NHLers aside, hockey proved itself a world sport

Posted: Mon February 23, 1998 at 1:43 AM ET

Many expected the U.S. and Canada to knock heads for the gold, but the only thing both teams accomplished were wins over Belarus   AP

NAGANO, Japan (CNN/SI) --It's not Canada's game any more.

It doesn't belong exclusively to the U.S. -- home of 20 of the National Hockey League's 26 teams -- either.

If there's anything that the XVIII Winter Olympics proved, it is that when it comes to hockey, it's a world game and the world plays it well.

The Czech Republic and the incomparable Dominik Hasek won the gold medal, Russia the silver and Finland the bronze. If that doesn't make a statement about the quality of hockey throughout the world, nothing ever will. Canada, which for decades has embraced the game in much the same way a mother embraces her child, finished fourth. Sweden, perhaps the most skilled team in the tournament, easily could have medaled. The U.S. sent a good team that never got on track.

Most every American and Canadian will argue that this was a tournament of upsets, but a closer look fails to support that argument. In tournament play, a hot goaltender is important and no team had a better, more focused and determined netminder than the Czechs in Dominik Hasek. Hasek never let in more than two goals in any game. In winning the gold, he shut out the Russians, the only team that beat him in preliminary-round play.

Is that something new? Hasek is the reigning NHL MVP and a three-time Vezina Trophy winner. He set the modern-day NHL record for shutouts in a regular NHL season with six last December. He is considered the best breakaway goalie in the NHL now and perhaps of all time (an essential skill in blanking five Canadian shooters in the pivotal semifinal game decided by a shootout). The perception is that "The Dominator" was a one-man team. Not true. The Czechs also had Jaromir Jagr, annually one of the NHL's scoring leaders. They had Robert Reichel, an NHL regular and Peter Svoboda, a top-four defenseman with the Philadelphia Flyers. Reichel scored the deciding goal for the Czechs in the shootout with Canada. Svoboda scored the gold medal goal. All were born, trained and played in the former Czechoslovakia. The Czechs had a very good team.

So did Finland. The fascinating thing about the Finns squeezing past Canada for the bronze was not that they did it, but that they did it without Teemu Selanne. The prolific scorer for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim missed the game with a groin injury, and still the Canadians couldn't win. A bronze might not have been the medal of choice when the Canadians came to this tournament, but it's infinitely better than the lead weight that hangs on their collective necks now that they've gone home with nothing. Canada may never recover from that.

The Canadians were the pre-tournament favorite not just because they had a deep and talented team. The thinking throughout North America was that Canada would win because it had to. Hockey is the country's national passion. Nothing, not even politics or civil well-being, grips the Canadian consciousness like hockey. Yet, try as they might, the Canadians came away with nothing.

Nothing despite a lineup that includes Patrick Roy in goal, Ray Bourque, Al MacInnis and the rising Chris Pronger on defense. Nothing with a group of forwards -- Wayne Gretzky, Eric Lindros (a captain who just doesn't lead) Brendan Shanahan, Theon Fleury, Joe Nieuwendyk, Steve Yzerman-- that are known throughout the world.

Philadelphia general manager Bobby Clarke, the architect of Team Canada, said after the loss to Finland that Canada had a good team and needed only to learn how to play the international tournament format (large ice, games almost every night). It was as if Clarke couldn't bring himself to believe that in losing to the Czechs and the Finns (and just squeaking past the Swedes) that they were somehow good teams. Not better teams, but good enough to win in a pressure-packed situation.

The truth is they were very good teams -- teams that checked the Canadians into the ice and never let typical NHL bullying tactics throw them off their game. If any single observation can be made from watching this tournament it is that Canada and the U.S. are the teams that have to improve their skill level. The storied Canadian history of rising to any occasion or the can-do American attitude simply won't get the job done anymore.

Canada hasn't won a gold medal in the Olympics since 1952 (the U.S. has managed two upset victories in that span). During that time there were some Olympics when Canada refused to send a team, arguing that if it couldn't use its best players -- NHL players -- it wasn't fair to compete. What's their excuse now?

The U.S. can't say much, either. The specter of the dorm-trashing incident aside, an American team that claimed a World Cup title in the summer of 1996 won all of one game here. Somehow the thought that we will forever have Belarus (the only team the Americans could beat) won't sit well with a hockey-watching public that expects just a little bit more now that the bar has been raised in the NHL and in World Cup play.

The Czech Republic deserved to win its game with Canada. The game wouldn't have even gone to a shootout had Canada's game-tying goal with 63 seconds left not deflected off Czech defenseman Richard Smehlik's stick. In the preliminary round, the Czechs lost to Russia by a goal. They came back to win the final by a goal.

Russia was a worthy second. And if you go to the videotape, it's easy to say that the Finns didn't upset the Canadians, they narrowly outplayed them.

If the tournament proved anything it was that there wasn't any one great hockey power in the world. No great Russian bear, plucky American upstarts or noble Canadian warriors. There were just a half-dozen good teams from all over the world.

And the best one won.