This represented blood, sweat and tears.
Emily Compagno.
I rarely begin writing a column on Monday, but after the US men’s and women’s ice hockey gold medal victories, I can think of little else.
It had been 46 years since the Miracle-on-Ice gold medal victory of the US men’s hockey team over the Russians at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid. I vividly remember that game and remain a hockey fan.
I began playing hockey as a kid when the Knoxville Knights professional hockey team came to Knoxville in 1961. I continued playing through high school and my sophomore year with the University of Tennessee hockey team before deciding that if I wanted to get into medical school, I needed to spend more time in the library and less time hanging with hockey bros.
Sports and the Olympics serve as welcome distractions from the mayhem in national and world news. I love cheering for our Vols and for athletes representing our country at the Olympics. It sickens me that some find it objectionable to cheer for our country. And one American even skied for communist China! These American-hating, useful idiots of the left are dead to me.
This year is the 250th anniversary of our country’s liberation from tyranny, so I choose to celebrate hockey athletes and Alysa Liu, who won the women’s gold medal in figure skating. Her father escaped Communist China after being in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, where the communists killed 10,000 seeking freedom. How similar to the recent slaughter of more than 30,000 protesters in Iran. I won’t mention the names of the US skiers who chose political theatre over performance and relegated themselves to scorn and obscurity.
I was thrilled to discover that women’s ice hockey was so good. Megan Keller’s brilliant move around the defense in overtime and her “golden” shot past the Canadian goalie will remain the stuff of legends. The fast and skillful Olympian women were far better than I ever was or once hoped to be. I was proud of their sportsmanship as well as their gold medal victory over Canada. And I was proud watching them sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” with their gold medals.
You’ve undoubtedly read of or seen the overtime goal scored by Jack Hughes of the US men’s team. But great stories and championship moments bear retelling. During the third period, Hughes was struck in the mouth with a stick, bloodying his lip and breaking several teeth. But despite the blood and sweat, Jack didn’t quit, and, with the score tied, he struck gold in overtime, bringing tears of joy to patriotic Americans. But there is more to this story and the golden victory.
His teammate and brother, Quinn Hughes, scored the winning overtime goal against Sweden in the semifinals to propel the US to the championship game with Canada. Players who score goals often get the attention, but in the gold medal game, US goalie Connor Hellebuyck was the deciding factor. Hellebuyck kept the US in the game with repeated near-miraculous saves, stopping 41 out of Team Canada’s 42 shots on goal. In baseball, it is said that “pitching wins pennants.” Without Hellebuyck, the US team could not have weathered the blistering attack of the Canadians to ultimately win the gold medal for the US. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth awarded Hellebuyck the honorary title, Minister of Defense!
Do you remember the TV show The Wide World of Sports? Dramatic background music of trumpets heralded the spectrum of competition as the “thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.” The joy of the men’s victorious team rushing onto the ice and celebrating the Jack Hughes tiebreaking goal was dramatic. And the faces of the Canadian team receiving the silver medal were even painful for me to watch.
And how wonderful that after the medals were awarded, the US team honored team member Johnny Gaudreau, who was killed by a drunk driver. And pictures of team members with Old Glory, their thankfulness of being Americans and representing the country at the Olympics should move everyone to patriotism. Tragically, some liberal loons are driven by hatred and anti-Americanism.
The Lake Placid victory in 1980 ushered in a spirit of patriotism in America. I am hopeful that our hockey team’s glorious victories and the best winter Olympic performance of US athletes will usher in a new wave of patriotism in our 250th anniversary.
What irony that the US men’s hockey team was not able to fly to New York because of a blizzard. Instead, they returned home to a hero’s welcome and celebration in functional, sunny Miami.
The Olympics are over, but additional medals were awarded by President Trump at the State of the Union to heroes of WWII, the Korean War, the operation to capture narco-terrorist Maduro, and to officers rescuing children in the Texas flood and in the defense of Washington, D.C., against criminals. And President Trump awarded goalie Connor Hellebuyck the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our highest civilian honor!
Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). And President Trump rightly gave medals to our heroes during his wonderful, optimistic and patriotic SOTU address. It was the New York Post that rightly awarded the president with the headline, “Trump Wins Gold.” I award the pathetic, petulant, disrespectful and dysfunctional Democrats who have lost their minds, the cheap Chinese Temu medal for Lack of Common Sense.
I do not fear Russia, China, narco-terrorists, etc. I fear modern Democrats. Their hatred has made them deranged and dangerous. The solution is simple: If you want safety, prosperity and peace, support Trump and Republicans. If you want a return to open borders, crime, drugs and corruption, vote for any Democrat.
