seven seasons for the Dallas Stars the longest period he was out for was three games (for a concussion). He’s missed twenty games so far due to concussions, and hasn’t had a strong of a season as he hoped. A gold medal here would be a solid reward for all the serious effort he has put into his rehabilitation and the extra game time would certainly find him ready for some serious competition once the season starts again.

So, someone is really going to be wearing Black and GOLD on Sunday. If Finland and Tuukka Rask pull off the win against the USA tomorrow, then the Bruins will have a sweep of the medals. Not many NHL teams will be able to make that claim.