The U.S. had its chances to take control of the game, but couldn’t take advantage of its abundance of power play opportunities, including multiple five-on-threes. The Americans were asked one by one after the game why they weren’t more aggressive on the power play. U.S. Coach Ben Smith ’68 turned all the criticism away by saying he thought the team wasn’t patient enough on the man advantage.
“I thought that we were so excited and we came unglued on our power play,” Smith said. “I thought we were hurrying. We almost got tired out doing it.”
The U.S. put the pressure on down the stretch but couldn’t pull off the win. Julie Chu ’06, an incoming Harvard freshman next year, was one of the few U.S. players who wasn’t tentative.
““When you’re down by a goal with the gold on the line, there’s going to be a sense of urgency,” Chu said.
Canada won the game largely due to the timeliness of its scoring. Canadian forward Cherie Piper, the last player added to the team and a Dartmouth recruit, made the play that set up the first Canadian goal in the game’s first two minutes. Jayna Hefford scored Canada’s third goal on a breakaway with just a second left in the second period.
“The first and last minute of each period are the most important and she scores in the last second,” Shewchuk told the New York Post. “It put a knife in the heart of the Americans.”
Rumors abounded after the game on several fronts. One was that the U.S. team was far more affected by the flu then it publicly revealed itself to be. Another was that the U.S. team trampled on a Canadian flag before the game. The latter, in particular, has been harshly denied by the U.S.
The U.S. must now wait four years to regain the Olympic gold in Turin, Italy.
“That’s one of the bad things about [losing in the Olympics],” Ruggiero said. “It’s such a long wait until you get another chance.”
Canada knows that feeling well. Shewchuk, for one, was the final cut from the Canadian team four years ago. She then had to endure watching her team lose in Nagano.
“We know the feeling of a silver medal,” Shewchuk said. “It’s the most awful feeling in the world. That’s a feeling that stuck with a lot of us for four years.”
Shewchuk turned the disappointment into motivation. Four years later, the gold medal was hers to cherish.