Photo: RIA Novosti

Canada shut out Sweden 3-0 to win gold in the last Olympic hockey tournament I will ever watch.

Three players who had been without a goal, Toews, Crosby, and Chris Kunitz, each scored in the effort.

Carey Price kept the Swedes without a goal, extending his shutout streak to 164 minutes.

Nick Backstrom did not play. Originally, reports stated Backstrom was suffering from a migraine. Now, an NHLPA source says Backstrom was disqualified for using a banned substance– possibly an allergy medicine containing pseudoephedrine.

So, not a great day for much of our readership.

Losing Backstrom, Henrik Zetterberg, and Henrik Sedin was devastating for Sweden. Canada had its own losses as well, Steven Stamkos and John Tavares, but they had the depth to cover for it. This is a team that left last season’s Art Ross and Norris winners on the bench for much of the tournament. They were that stacked.

Sidney Crosby showed up on the scoresheet in the big game, scoring a pretty goal in the second period. With that he passes Ovechkin’s stat totals for the tournament, plus the whole gold medal thing to boot. Crosby’s linemate, Chris Kunitz, a highly criticized Olympic pick, also scored in the third period, justifying that pick or whatever. I don’t know. Or care.

GIF by Pete Blackburn, who killed it during these games

Henrik Lundqvist performed admirably for Sweden, saving 33 of 36, but this was Canadian domination on a scale we have not seen since 1970s Saturday Night Live or The Band.

This gold medal match wasn’t a shadow of the final game– or really the entire tournament– that we saw in Vancouver. And with the NHL posturing to not participate in the 2018 games, it may be the last we’ll see with the world’s best players.

You’re cranky, I’m cranky, Ovi’s cranky, Nicky’s cranky. Sochi problems.

We’ll have more on the Backstrom story when we have it. For now, literally everything sucks.

From Hawkeye by David Aja and Matt Fraction