Up until this weekend I did what I always do when there's a big story about something that has everyone all riled up and that was largely ignored it.
If anything, I went into the weekend slightly irritated that he'd be taking up a spot on the Pacific team somewhat holding them back... but I actually didn't think he looked terribly out of place. I know everyone was trying to set him up, but his two goals were actually decent. I know the first one was a tap in but he did go to the net with his stick on the ice. Also, the second one on the breakaway was actually a pretty nice goal.
When you consider that he actually didn't stink the place out and contributed to his team winning the tournament, it validates the feel-good story that it ended up becoming.
If he was just there and was a hinderance, I can see some of the bitterness being warranted, but at the end of the day his actually contributing to the Pacific winning made it a great human interest piece.
Seeing his pregnant wife and kids (even though they panned to them a few too many times) really made it nice to see him end up with 100K and the car for being MVP. In any other year, the recipient(s) of those things wouldn't mean anything, but this all ended up working well on all angles. Was nice to see.
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