The past week has been crazy in the sports world. The Sochi Olympics ended Sunday with a gold medal for the Canadian hockey team, while the U.S. hockey team finished a disappointing fourth. Jason Collins became the first openly gay active NBA player when he took the court for the Brooklyn Nets during their 108-102 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Hollywood on the same day. Meanwhile, the machine that is the NFL roared along with the annual Scouting Combine, which ended Monday. Let’s take a closer look at the three stories that dominated sports headlines in the past week.
U.S. and Canada Mirror Opposites:
Friday afternoon, a longtime and heated rivalry was resumed: the U.S. vs Canada Olympic men’s hockey with a gold medal game birth on the line. This was being hailed as the greatest matchup of the entire tournament.
Tensions boiled underneath the surface as the Americans wanted to avenge their gold medal game loss to the Canadians in the 2010 Vancouver Games, while Canada wanted to show that they were once again worthy of a gold medal in the game they created. However, a victory for the Americans was not in the cards.
Canada won the game 1-0, but that doesn’t reflect how the game was played. It was only that close because American goalie Jonathan Quick kept it that way. However, the rest of the team did not hold up its end. The offense could not score on Canadian goalie Carey Price despite numerous opportunities, and the defense frequently gave on ground on the larger rink.
It also appeared like the U.S. simply didn’t want the medal as much as Canada. That lack of conviction and air of disappointment after the loss to our neighbors up north led to an absolute beatdown at the hands of Finland, who won the bronze medal game 5-0.
Finnish goalie Tukka Rask, who has dominated the NHL the past few years with the Boston Bruins, shut out the American offense while veteran winger Teemu Selanne contributed two goals in his final Olympic game.
Sunday, Canada went on the capture yet another gold medal in their 3- 0 victory over Sweden. Price had 24 saves while captain Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews and Chris Kunitz all scored for the Canadians. The team simply wanted the gold medal more, and it showed. They grinded out almost all of their wins using a timely offense, great goaltending and physical defense. Come 2018, the U.S. has to be up to speed with our neighbors in order to compete for the gold. Our hockey future depends on it.
Jason Collins Returns:
Sunday was a busy day sports wise. This continued with the debut of Jason Collins, who returned to the NBA with the Brooklyn Nets when they took on the Los Angeles Lakers.
Collins, who became the first active openly gay player in NBA history when he came out last year, received a standing ovation from the crowd when he entered midway through the second quarter.
Now Collins just wants to focus on basketball and get more than just a 10-day deal from the Nets. The veteran center had a steal, two rebounds and five fouls in 10 minutes of play. Even though he was scoreless, Collins didn’t really mind.
“I don’t care about scoring,” Collins said to Sports Illustrated. “I care about helping my teammates get open and making their job[s] easier.”
As long as he plays his game, Collins should be able to slowly cancel out the noise that comes along with becoming the first openly gay player and just contribute to a playoff team.
NFL Scouting Combine Storylines:
The three-way competition between quarterbacks Johnny Manziel, Teddy Bridgewater and Blake Bortles hasn’t really changed.The draft’s top signal callers still have their pros and cons, but they haven’t distanced themselves from each other in their bids to go first overall to the Texans in two months.
Bridgewater didn’t participate in any of the Combine’s physical drills, while Manziel didn’t throw. Bortles was the only one who did all the drills the Combine had to offer, including passing. The UCF product impressed in that aspect, throwing the ball with both accuracy and strength.
Meanwhile, Jadeveon Clowney’s Combine has been an eventful one. After a disappointing bench press showing in which he lifted 225 pounds only 21 times, Clowney had a great 40-yard dash time, posting unofficial times of 4.46 and 4.47 seconds. That might not have gotten him the top overall pick, but it likely cemented his status as a top five pick.
That’s it for this week from behind the sports desk. Within the next few weeks, we have March Madness, baseball season resuming, the NHL returning and sports at UT still going strong. Stay tuned.
Jordan Llanes can be reached at jordan.llanes@theminaretonline.com.