I watched the Wings tonight. I'm not impressed. I'm not mad either. I'll write about that tomorrow, but right now I wanted to take some time to dedicate a proper acknowledgement of 22 American men who did their country proud tonight.

Of course, I'm talking about the World Junior Championship. I've talked about this, and I can tell by the reception it got in the comments that's clearly not why people come to this blog. I tried my best to convert as many people as I could as I raved about the quality of the tournament and the excitement it guarantees, but again, I'm not sure how I did. I hope that anyone who watched tonight, by my recommendation or not (American or Canadian, for that matter) was able to appreciate the spectacle we witnessed.

To put my own spin on it, I've watched this tournament a while. Before the days of internet streaming video, I was able to catch the 2004 tournament on ESPN. I think they actually aired the gold medal game after they found out the US won. They aired the tournament the following year, when it was held in North Dakota, but the US was pretty disappointing, and the tournament went the way of hockey as a whole in 2005. I suffered through choppy online streams and sometimes days late torrents to get my fix for the few tournaments after that, before the NHL Network picked up the tournament last season.

Meanwhile, while I've gone through what I consider to be a lot of work (I'm a lazy person) just for a tournament, Canada has absolutely dominated. Since the US beat them that one year, Canada has lost exactly one tournament game, taking five straight gold medals along the way. Surely, it's deserved. Despite always having their best players unavailable due to being in the NHL, they find a way to stack their lineup. Most of all, they find a way to really step up in the national spotlight. Canada views this tournament more as a rite of passage than just a tournament, and, evident through the kind of crowds they get when they host the tournament, they're very passionate. I really think that having the whole nation behind them has allowed them to play at a level that no other country can attain.

But the Americans have put out some quality teams as well. The problem, in my eyes, has always been motivation. The United States has played Canada tight, putting out some legendary games. But usually once they lose to Canada, in heart-breaking fashion, they're totally mentally out of it and lose to some country they have no business losing to. After last year's disaster, when I first saw the evaluation roster for the United States I wasn't feeling too confident. They lacked a lot of high end talent, and I felt Canada, Russia, and Sweden to be teams they would have a hard time dealing with.

This year was a different story. The team worked hard all tournament, and didn't take their foot of the gas of any opponent. They met Canada on New Year's Eve, in a game that I was too thrilled with to even care about the outcome. All that was at stake was a first round bye. The United States had to meet Finland and Sweden to get to the gold medal game, while Canada only had to dispatch the upset-loving Swiss, who had taken out the Russians. Most of all I knew it would light a fire under the Americans. I can't even imagine where we'd be right now had America won that game, with the Canadians the ones coming out with something to prove.

As great as that game was, this was better. The pace of the entire game was insane, to the point where you were constantly thinking neither team would be able to manage for a full sixty minutes (and then some, as it turned out). The story of the first two periods was goaltending, though, as neither team could figure out what their goalies were doing in net. For the Americans, Mike Lee lasted three goals, two along the ice and one up and over his back, before coach Dean Blais decided he'd seen enough. For the Canadians, Jake Allen was beat up high twice in two shots, on an untipped screened slapshot from the point, another no-faulter on a two-one-one capitalized by Jerry D'Amigo, and the blooper of the tournament as he misplayed a high flip shot into the hands of American captain Derek Stepan, who quickly put a backhand shot into an empty net. Canadian coach Willie Desjardins (former junior coach of Darren Helm) replaced him as well, midway through the third period.

The change wasn't the demise of either. Jack Campbell, who has Michigan ties as a Port Huron-native, but also as another in the growing list of players to spurn the University of Michigan for major junior hockey, came in cold during a 3-3 game and was instantly under duress. He didn't look completely composed out there at all times, but you have to admire the mental game of a 17-year-old (in a tournament for 19-year-olds) to come in and play like he did, in front of the largest crowd he's likely ever played against (who are jeering him constantly), just six days after having played against Canada as they mounted their first amazing comeback of the tournament. Campbell faced a barrage of shots to close the second period and open the third, but found himself sitting on a 5-3 lead with under three minutes left.

And then, Jordan Eberle happened. Eberle was Canada's top player this tournament, but he isn't of the same caliber as the Sidney Crosbys and John Tavareses who have led Canada in the past. Eberle is certainly a talented sniper, and he established himself in this tournament as possibly being the most clutch player of all time. Last year, Eberle brought Canada out of the depths of elimination, tying up a game against the Russians with just five seconds left in regulation to eventually send Canada to the gold medal game. Eberle scored the first of the two goals to tie up the game against the Americans on New Year's Eve (giving him two on the game) as well as one of the shootout goals. Tonight, Eberle tallied not one, but two goals in something like a minute and a half -- in the last three minutes of the game -- to send 15,000-something rabid Saskatoonians into a frenzy. Campbell buried his face in his gloves, and you just knew there was no way the States could come out with the gold. The "right spot, right time" of this guy honestly can just make you sick. If you saw this stuff in a movie you'd turn it off for being so outlandishly ridiculous.

Overtime. In Canada. Winners of five straight championships. Having blown a two-goal third period lead. For the second time in a week. Having changed your goalie already. Having three players who played in this tournament last year. Looking absolutely lifeless on the bench coming out for overtime. You've seen this script before, no? It's just not possible in sports to not just emotionally shut down after witnessing a finish like regulation had in this one.

I'd like to embed full highlights, but they're not available yet unless you like people filming their TVs with camera phones while talking over the audio. For quality's sake, sit through the ad and check out the six minutes of highlights on TSN.ca.

It's games like these that continue to amaze me about the state of the game in this country. I don't know how you couldn't sit down the "casual American" with even the shortest of attention spans and not have them entertained. Without even needing to know anything about the players, the stakes, the history, or anything like that, you could appreciate the back and forth war that this game was. We're five days in, but I guarantee you when the intersphere or whatever it'll be called then looks back on this decade, this will be among the decade's best.

Junior hockey is clearly something native to Canada. It's got little hotbeds in different areas of the country -- having gone to so many Plymouth Whalers games as a kid is likely a big reason why I care about this tournament -- but it will never be anything compared to Canada. As this is a junior hockey tournament, it's understandable that it just isn't certain people's forte. It's a strange feeling knowing that 22 Americans have worked their tails off for their whole life to be involved in something like this, and then pushed themselves even more for two weeks to get over the final hurdle, and 99.9% of the country will have no idea. Tomorrow in every paper in Canada, this game will get front page news. In America, nothing. It's already been established on Twitter that the headline did make the front page of ESPN.com for about two hours, but was down by 2 AM. I'd wager that the Detroit Free Press might mention the game (in the "other notes" section after the out-of-town NHL scores), but still, it's recognition that doesn't fit the magnitude of the accomplishment.

And that's just the way it is. Since my grasp of the inner-workings of the tournament was not as detailed in 2004, I am absolutely thrilled to have seen the US capture gold again. Even if Canada's going to win the next five again, I'm thrilled that at least one time, the underdogs came out on top. I just wanted to say my piece before resuming regular posting patterns tomorrow. For all the work these 22 put on, I figure they deserve some kind of thanks.

Only 354 more days until the tournament kicks off again. This year, on home soil in Buffalo, New York. I hear it's nice this time of year, maybe I should fly out and experience the tournament live.