Photo: Paul Chiasson, AP
In case you missed it while you were at work like I was, Highlands Ranch native and sophomore DU forward Troy Terry made the internet explode a little while ago with this shootout heroics during the United States’ World Junior Championship Semifinal game against Russia.
Team USA and Russia played a close game through regulation and overtime and they came out of overtime tied at 3. Through the first five rounds of the shootout, the teams were tied at 2, thanks to goals from Terry and Jeremy Bracco. For the final two rounds, USA (and SCSU) coach Bob Motzko tabbed Terry to go win the game for the Americans.
And boy, did he ever:
Troy Terry’s first shootout goal to keep the USA alive was a thing of beauty! #WJC2017pic.twitter.com/AlQvS2al1v
— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) January 4, 2017
Here’s the second Terry goal that extended the shootout for USA. Just nasty pic.twitter.com/1ZQYYOMRW0
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) January 4, 2017
Troy Terry beats Russia with his third goal in the shootout. USA advances to gold medal game pic.twitter.com/m6XBLHIk9y
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) January 4, 2017
🇺🇸 DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES 🇺🇸https://t.co/vNvR3259aKpic.twitter.com/3WyGYwwErG
— SB Nation NHL (@SBNationNHL) January 4, 2017
Team USA celebrates. #WJC2017pic.twitter.com/KaahLqjV7f
— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) January 4, 2017
The best part of the entire thing was the reaction from all over social media:
Troy Terry
— Auston Matthews (@AM34) January 4, 2017
I did not know that Tj Oshie was playing for USA tonight what an unbelievable performance by Troy Terry on to gold medal game. Congrats
— MIKE ERUZIONE (@MERUZIONE) January 4, 2017
Trevor Moore’s reaction to @tterry28‘s heroics today: https://t.co/a8PezKe7Jg
(h/t @HockeyCrock)
— LetsGoDU (@LetsGoDU) January 5, 2017
And then there’s this gem from Terry, himself to put a cap on the whole event:
@AM34 I love you
— Troy Terry (@tterry28) January 5, 2017
Team USA’s journey isn’t over yet thanks to Terry. The United States will play in tomorrow’s WJC Gold Medal game against the winner of this evening’s Canada-Sweden game. It will be televised on NHL Network. Even before his heroics today, Terry had been having a great tournament with 3G-3A-6P for Team USA. You won’t want to miss his last game with Team USA before he returns to Denver this weekend.
Troy Terry’s performance in the clutch moments to win a major international tournament agasint a a great foe, is with no exaggeration, one of the greatest single performances in the history DU player in international competition.
DU’s greatest international performances are obviously gold medals at the Olympic Games. There are two gold medalists in DU history – Jerome Biffle, who won the long jump at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, and the Vince Boryla, who helped led Team USA to gold in the 1948 Summer Games in London, but did not score more than points in any single Olympic contest. Since Biffle won Goldin an individual sport, it ranks alone in the DU pantheon of performance, with Boryla close by in second. I might also asterisk the list with DU alum Craig Patrick’s performance as the assistant coach of the gold medal “Miracle on Ice” team in the 1980 Olympics behind head coacing legend Herb Brooks, but Patrick was not an athlete at those games.
Ron Naslund won a silver medal with Team USA Hockey at the 1972 Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan, but he was a grinder and not a scorer. Paul Stastny won a silver medal in the 2010 Games with Team USA in Vancouver, too. And Antii Laaksonen won a silver in 2006 with Finland in Torino, Italy, Some 50 other Pioneers have made it to the Olympic Games in various sports and and years, but none of them have stood on the podium with a medal, save the ones I’ve already mentioned.
And while the World Junior Hockey Tournament is not the Olympics, it is the third best tournament in men’s hockey, after the Olympics and World Cup of Hockey, which are both best-on-best full-grown men men’s competitions.
There have been some Pioneer gold medals at the World Juniors, including Matt Carle winning gold on in 2004 for Team USA as well as Jason Zucker and Matt Donovan winning gold for the USA in 2010 in Saskatoon, but none of those three guys ever scored three goals in a shoot out to beat Russia in the medal round, as Troy Terry did today.
Unless someone else has a better nomination, I am going to rank Terry’s performance #6 all time among DU performances.
1. Jerome Biffle – Ind. gold USA, long jump, Helsinki Olympics, 1952
2. Vince Boryla – USA gold, basketball, London Olympics, 1948
3. Paul Stastny – USA silver, ice hockey, Vancouver Olympics, 2010
4. Antii Laaksonen – Finland silver, ice hockey, Torino Olympics, 2006
5. Ron Naslund, USA silver, ice hockey, Sapporo Olympics, 1972
6. Troy Terry, USA silver or gold, 3 for 3 including game winner in shootout in medal semi final vs Russia, Montreal, 2017
Hey Swami, As usual lists have all types of interpretations as to who goes where on a list. I would have to move Troy Terry up to #2. My reasoning is yes, Jerome Biffle won an individual event but he won the event based on his abilities, Troy won a game that guaranteed the USA a gold or silver medal. Yes, he is part of team like the other players you listed but the other players were not singled out to do what Troy did. At one point Coach Motzko thought or said Troy, you’re my guy, go get it done. Having played college hockey myself I tried not to put any one teammates contribution above the teams collective good. However, in this case like TJ Oshie, he was called on in special situation to deliver and he did! Go DU!
