The U.S. Women's Hockey Team Sounded Pretty Bitter After Losing Olympic Gold To Canada
"I won't forget this, probably, forever." 🇺🇸🇨🇦🏒
Team Canada reclaimed Olympic hockey gold in the women's tournament on Thursday, and boy were the Americans upset about it.
It was a close game, but Canada managed to hand their rivals a heartbreaking 3-2 loss, leaving Team USA with a silver medal and a bitter feeling in Beijing.
The U.S. and Canada have been women's hockey rivals for many years, and the American players didn't have much to say about their opponents after the loss.
"It’s devastating. It’s heartbreaking. ... It feels like we let our country down." U.S. star Hilary Knight told reporters after the game, The Associated Press reports.
"I don't think we scratched the surface with our ability to play," she added, according to USA Today.
It was an especially tough pill to swallow because the Americans were the reigning Olympic champs coming into the game.
"It stings for a while," said Team USA forward Amanda Kessel. "I won't forget this, probably, forever."
Kessel also tried to pin the loss on a bit of bad luck.
"I don't know if it's tough luck, what it is," said Kessel. "Any empty net, any bounce, we weren't getting them. We got like one bounce all tournament, and it just seemed like that was the way it was going."
The loss probably only stung more as O Canada played in the arena during the medal ceremony.
Even the U.S. goaltender, Alex Cavallini, recalls feeling "a bit numb" due to losing the highly anticipated game.
Meanwhile, Team Canada couldn't keep in their excitement and celebrated their win quite deservingly.
"I know today the Americans took a bunch of outside shots. We have the best goaltender in the world in Ann-Renée [Desbiens]. They're not going to be scoring from the outside very often," said Canada's forward player, Sarah Nurse.
Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin said she remembers exactly what it was like to be in Team USA's shoes after losing to them in 2018.
"That 2018 was very hard, very, very hard. And I think when you take some time to reflect on what you need to do better as a team and personally [...]," she said, per the AP.
These two teams have played for gold at six of the last seven Olympics, so it may very well be that the U.S. will get another shot soon enough.