There are a lot of heroes in Team America’s gold medal win today. Team USA defeated Team Sweden in a 3-1 decision to become champions today. I only got to watch the first period live before I had to run out of the house to go to the ‘real job’. A few co-workers tried to tell me what happened, but I informed them of horrific punishments if they revealed the result. Problem is with waiting twelve hours is that someone will share the results with you. Oh well.
Let’s discuss some of the heroes that made USA once again champions and a team(that was predicted to finish seventh)worthy of the world’s respect.
1.) John Gibson – Gibson made 26 of 27 saves in his victory over Sweden. This game brought his tournament save average to .955. (A new record for an American goalie at the World Juniors.) Gibson’s average breaks the previous record held by Al Montoya. (.944, set in 2004) With a GAA of 1.36, Gibson was named the best goalie and MVP of the tournament. “He’s the definition of the backbone of this team.” said teammate Seth Jones. “He led us all the way. …Even in the 2-1 losses to Canada and Russia, he played his heart out.”
2.) John Gaudreau- Gaudreau was the team’s leading scorer. The 2011 Draft Pick of the Calgary Flame scored seven points and nine points overall. The American winger scored twice and added an assist in a 5-1 rout over Canada in the semi-finals. Gaudreau was picked 104th overall. and the Flames saw something that a lot of other teams missed. He was second in overall scoring(behind Canada’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins) and was named to the WJC All Star team.
3.) Jacob Trouba- Trouba was also elected to the WJC All Star team. He was tied with Gaudreau for the most points scored. His four goals, including scoring the only goal against Canada in the preliminary loss to Canada, he was one of the leading defensemen in the tournament, and showed the world the meaning of two-way hockey.
The United States fought hard and overcame two early losses to Canada and Russia to get their way into medal contention. The US had to face Canada again, and they redeemed themselves with a 5-1 victory. For all us hockey addicts who needed our fix, the World Juniors were a fair dose of methadone. Team USA brought back the Gold to our country, and showed the world that US hockey was worthy of respect. I doubt that any of the members of Team USA will read this, but thank you from all of us for making the biggest hockey upset since the ‘Miracle on Ice’ happen.