Team USA’s historic victory over Canada in the Gold Medal game at this year’s Winter Olympics is all that matters according to legendary NHL defenseman Chris Chelios who has given his view on the reaction to the result.
Tampa Bay Lightning and Team Canada head coach John Cooper made waves by labeling the three-on-three overtime format as “not real hockey,” which led to Cooper being labelled a sore loser in some quarters, but Chelios offered a more nuanced response.
In an interview with ComeOn Sport, Chelios backed Cooper as one of his favourite people in the sport, and sympathised with his position, having lost in the Gold Medal game himself during his playing career.
However, according to Chelios, Canada failed to make the most of their chances during the match, and seemed happy enough with the format at the Olympic games when they succeeded in winning games in overtime.
“Well, I don’t like it either but the rules are the rules and it’s the same for everybody so he knew what was going on,” said Chelios.
“He didn’t say any when Canada won that other game three-on-three in overtime so Coop, quite honestly, I don’t see Coop say things too often that are controversial. He says it like it is and he’s one of my favorite guys.
“Between him and Nathan MacKinnon, I thought that was just the moment and the disappointment catching up to them. I’ve been there. There’s no worse feeling than losing the gold medal in that gold medal game. It happened to me in Utah. But then you reflect on it and it was great hockey.”
Chelios praised Team USA for doing what was required to win, and singled out Connor Hellebuyck’s heroics in goal, an American player who plays his hockey in Canada.
“There were no goofs, no mistakes other than MacKinnon missing that empty net, and then what Connor Hellebuyck did was sick,” said Chelios. “That save he made on Devon Toews, it was just meant to be. They got all the breaks and they made their own breaks.
“The most important thing for them was to get that lead then they could protect it and that’s all part of it. They won. That’s the bottom line. They deserve to win because they won.”
On Hellebuyck, Chelios added: “Well unfortunately we don’t get to see him play much as he’s up in Winnipeg and that doesn’t do him much justice.
“I don’t think the Winnipeg people are very happy about him winning the gold medal. A couple of guys got the business, like Brady Tkachuk up in Ottawa, so it’s still a real rivalry, Canada and the USA.
“Unfortunately, they’re small market teams, Winnipeg and Ottawa, and we just don’t get a chance to see them play and it’s just too bad they didn’t have a chance to celebrate like you do in a cup. You have all summer. These guys had two, three days and then it was back to business. That’s a tough one.”
The same is of course true for the Canadian team who had to respond to their loss by getting back to business, and for John Cooper that means shifting his focus from international heartbreak to the Lightning and their play-off push in Tampa.
