Through the Wounded Warrior program, each player has been paired with an American soldier who was wounded in action in Iraq or Afghanistan. Some of the soldiers addressed the team before these Games and are expected to fly in to attend the gold-medal game.
On the ice, the Americans are 5-0 in this tournament, with a stunning upset of this Canadian team and a shocking blowout of Finland in Friday's semifinal. Team Right Stuff has scored first in every game and has never trailed.
The players are too young to remember 1980 and Lake Placid. For them, the Miracle on Ice is a movie with Kurt Russell. The Cold War? It had something to do with ice, right?
This Canadian team is not the Red Army. But its red-clad supporters want - no, expect; make that demand - a gold medal from the home team, playing its national game. Losing to the United States would be about as bad an outcome as anyone in this country could imagine.
"The fans are so passionate about Canada and about the Olympics in general," American forward David Backes said. "But when you get to hockey, there's a-whole-nother level above passionate. They almost live and die by it."
In the first week of these Olympics, the United States rudely nudged its northerly neighbor aside. Canada's Own the Podium campaign became something of an embarrassment as Team USA ran up the score in the medal count.
But things turned in the second week of competition. Canada came on strong, very strong. The host nation passed the United States to lead the world in gold medals, including a big win in the women's hockey tournament. And the most emotional moment of the Olympics, the bronze-medal performance of figure skater Joannie Rochette just days after the sudden death of her mother, transcended sports entirely.
