U.S. Women’s Hockey Team, Hasek Saved This Session

My first thought was to leave this space blank, to say there is nothing about the Nagano Games I want to remember.

But that would be as churlish as the still unidentified members of the U.S. men’s hockey team who trashed their Olympic village rooms.

These were not my favorite among the six Games I’ve covered. Like many other journalists, I’ve been forever spoiled by Lillehammer. No other site is likely to equal its charm, atmosphere and spectacular scenery, and Nagano came nowhere close.

Nagano is a city, not a resort. It is office buildings and buses, not ski lodges and picturesque chalets. It is markets selling strange fish and children’s toys, not souvenir stands selling Olympic key chains.

Funny, but we are quick to condemn the commercialization of the Games, yet equally quick to complain when we can’t find a place to buy T-shirts and mascot dolls.

My perspective on these Games is admittedly narrow, because I covered only women’s and men’s hockey. But those sports provided some of the most compelling stories of the Games.

No one who saw it will forget Dominik Hasek’s goaltending performance for the Czech Republic against Canada in the semifinals and Russia in the finals of the men’s tournament. Hasek’s shutout of Canada in a tie-breaking shootout was a classic performance, made more memorable by his teammates linking arms on the bench while they prayed he would prevail. The Czechs’ triumph was a supreme in-your-face to the NHL and the “dream tournament” it devised with the expectation that Canada and the U.S. would be in the final and draw a huge TV audience.

The women’s joy at being here was touching. This was their big moment. For the U.S. men, this was another long trip crammed into a season already crowded with games and playoffs. The chance to compete meant far more to the women than to the men, which was obvious in the emotion that made the lesser quality of the women’s play irrelevant.

I hope the members of the U.S. women’s hockey team enjoy their success. I wish them the wisdom to know it won’t last forever and the intelligence to enjoy their fame without exploiting it. I wish every other athlete had their passion. I thank them and I thank Hasek for reminding me the most brilliant performances can be staged in front of an ordinary backdrop.