Canada Is Currently Flooded With Tears From The Entire Nation Crying About 3-on-3 Overtime
Gregory Shamus. Getty Images.Here's the thing--I get it. Losing sucks. It's the absolute worst thing ever. All you think about heading into a big game is what winning it is going to feel like. The moment that win gets ripped away from you, it feels like you've been stabbed in the heart while getting kicked in the dick. Your mind immediately rushes to rationalize what just happened. Coming up with reasons for how or why your team lost. Are they excuses? Or is it just the human brain's way of protecting the heart?
Either way, it's so much easier to come up with a reason for why your team lost instead of just tipping your cap to the winner. The issue is that Canadians love to act like they're so much better than Americans. That they're more gracious in defeat and victory. But it turns out that when you rip their hearts out of their chest in overtime at the Olympics in both the men's and women's gold medal games? Well that's where the true Canadian comes out in all of them, and they immediately cry their maple syrup tears over the Olympics being decided by 3v3 overtime.
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There are countless examples out there, and if you've spent any time on social media over the past 24 hours then you've seen hundreds of them. The moment that game was over, you knew every Canadian from Whitehorse to St. John's was going to immediately blame the loss on 3v3 overtime. I didn't necessarily think a guy like Jon Cooper would instantly hop into the mix as well, but that's why he's no Paul Maurice.
The term "gimmick" gets thrown around when you talk about 3v3 overtime. And I've just never understood that at all. A shootout is a gimmick, I will give that to you 100%. But 3v3 overtime is still all about putting your best players out on the ice, and asking one of them to be a hero. It's not like somebody just randomly decides a winner once the game gets to 3v3 overtime. If you want to win, then you need somebody to actually step up and win the game for you.
To me, there are so many variables at play when it comes to 5v5 hockey. You could play 60 minutes of the hardest fought hockey game ever, and 5v5 overtime could end with the worst deflection ever taking a crazy bounce into the back of the net. A shot that bounces off a stick, and ass, a shin pad, and into the back of the net. Pretty much every goal scored in 3v3 overtime is a skilled goal where somebody actually needs to go out and make it happen. I'm not saying 3v3 is the perfect way to end games, but you should want your best players to be able to step up and win you a hockey game when you need them the most.
Which is exactly what McDavid was trying to do every time he touched the puck in overtime. He knows he's the best player in the world. He knows he's faster than everybody else on that sheet of ice, and he has so much more room to work with when there are only 6 players out there. McDavid tried to go in hero mode during that overtime multiple times, but he couldn't make it happen. Some are saying he'll never be able to win the big one, but he was sure as shit trying to. Do you think Canadians would be saying anything about 3v3 overtime right now if McDavid put the country on his back and won them gold?
Not a fucking chance. They had Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Cale Makar out on the ice. The best player in the world, the 2nd best player in the world, and a top 2 defenseman on the planet. They'd say that Canada deserved to win 3v3 because the best players in the world did their job. The only issue is…well…none of them actually did their job on this goal, and that's why they lost.
You can debate whether or not Cale Makar should have pinched in that situation. Maybe it was the right call, maybe it wasn't. But Jack Hughes gets a stick on the puck, and it immediately turned into the wrong decision by Cale Makar. It wouldn't have been the end of the world if Makar just got on his horse, and sprinted on the backcheck. But he decided to just lazily skate back into the play to leave Jack Hughes wide open.
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Nathan MacKinnon hesitated to make a play on the puck once it got into his own zone. He froze up, and Zach Werenski made him pay for his indecision. Werenski beats him to the puck, and then bullies him away with the body. Once MacKinnon gets bullied by Werenski, that causes McDavid to have to come down to cover the puck. Which then opens up even more space for Jack Hughes to walk into.
Team USA didn't win because of some gimmick. They won the game because they wanted it more than the best 3 players in the world. Makar and MacKinnon both lost that game as equally as Werenski and Jack Hughes stepped up to win it. Don't be mad at the IIHF for deciding years ago to switch to 3v3 format in overtime. Be mad that Cale Makar didn't even get into the frame of the video until the puck was already in the back of the net.
3v3 overtime has been a part of hockey for years now. It's not a gimmick anymore, it's part of the game. It just so happens to be a part of the game that USA Hockey is exceptionally nasty at winning.
Now that I think about it, I'd be furious if I were Canadian, too. They'll never have a chance again.