VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Lindy Ruff must have been having flashbacks Sunday

evening as he stood behind the bench watching the whole thing unfold. Roll back the clocks a

few years, back to when the Sabres marched to back-to-back conference finals and Ryan Miller

would keep his team in games long enough for Chris Drury to win them.

Ruff wasn't available after Miller led the United States to a 5-3 upset victory over

Canada, with plenty of help from his old buddy Drury, but something tells me he was a

conflicted assistant coach for Canada following the game.

Damn those guys, but somewhere deep down, good for them.

"Memories, huh," Miller said with a smile after making 42 saves in one of the best games of

his career. "We're making new ones here."



Nobody should have any problem remembering this one for a while. The tension was palpable

hours before the game and grew more intense inside as the slugfest carried along.

And then there were the dizzying, suffocating, excruciating final 3 minutes with

Drury blocking shots and Miller making saves and, good heavens, get the puck out of the zone.

"Yeah," Drury said afterward. "It seemed like they had eight or nine guys out there."



Heck, anyone watching was exhausted.

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Gallery: Photos from the game

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Drury didn't score the winner, but he had a big goal to give the Americans a 3-2 lead in

the second period when he buried a loose puck. With the Yanks clinging to a 4-3 lead and the

Canadians threatening to score for what felt like a month, he helped clear the zone with just

more than a minute remaining.

"It was always great to play with Chris," Miller said. "He was always a big-game player."



Vancouver Canucks forward Ryan Kesler's scored into an empty net moments later, and a

collective moan could be heard from a sold-out crowd in his home building if not across this

proud but suddenly very nervous hockey nation.

The rationale behind Canada's ambitious "Own the Podium" initiative made sense on the

surface. Our neighbors needed a unifying cry with the 2010 Winter Olympics being staged on

their home soil. It was designed to intensify training and provide better results.

The United States — the "U.S. eh," as one newspaper headline blared last week —

had 24 medals overall going into Sunday night, six more than the Germans and 15 more than

fourth-place Canada.

Own the podium? Please. Canada isn't qualified to rent the "P" and the "O."



But that's what Miller, South Buffalo native Patrick Kane, East Amherst-raised Brooks Orpik

and the rest of the Americans were up against. It was a classification game, but the outcome

meant more to Canada than it did anywhere else.

Hockey is the one thing — the one thing — Canada must get right. Now?



The United States advances to the quarterfinals. Canada must play an extra game to reach

the medal round. Both teams remain in contention for all three medals.

Tickets that sold for $5,000 on the street a few days ago were going for $6,000 or more on

a sunny afternoon near the Vancouver Canucks' home.

Imagine the price next week, not to mention the anxiety, if these two hockey superpowers

manage to meet again in the gold medal game. The locals estimate that tickets for the final

game Sunday will sell for $12,000 apiece if Canada is one of the participants, even more if

the Yanks wind up on the other side the opening face-off circle.

Look out, because the bloody Yanks look dangerous.

The win Sunday was their first over Canada in international play since the 2001 world

championships, ending a string of six straight losses.

Brian Rafalski scored 41 seconds into the game while fans were still cheering "Go, Canada."

Rafalski answered again later in the period when fans were still cheering for Eric Staal's

goal.



Drury answered after Dany Heatley tied the game, 2-2. And Miller seemed to have all the

answers en route to 42 saves.

Drury, Miller, sound familiar?



"Absolutely," Kane said. "It's nice to see them step up. Ever since I was a Sabres' fan,

Drury scored big goals. I remember the one against the Rangers. Big goals by him tonight, and

Miller stood on his head."



Team USA General Manager Brian Burke made it clear going into the Winter Games that he

couldn't afford to assemble the top 20 players in red, white and blue and send them against

the stronger, faster, deeper teams from Canada, Russia and beyond. The American team was put

together with specific roles in mind for every player.

Drury, for example, was named to the U.S. team despite a brutal year with the Rangers in a

decision that baffled many. The reason: simple. Burke and U.S. coach Ron Wilson, former

college roommates and blood brothers who wear the Maple Leaf of Toronto in the NHL, wanted a

selfless leader with Olympic experience.

"He has those Mike Eruzione-like qualities," Wilson said of the 1980 U.S. hero. "Diving in

front of shots, blocking them, winning big faceoffs. He's doing a lot of dirty grunt work that

often gets overlooked."



Orpik is being asked to be their shutdown defenseman, providing the same steadiness and

sturdiness as he did for the last two seasons with the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh

Penguins. He was on the ice during the grueling shift late in the game with the Canada

threatening and the United States scrambling.

The United States has produced more medal winners in the Winter Games, but it was an

underdog when this tournament began. In means nothing in the Olympics. Dominik Hasek proved in

the 1998 Nagano Games that one person can make a major difference.

And that brings back us to Miller, who also is wearing No. 39 in this tournament.

"Best I've ever seen," said Kesler, who plays with star Roberto Luongo.

Miller was irked over the Canadians slipping a loonie into center ice in Salt Lake City in

2002 before beating the Americans and standing atop the podium on U.S. soil.

When Sunday rolls around, he's hoping to return the favor.