Charlie’s Take: Spirit of U.S. men’s hockey team is what makes us love sports and our country

I recently read the comment section on a tabloid story about star Canadian hockey player Sidney Crosby’s injury.
In a nutshell, some rocket scientist made a reference to Crosby’s mysterious lower body injury being the very reason why NHL players shouldn’t be allowed to play in the Olympics.
Talk about somebody who doesn’t get it.
First of all, if you’re going to decide a true champion in the Olympics, it should 100% be best-on-best.
And second, what the commenter doesn’t understand is NHL players who take part in the Olympic games do not have to be there. They’re all millionaires. They can easily take the 17-day break and say ‘thanks, but no thanks’.
Instead, they want to be there. And nobody epitomizes that spirit like the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team.
I’ve watched dozens of interviews before and after each of their games, from the prelims to the elimination victories against Sweden. Slovakia and Canada. And whether it was the Tkachuk brothers, the Hughes brothers, Dylan Larkin, or Connor Hellebuyck to name a few, they always went out of their way to explain what it means to play for their country. That they love playing with their teammates. That they’d love nothing more than bring a gold medal back to the United States.
You listen to Larkin and Brady Tkachuk, mic’d up during the games, and how important it is for them to inspire and keep their teammates focused.
Or how they mix it up if somebody gets a bit too close to their goaltender.
You see their reaction on game-winning goals, including Quinn Hughes’ tally against Sweden and Jack Hughes’ gold-medal clincher against Canada.
And speaking of Jack Hughes, how about playing minus some teeth after taking a stick to the mouth late in regulation?
When you see what it means to them to represent their country, how important it is to bring out the children of the late, great Johnny Gaudreau for the team picture and the way they stare at their brand new, shiny gold medals — they make you want to run through a brick wall.
Or cry. Or just let out a scream and celebrate like you’re right there with them.
Don’t believe it? Check out the web and see how important it was to, literally, millions of Americans on video.
What a game. What a team. And what a ride.
The U.S. men’s hockey team took the high road after an excruciating overtime loss to Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off a year ago. They talked about how they’d regroup for the Olympics instead of whining like Canada’s Nathan MacKinnon. The star forward sounds like a baby after imploring the Canadian Press to ‘be the judge’ on who they believe is the better team after his star-studded squad lost 2-1 in overtime to the U.S.
The Americans talked the talk. Then they walked the walk.
So thank you, Jeremy Swayman, Jake Oettinger, Quinn Hughes, Dylan Larkin, Jack Eichel, Charlie McAvoy, Matthew Tkachuk, Brock Nelson, Brady Tkachuk, Zach Werenski, J.T. Miller, Connor Hellebuyck, Kyle Connor, Jackson LaCombe, Noah Hanifin, Tage Thompson, Jaccob Slavin, Jake Sanderson, Matt Boldy, Chris Kelleher, Jack Hughes; Jake Guentzel; Brock Faber; Vincent Trocheck and Clayton Keller for giving us Americans something to be very proud about.
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