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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

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