Pittsburgh-powered penalty kill helps Team USA prove critics wrong

Plenty of hockey “experts” — including me — thought U.S. GM Bill Guerin and his staff erred in picking his Olympic men’s hockey team. The exclusion of high-octane weapons like Jason Robertson, Cole Caufield and Lane Hutson was bemoaned. Less-talented role players were preferred.

But the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

For the U.S., gold tastes good.

A microcosm of Guerin’s vision was contained in the U.S. penalty-killing unit, which went a perfect 18 for 18 in the tournament and fought off a 93-second two-man advantage in the gold-medal game vs. Canada.

At the forefront of the U.S. PK — including some of those 93 seconds against Connor McDavid and the most fearful assembly of hockey talent on the planet — were Vince Trocheck and J.T. Miller of this parish.

God bless America.

God bless Pittsburgh hockey.

Trocheck and Miller were fantastic. They earned their stuffed animals. That 5-on-3 kill will live forever.

Ex-Penguin Jake Guentzel won, too. He kind of looks like a stuffed animal.

Winning gold put Mike Sullivan’s career in a bit of a redemption arc.

The former Penguins coach has presided over utter collapse in his first season with the New York Rangers and hasn’t won a playoff series since 2018. Those Stanley Cups in ‘16 and ‘17 seem an awful long time ago.

But now Sullivan is in a pantheon with Herb Brooks and Jack Riley, the other U.S. coaches to win Olympic gold. It’s what Sullivan will mostly be remembered for. It overshadows everything, good and bad.

For me, Sunday’s game was a case of mixed emotions.

I wanted Sidney Crosby to win. You can be loyal to something besides country. Some on X equated that to selling nuclear secrets to the Soviets.

But Crosby was injured and didn’t play.

The game turned out to be one for the ages.

Jack Hughes emerged as a gap-toothed, charisma-soaked, all-American superstar, which was impossible in the context of the always-boring New Jersey Devils. Hughes needed the big stage of the Olympics.

Hughes will be at PPG Paints Arena with the Devils on Thursday night, probably still drunk. Maybe he brings his pop-star girlfriend, Canadian (!) Tate McRae. But why would she want to come to Pittsburgh? Then again, why would she want to go to Newark?

Connor Hellebuyck was a latter-day Jim Craig, Horatius at the American bridge. Hellebuyck sticking aside Devon Toews’ tap-in gimme at the blue paint immediately became one of the greatest saves ever.

Hellebuyck should have been tournament MVP. Defenseman Quinn Hughes could have been tournament MVP. He was insanely good. Got the OT winner vs. Sweden. But he’s currently the “other” Hughes brother.

Zach Werenski made a huge play to set up the golden goal, muscling Nathan MacKinnon off the puck and finding Hughes with precision. Now he’ll return to Columbus and being anonymous. But Werenski is a Norris Trophy-caliber defenseman.

McDavid got tournament MVP. That does not serve him well. He previously won NHL playoff MVP in a losing cause. He’s MVP of the losers.

In that vein, Canada turned out to be sore losers. As might be expected given their traditional dominance of hockey, but that imploded in these Olympics.

It’s one thing for the fan base to kvetch, because that’s what fan bases do.

But MacKinnon said that the better team lost. That might not have happened if MacKinnon hadn’t missed an empty net.

Canada’s coach, Jon Cooper, bemoaned playing three-on-three in overtime: “It’s not really hockey.” Cooper needs to fall back like his hairline.

If sports has one truism, it’s what Dreamer Tatum said in “Semi-Tough,” Dan Jenkins’ great football novel: “What could have happened, did.”

Canada’s captain said all the right things. Canada’s captain always does.

Does Canada win if Crosby plays? If he’s 100%, that’s certainly how I’d bet. Canada would sure like Crosby out there for that 5-on-3, even at 70% or whatever.

But what could have happened, did.

I knew that game was crazy when I saw Auston Matthews backchecking.