Even after the heroics of T.J. Oshie and an undefeated group play round that showed what the US hockey team could do, it came up short once again. This time, however, the Americans left Sochi without a medal.

With high expectations to start the tournament that grew even higher after a 3-0 start, the US looked good against the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals, winning 5-2 with ease and showing why their offense had scored the most goals to that point. However, that’s where things ended for the Americans.

It was Canada, who once again crushed the Americans’ hopes of winning a gold medal. This time it was in the semifinal round with a 1-0 defensive showdown and the Canadians moved on to play Sweden in the finals. Goalie Jonathan Quick and the defense played well against the loaded Canadian offense, allowing just one goal on 37 shots. It was surprisingly the offense who couldn’t get anything together and was ultimately shut out.

For Canada, it was once again onto the gold medal game, looking for their second straight gold and this time against Sweden. For the Swedes, it went from bad to worse. Already without Johan Franzen, Henrik Sedin, and Henrik Zetterberg, the team lost Capitals star Nicklas Backstrom to failed drug test before the game and as the Swedes were already underdogs, the loss of Backstrom all but handed the gold to Canada before the game began. Scoring in each of the three periods, the Canadians received goals from Jonathan Toews and Sidney Crosby, their two biggest stars in the biggest game of the tournament en route to a 3-0 shutdown of the Swedes.

For the United States, it only got uglier as Finland manhandled the Americans in a 5-0 blowout to take the bronze medal. At times, the US looked like the Caps in the playoffs, getting no quality shots on goal and falling flat when they needed to win the most.

After the scoreless first period, Finland opened the game up in the second, scoring goals just 11 seconds apart on back-to-back shots that took whatever life was left in the US away. The rest of the game was all Finland as Teemu Selanne tore apart the US defense, scoring two goals in his sixth Olympic appearance.

While the US was able to win when they were supposed to, they came up short in the games that mattered the most. Signs of the poor offense showed against Russia but became obvious after being shut out and embarrassed in their final two games and going home without a medal. As for the Canadians, they were the best team in the Sochi, never trailing and playing consistently throughout with their stars taking over when they needed them to.

The US will now need to wait another four years before the team can try to capture that all elusive gold medal in PyeongChang, South Korea, but its task may be even harder as the NHL considers a ban on professional players in the Olympics which would just add to the tough assignment they already face.