Poem on the 2-1 Loss to the USA by the Canadian Men's Hockey Team In The Gold Medal Game at the 2026 Winter Olympics
On The Game For a moment, while they played, my father was alive again, roaring at the TV - come on! come on! - and then, that overtime brutality - a millisecond of pain that smashes a dream - and there I am, facing a screen - defeat instead of uproaring joy - reminding that puck and luck rhyme - losing in overtime, Jack Hughes the nation-killer extreme - I sit there, facing the scarred ice, just me, and my father gone back to where the dead don't play, or watch, much hockey. February 22, 2026, by Todd Stanley Swift