What. A. Game.
There is not much more to say than that. The battle between the United States and Canada was truly a best-on-best display of competitivness and skill. Both sides should hold their heads up high for how great that game was.
It took all the way to overtime to decide who won the Gold Medal for the Men's Olympic side. For Canada, the St. Louis Blues were represented by goaltender Jordan Binnington and defenseman Colton Parayko. Both players were solid, but obviously, only one of them is going to be focused on for the next four years.
Binnington played a fantastic game after suffering just about as bad a start as you possibly can. The United States squad scored on the first shot on net from Minnesota's Matt Boldy. But, No.50 held strong, and helped the Canadian side battle back to tie it up and ultimately force overtime.
Then, for the entire country of Canada, tragedy struck a little over a minute in. New Jersey's franchise star, Jack Hughes, potted the "Golden Goal" for the United States, securing the first Gold Medal since the "Miracle on Ice" in 1980. It was a perfect goal, and Binnington played it just about as perfectly as you could. He finished the game with 26 saves on 28 shots.
Let us also take a second to congratulate Team USA. They had a perfect penalty kill, 18 for 18, and were backed up by a masterclass in net by Winnipeg goaltender Connor Hellebuyck. This team was truly special, and well deserved. If only Johnny Gaudreau was able to be out there.
Looking at it from a Blues perspective, this tournament was great for Binnington. A Gold Medal would have been the icing on the cake for his legacy as a big-game goaltender, transcending him into a higher echelon of history.
Once he comes back to St. Louis and the season restarts again, there is no telling what General Manager Doug Armstrong has planned for Binnington. But the memory of his performance in the greatest Hockey tournament of all time will be remembered for ages.