Troy Terry’s performance in the clutch moments to win a major international tournament agasint a a great foe, is with no exaggeration, one of the greatest single performances in the history DU player in international competition.
DU’s greatest international performances are obviously gold medals at the Olympic Games. There are two gold medalists in DU history – Jerome Biffle, who won the long jump at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, and the Vince Boryla, who helped led Team USA to gold in the 1948 Summer Games in London, but did not score more than points in any single Olympic contest. Since Biffle won Goldin an individual sport, it ranks alone in the DU pantheon of performance, with Boryla close by in second. I might also asterisk the list with DU alum Craig Patrick’s performance as the assistant coach of the gold medal “Miracle on Ice” team in the 1980 Olympics behind head coacing legend Herb Brooks, but Patrick was not an athlete at those games.
Ron Naslund won a silver medal with Team USA Hockey at the 1972 Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan, but he was a grinder and not a scorer. Paul Stastny won a silver medal in the 2010 Games with Team USA in Vancouver, too. And Antii Laaksonen won a silver in 2006 with Finland in Torino, Italy, Some 50 other Pioneers have made it to the Olympic Games in various sports and and years, but none of them have stood on the podium with a medal, save the ones I’ve already mentioned.
And while the World Junior Hockey Tournament is not the Olympics, it is the third best tournament in men’s hockey, after the Olympics and World Cup of Hockey, which are both best-on-best full-grown men men’s competitions.
There have been some Pioneer gold medals at the World Juniors, including Matt Carle winning gold on in 2004 for Team USA as well as Jason Zucker and Matt Donovan winning gold for the USA in 2010 in Saskatoon, but none of those three guys ever scored three goals in a shoot out to beat Russia in the medal round, as Troy Terry did today.
Unless someone else has a better nomination, I am going to rank Terry’s performance #6 all time among DU performances.
1. Jerome Biffle – Ind. gold USA, long jump, Helsinki Olympics, 1952
2. Vince Boryla – USA gold, basketball, London Olympics, 1948
3. Paul Stastny – USA silver, ice hockey, Vancouver Olympics, 2010
4. Antii Laaksonen – Finland silver, ice hockey, Torino Olympics, 2006
5. Ron Naslund, USA silver, ice hockey, Sapporo Olympics, 1972
6. Troy Terry, USA silver or gold, 3 for 3 including game winner in shootout in medal semi final vs Russia, Montreal, 2017
Hey Swami, As usual lists have all types of interpretations as to who goes where on a list. I would have to move Troy Terry up to #2. My reasoning is yes, Jerome Biffle won an individual event but he won the event based on his abilities, Troy won a game that guaranteed the USA a gold or silver medal. Yes, he is part of team like the other players you listed but the other players were not singled out to do what Troy did. At one point Coach Motzko thought or said Troy, you’re my guy, go get it done. Having played college hockey myself I tried not to put any one teammates contribution above the teams collective good. However, in this case like TJ Oshie, he was called on in special situation to deliver and he did! Go DU!
I took the liberty of cutting a video for Troy Terry’s performance. I might have written a word or two, also.
http://thesportsdaily.com/goonsworld-blog/troy-terrys-shootout-effort-against-russia/
I took the liberty of cutting a video for Troy Terry’s performance. I might have written a word or two, also.
http://thesportsdaily.com/goonsworld-blog/troy-terrys-shootout-effort-against-russia/
Jessica Lopez finishing 7th in the all-around competition in the last Olympic games deserves to be ahead of all of the hockey moments above, perhaps even #1. Did you forget her?
….sorry for bad description…didn’t mention that Jessica competed in gymnastics…should be obvious, but thought I’d clarify. Although she didn’t win a medal, I think it’s still far more impressive than getting a silver in a team sport.
I took Jessica Lopez’ wonderful 2016 Olympic achievement under consideration. It was a great performance to be sure, especially at age 30, when most gymnasts are long since done with the sport.
But in the end, at least for me, being seventh at the Olympics is a stunning achievement, but it’s not quite as good as being on the podium in the Olympic Games. The medals are why we compete, and Olympic medalists are the 1% among the Olympic elite.
What Troy Terry did this week in Canada is certainly amazing, too, but even a world junior gold and two shootout game-winners to win that medal is not better an Olympic Silver Medal for the simple reason that Olympic medals are won by beating the best men in the world, not the world’s best teenagers. I am sure even Troy Terry would agree…
Jessica Lopez finishing 7th in the all-around competition in the last Olympic games deserves to be ahead of all of the hockey moments above, perhaps even #1. Did you forget her?
….sorry for bad description…didn’t mention that Jessica competed in gymnastics…should be obvious, but thought I’d clarify. Although she didn’t win a medal, I think it’s still far more impressive than getting a silver in a team sport.
I took Jessica Lopez’ wonderful 2016 Olympic achievement under consideration. It was a great performance to be sure, especially at age 30, when most gymnasts are long since done with the sport.
But in the end, at least for me, being seventh at the Olympics is a stunning achievement, but it’s not quite as good as being on the podium in the Olympic Games. The medals are why we compete, and Olympic medalists are the 1% among the Olympic elite.
What Troy Terry did this week in Canada is certainly amazing, too, but even a world junior gold and two shootout game-winners to win that medal is not better an Olympic Silver Medal for the simple reason that Olympic medals are won by beating the best men in the world, not the world’s best teenagers. I am sure even Troy Terry would agree…