Team Canada entered the tournament as a Gold Medal favorite. With a bunch of talent and experience on their roster, most people expected them to glide through the round-robin tournament undefeated. Yes, I am one of those people, I actually predicted them to win the Gold Medal.

Canada’s epic loss to Team USA on Sunday night is forcing an entire nation to question their Gold Medal chances. In what some are calling the second “Miracle on Ice”, the United States was able to quiet a rowdy nation by defeating them in the game they invented. This year was supposed to be a redemption year from 2006, and this game was supposed to be a redemption game from the game they played against the Swiss.

In 2006, Canada finished in an embarrassing seventh place despite having some of the best players from the NHL. A lack of chemistry was a major factor in that performance, and coaching was another issue they had to deal with. Both issues were supposed to be fixed, and this was supposed to give Canada a much easier time in the tournament.

Canada has more experience than the Americans, more talent, and more depth. Their goaltending isn’t bad and their chemistry is good too (especially at the end of the game when they were attacking the Americans with absolutely everything they had). Statistically, there is no way that they should have lost this game.

The Americans beat the Canadians by playing a great game themselves. However, that doesn’t tell the whole story. A great game from Canada would defeat a great game from the United States. If Canada had played its best, like the Americans, then the outcome would have been different.

Sunday night, the best players in the world were not playing like the best players in the world. The first goal that the Canadians scored was off of an accidental deflection by Sidney Crosby only 40 seconds into the game. The second goal was off of a mental error by Martin Brodeur where he attempted to clear the puck, but instead gave the puck right to Brian Rafalski. Rafalski was able to capitalize on this rare but serious mistake from one of the best goalies of all time.

Goaltending is where the Americans had a huge advantage on Sunday. Ryan Miller may have played the biggest game of his career, and he showed why I consider him to be the best goalie in the NHL. He was peppered by the Canadians, facing 45 shots and only allowing three goals. This is compared to Brodeur who faced half as many shots, but allowed more goals.

Unfortunately for Canada, a bunch of shots were all they were able to create. Normally, the amount of pressure that they were putting on Team USA would have been enough to generate more goals. Although they had some great scoring chances, Miller was able to come up with huge saves for Team USA. Couple that great performance by Miller with the fact that Canada hung themselves on a couple of crucial goals, and you get the second “Miracle on Ice”.

Recently, Mike Babcock announced that he was going to sit Martin Brodeur for the next game against Germany. Instead, Roberto Luongo will take the crease for Canada. Luongo played in the shutout win over Norway at the beginning of the tournament and is a great goalie to replace Brodeur with.

One thing that we have to remember is that this doesn’t eliminate the Canadians from the tournament. They are still a threat to win the Gold Medal, and they can still be considered one of the favorites. This loss did come in a qualifying game, and in the grand scheme of the tournament, won’t be a big decider in who wins a medal. However, if Canada plays another game with the mistakes that they made against the United States, they will be a long shot for a medal, even with their great roster.

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