[scollins]

Congrats to Team Canada for the Gold, and to Team USA for the Silver. I was hoping they'd choke in overtime when Team USA tied it up with less than 25 seconds left in regulation. Oh well, that is how the puck breaks sometimes. Canada was 6-1 and USA was 5-1. Sadly for the USA, that one loss is the one that mattered the most. In either case, the two best teams played for Gold.

Overall, Canada is the #1 hockey team in the Olympics:
8 Gold, 4 Silver and 2 Bronze. (14 total)

Team USA's record has almost always been "the bridesmaid but rarely the bride."
2 Gold, 8 Silver and 1 Bronze. (11 total)

The old powerhouse, the Soviet Union* looks like this:
8 Gold, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze (12 total)

*Includes USSR prior to 1988, CIS in 1988 and Russia in 1998 and 2002.)

The Soviet Union/CIS/RUS combo is now tied with Canada for most Golds, but I don't count many of their victories because I don't believe they were truly following the rules of the Olympics at the time. Prior to 1988, all Olympians were supposed to be amateurs. I think the Soviet Union had maybe one amateur player on any of their teams, and he was the towel boy!

But I don't question these types of results because there is no subjective judging involved, but I do think there is a "home country" bias to any event that involves judging. It happened in Vancouver, it happened in Beijing, it happened in Salt Lake, it just happens. I'm sure we'll see it again in London and Sochi too.....