Mini-Miracle on Ice: Team USA Beats Wildly-Favored Canada

It may just be the preliminaries, but Sunday’s Team USA 5-3 victory over the highly touted Canadians is a giant leap in the right direction (and in my opinion, is nothing short of a 2010 mini-miracle on ice).

United States goaltender Ryan Miller was phenomenal in the game as Team Canada fired away at the USA goalie; Miller stopped 42 shots on 45 attempts in the Americans wild win over the Canadians.

“I got a lot of goal support from my boys ... we really battled for each other,” Miller told ESPN following Sunday’s USA victory. “I am just trying to build my résumé. Marty [Martin Brodeur] is the best. I was just trying to keep it simple because I knew they’d take a lot of energy out of me.”

After the United States took a 1-0 lead, Canada battled back to deadlock the game at 1-1 before USA took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

Canada scored the first goal in the second period to tie the game at 2-2, but Team USA returned the favor and took a 3-2 lead into the third and final period of play.

Shorly after USA struck again to take a 4-2 lead, the Canadians again put on a shooting rampage and managed to squeeze a goal past the nearly-perfect glove of Miller to pull Canada within a goal at 4-3.

But Team USA had the defense and the answer as Ryan Kesler scored an empty-net goal with a mere 44.7 seconds remaining in regulation to put the nail in the coffin as the Americans shocked the Canadians, 5-3.

Also scoring for the United States were Brian Rafalski with two goals, Chris Drury, and Jamie Langenbrunner.

Denton Ramsey may be reached via email at [e-mail]