They crapped the bed in the USA game and played ok against the Russians. IMO they played one bad game in the tourney and they could easily have won the bronze with a puck hitting the post and going in instead of staying out. Grigorenko was johnny on the spot to save the game in OT... without that we'd be talking about "bronze aint all that bad."
Other teams want it just as bad and the Canadians just didn't have it when it counted the most... lack of heart? Maybe. Thinking they were collectively by far the most talented team and not playing balls to the wall hard out to put that talent to full use? Maybe.
You can make lots of excuses and place blame everywhere and complain how they were expected to do better with all that talent but when it's a one-game winner-take-all format... the "best" teams don't always come out in top in that environment. It's the team that wants it the most on the day and that plays up to and beyond their abilities. USA did that and Russia did that (barely).
Canada beat both the USA and Russia earlier but of course all we look at is when the medal is on the line... as it should be, but that doesn't mean the team was *******.
Binnington let in a couple softies, Murphy made a big mistake.... other key players weren't as good as expected outside the PP. Overall just not quite good enough to win on the day. I still don't think it's a massive collapse. They came 4th... not 10th.
No excuses this year but I fully expect the team to be right back in the gold medal game again next year and they'll likely use this to help fuel their hunger next time. A 14 year medal streak ends... next year it begins again.