Russia is taking home the gold medal in men’s hockey after beating Germany Saturday night, and that’s a good thing in the grand scheme of the Olympics.
THE OLYMPIC ATHLETES FROM RUSSIA TAKE HOME THE #GOLD! pic.twitter.com/Y8X0Dm76Wc
— NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) February 25, 2018
UPDATE: The Olympic Athletes of Russia win a thriller in overtime 4-3 and take gold over Germany in Men’s Hockey! #PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/3yPvXtvRQu
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) February 25, 2018
Last time Russia won hockey gold medals in 1992. Unbelievable! pic.twitter.com/oODsxS74SI
— Russian Market (@russian_market) February 25, 2018
This might be an unpopular opinion to hold, but I’m actually very happy that Russia won the gold medal. Obviously I was cheering for the USA to take home the gold, but we failed miserably. We got embarrassed on the international state.
Olympic hockey is simply better when Russia is really good. It raises the stakes, forces everybody else to be better and it adds an extra element for the American fans. Plus, hockey means everything to the Russians. Pavel Datsyuk said after the game, “It feels good to have accomplished my dream. Now I have no dream.” That’s the type of attitude I want in my opponents. Datsyuk’s only goal in life was to win a gold medal, and he did it. That’s simply incredible.
I want tensions between the USA and Russia to always be as high as possible when we take the ice. That can’t happen if Russia’s not great, which they clearly are now. I want to beat the best, and nothing is sweeter than beating a great Russian team. Now, America clearly has tons of work to do before we get back to the top, but at least we now know Russia is back at the top of the world state. It should setup an exciting and fun narrative for the 2022 games.