Have Team USA saved womens hockey?
The Team USA Women’s Olympic team missed their chance to compete with Canada for the Gold medal in a shoot out with Sweden. The upset is a big disappointment to me, but in the end this could be a fantastic win for Women’s hockey on the international stage.
The leading up to, and through the series has been declaring the US-Canadian gold-medal event as a fact, despite the improved strength of the Swedish and Finnish teams. CBC even ran a story that raised the question of eliminating Women’s hockey from the Olympic’s because of the dominance of the two teams. Now it’s entirely possible, although unlikely, that a new team will own the sports highest honors.
Win or lose Team Sweden should be able to engender new levels of support for their team, and come into the 2010 Olympics as something more than the underdog story, perhaps even a favorite right in Canada’s own backyard.
…except for the fact that Team USA will of course school them both. 