Bye PyeongChang...See You In 2022, Beijing

"The Olympic Games are an homage to the past and an act of faith for the future.  With your joint march, you have shared your faith in a peaceful future with all of us.  You have show our sport builds bridges in our very fragile world.  You have shown how sport builds bridges." 
-IOC president Thomas Bach

The Olympic Games that started earlier this month with a flurry of diplomatic activity that resulted in a joint North and South Korean team marching into the Olympic stadium under a unification flag as South Korean Olympic champion figure skater Kim Yuna lit the torch ended this morning our time as we slept here in the States.

In case you're wondering,Tongan cross country skier Pita Taufatofua was there at the closing ceremony in all his oiled up shirtless glory just as he was during the opening ceremony back on February 5.   He finished 114th in his cross country skiing event and greeted his fellow stragglers at the finish line, but is without a doubt the worldwide fan and Olympic athlete favorite of these Winter Games and the 2016 Rio ones.

Speaking of competition, the Norwegian national anthem was undeniably the soundtrack of these PyeongChang Games.   Norway led all nations with 39 total medals won (14G,14S,11B), and won a Games best 14 gold medals.

The Germans finished second with 31 total medals (14G, 10S, 7B) and tied Norway with 14 gold medals.  Our northern neighbors Canada were third on the medal table with 29 medals (11G, 8S, 10B) and the Netherlands after a fast start at the beginning of the Games, ended up fifth with 20 total medals (8G, 6S, 6B) tying the host South Koreans, who also ended up with 17 total medals (5G, 8S, 4B).

The Olympic Athletes From Russia despite the sanctions that forced it to use the Olympic flag and anthem and have the 168 athletes who did participate in these Games pass a stringent vetting process still managed to capture 17 total medals (2G, 6S, 9B) during this Olympiad, including the men's hockey gold medal.   

But old habits die hard.   The Olympic Athletes From Russia lost the chance to have their suspension lifted and march under their own flag for the closing ceremonies when two Russian athletes tested positive for banned substances.

Team USA, despite having the largest contingent of athletes in PyeongChang and narrowly finishing second in the medal count in Sochi with 28 medals to the host Russians, finished a disappointing by our standards fourth here in PyeongChang with 23 total medals (9G, 8S,6B)

It was shaping up to be a disappointing Winter Games for the US considering many American pre-Olympic medal favorites failed to make it to the podium or had disappointing results.  Despite historic feats in their performances by Nathan Chen and Mirai Nagasu, they didn't translate to a medal in their individual skating events.  They are bringing back home bronzes from the team event. 
Mikaela Shiffrin fell short of her goal of winning five gold medals as did Lindsey Vonn who is bringing home a bronze medal.   The US did have a late run powered by the first gold medal in women's hockey in 20 years, and surprising first ever women's gold in cross country skiing and the men's curling.

But these XXIII Winter Olympic Games are now headed for the history books, and while we wait for more history to be made when Beijing in four years becomes the first ever city and supplant Vancouver as the largest one to host a winter and summer games, we'll get to see in the runup to them the return of the summer Olympics to Tokyo in 2020 as part of the Asian continent's run of three consecutive Winter and Summer Games..

Bye PyeongChang.   See y'all in Beijing. 

Down Goes Canada! USA Women (Finally!)Win Hockey Gold!

The last time the USA women won a gold medal in women's hockey was during the Nagano Games in 1998.   Team USA beat Canada 7-4 in the preliminary round, then beat them when it counted 3-1 for the first every medal awarded in women's hockey.

Since then, as my green tea drinking north of the border homegirl has been reminding me, it has been a frustrating series of Olympic defeats for the USA women's hockey team despite successfully (and repeatedly) beating those Canadian behinds in the IIHF World Championships.

There was the 3-2 gold medal game loss to Canada on home soil in Salt Lake City in 2002.  Four years later in the 2006 Turin Games Team USA didn't even make it to the gold medal game.  They shockingly lost in an 3-2 OT shootout to Sweden in the semis and had to settle for the bronze medal.
 
In 2010 the USA lost to Olympic hosts Canada in Vancouver 2-0 in the gold medal match to collect another silver medal.   

