Short-handed goal lifts U.S. over Russia
There are few places in the free world more bleak and depressing in wintertime than Grand Forks, ND. I should know…I grew up two hours west of Grand Forks. Forbidding, cold, and duller than a Strong Medicine marathon, it is not exactly where one would plan a winter vacation…unless one were an NHL scout looking for talent. If one were to fit that description, Grand Forks this winter is your Nirvana, for the World Junior Hockey Championships have come to town. It’s enough to make the locals give up some serious ice fishing time.
The best part at the moment is that the tournament is being televised, which, in the absence of the NHL, is like a free trip to a Afghan poppy field for a heroin addict. Hockey? On television?? Oh…come to daddy…. Yes, I know what I’ll be doing tonights, and I’ve already called “dibs” on the big-screen TV.
In 1981, the year after the “Miracle on Ice”, the World Juniors came to Minneapolis-St. Paul at the old Met Center (where the Mall of America is now located). I went to the US-USSR game, where those patriotic (and hopelessly unrealistic) sorts hoping for a replay of the previous year’s miracle were dealt a cold blast of reality. The USSR won something like 7-1, skating circles around the Americans and making it look WAY too easy.
The good news is that I get to watch hockey again. After all the down time, I’m not certain that I’m going to be able to handle the sudden rush, but I’m willing to give it a shot. OK, so tonight will be US-Switzerland…not exactly Detroit-Colorado, but in this day and age, one must take what one can get, no? God, that sounds so desperate, but here it is mid-December and I have yet to see a hockey game on television. I feel like that heroin addict looking for his next fix….
Game on, eh??
