What An Olympic Finish

What a wild finish to the Olympics. The host nation winning the final event in overtime. And that event happens to be the national pastime of the host nation. And it comes down to one of the best scorers in the world shooting at one of the best goalies in the world: Sidney Crosby gunning it past Ryan Miller. And on and on the story lines could go in this one. One minor beef: I don't like the four on four format in overtime of a game this large. I get it for regular season games, and even games in the Olympic tournament. But the Gold Medal game? I don't like changing the most basic rules of the game. You go five on five until you drop. That's how you decide the Gold.

There were some local ties in the big game. Head coach Mike Babcock of Canada used to be the head coach of the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks. Of course that was before his three trips to the Stanley Cup Finals and his Stanley Cup title with Detroit in 2008. I played with Babcock in a golf outing once, not long before he was bumped up to Anaheim. He's a man's man, very competitive, and got just as mad as I did when he hit a bad shot. I really liked that about him.

Other local ties, with a hat tip to my friend Greg Waddell from the Cincinnati Gardens: Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry began their professional careers playing at the Cincinnati Gardens for the AHL Mighty Ducks. Of course Perry had a goal against the USA in the Gold Medal game. Team Canada defensemen Dan Boyle played at Miami University 1994-1998 and was a two-time All-American. Plus Rick Nash currently plays for the Columbus Blue Jackets of the NHL.