The 2014 Sochi Games was the most frustrating USA women's Olympic hockey loss.  Team USA was up 2-0 in the third period and 3:26 from avenging those defeats until Canada scored twice to force overtime, then won it with a golden goal in overtime to win their fourth straight gold medal.

That loss has fueled the Team USA fire for the last four years.  As usual, they've beaten Canada in four straight IIHF world championships, with three of them happening post-Sochi, but would it finally translate to Olympic gold for Team USA?

Yep it did in PyeongChang. 

This was the third consecutive Olympiad that the USA and Canada had met in the gold medal match and as I warned my green tea drinking homegirl, Olympic win streaks can come to an end.

.Even with a 2-1 loss in the preliminary round to Canada back on February 15 Team USA was a confident bunch going into this game with their bitter rivals.

Team USA struck first late in the 1st period with a Hilary Knight goal to give them a 1- 0 lead.   But Canada struck back after the first intermission with two goals in the 2nd period to take a 2-1 lead into the locker room at the second intermission.

It wasn't looking good for Team USA until a failed 2-1 break and botched Canadian line change resulted in a breakaway goal from Monique Lamoureux with 6:21 remaining that tied the game at 2-2 and sent it to overtime.

After 20 minutes of overtime and constant pressure by Team USA on the Canadian goal resulted in no game winning golden goals for either side.  it was shootout time.

The USA won the coin flip and elected to go second and Amanda Kessel, Gigi Marvin and Jocelyn Lamoreux delivered in the shootout to gain revenge for Sochi and earn Team USA's first women's Olympic hockey medal in 20 years,



The World Champs are finally the Olympic Champs!

See y'all in Beijing,  Renee.

Meet The 1st Black Player Ever On The US Olympic Hockey Team

FOX Noise's John Moody may hate the diverse US Winter Olympic team, but I don't. 

One of the cool benefits of that team diversity is we have Black History being made by our 2018 winter Olympians in several events.   One of those events is hockey.

Because of a dispute with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) concerning several issues, the NHL refused to allow its players to participate in the Olympics this year.   That meant for the first time in three decades, the US team was going to be composed primarily of collegiate players.   One of the collegiate players who was selected to play on this men's Olympic hockey squad was Jordan Greenway of Canton, NY.

And with that selection, Greenway makes history.  When he steps on the ice at PyeongChang on February 14 the first African American ever to play on a USA Olympic hockey team.

“I dreamed of [it] as a kid, and I didn’t think it was going to happen before I graduated college, but I’m fortunate that it did, and I just couldn’t be more excited!” Greenway said in a CNN interview.

The 20 year old Greenway is also the tallest player on the team at 6 feet 5 inches and 238 pounds.  He was drafted by the NHL's Minnesota Wild in 2015, but decided to complete his college education at Boston University . Greenway also has a younger brother, JD who plays the sport.

“I’m the first African American to play hockey for the United States at the Olympics but hopefully I’m the first of many,” Greenway said. “Hopefully these kids go out, try something different, play hockey, and hopefully I see a lot more playing in the near future.”

I'll have even more incentive to not only watch the USA men's Olympic hockey team, but root for its success.   The last time a USA men's team won gold was when I was a high school senior at Lake Placid in 1980

Erin Jackson Is Going To The Olympics!

24 year old Erin Jackson has only been participating in long track speed skating full time for four months.   Coming into the US Olympic Speed Skating Trials in West Allis, WI she had posted a personal best 39.51 time in the 500m back on December 23 in Salt Lake City.

But the former University of Florida engineering student and inline skater from Ocala, FL picked a great time to set new personal best times, and did so when the pressure was highest.

"I really wasn't expecting any of this, just coming in as a newbie, just trying to do the best I can. " said Jackson. "A couple of weeks ago I was still in the 40's.  So this has all happened pretty fast."

The best she can is going to take her to Pyeongchang, South Korea and the Winter Olympics.

She went 39.22 in her first heat during the Trials Friday night, and even faster in her second heat at 39.04 to become the first Black female athlete ever to qualify for a US Olympic long track speed skating team.

Jackson finished third in the 500m, behind her Ocala, FL homegirl Brittany Bowe and Heather Bergsma to punch her ticket to Pyeongchang.

February 8 and the start of the upcoming Winter Games is getting more interesting by the day with all this Black Girl Magic happening.