I’m not ready to say goodbye to Team North America.
Not now. Not today. Not this soon. Not after the kind of round robin they played at the World Cup of Hockey. Not after one of the greatest games I’ve witnessed up close in 36 years of covering hockey — maybe the single greatest game — and certainly the most joyous, the most offensive, the fastest, the most skilled.
A team without a country — it was supposed to be a punchline, but somehow this collection of hockey’s most impressive kids, has stolen our hearts in this World Cup, even if it’s only been three games, even if there is no tomorrow.