The University of Maine men’s hockey team kept tabs on the Winter Olympics and the players said they were surprised the Canadian and American teams were eliminated in the quarterfinals.

Maine has 14 Canadians and 13 Americans on its roster.

“I was really surprised. But things happen,” said junior left wing Josh Soares of Hamilton, Ontario. “It just goes to show that you have to show up every night [ready] to play. I watched the Canadian game a bit [2-0 loss to Russia in the quarterfinals] and they didn’t look like they were putting forth the effort. That’s a good learning experience for us, actually. You’ve got to show up to play every day to be successful against anybody.”

The Canadians, one of the gold medal favorites, were shut out three times in six games.

“With that talent, I expected at least three or four goals a game from them and they would be the ones getting the shutouts with [Martin] Brodeur in goal. It just wasn’t meant to be. They didn’t have the chemistry and everything going. So it’s just how it ended up,” said Soares.

He said the U.S. team came “together a little bit better toward the end, but they didn’t really have the goaltending and the overall talent some of the other teams had. They were still a great team, obviously, but it was more of a transition year for them. They had a few younger guys coming in and a few older guys. Probably by the next Olympics, they’ll be one of the top-end teams again.”

The 2010 Winter Olympics are in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Junior left wing Keith Johnson of Windsor, Conn., said, “You’ve got to respect the European countries. They play better on the big [Olympic-sized] ice. That benefits them. Their skill took over.”

Johnson thought the U.S. team played well despite its 1-3-1 record in round-robin play and subsequent 4-3 loss to Group A unbeaten Finland in the quarterfinals.

“The U.S. lost most of their games by one goal. They were in the games. They were missing that one guy who could step up and score. They didn’t have a lot of finishers,” said Johnson.

All four of the U.S. losses were by one goal.

Johnson said he thought the Canadians were the favorites.

“They were the defending champs, but when I saw that matchup against Russia in the quarters, I said, ‘Wow, the U.S. or Canada might not even make it,'” said Johnson.

Junior defenseman Mike Lundin of Apple Valley, Minn., said it was “kind of depressing” that the U.S. and Canada failed to advance.

“The U.S. didn’t have a good opening go-about [3-3 tie with heavy underdog Latvia]. But they showed some promise,” said Lundin, who felt the U.S. played admirably in their 5-4 loss to Russia in round-robin play and 4-3 loss to Finland in the quarters.

He thought goal scoring and goaltending were their weaknesses.

“A more dominant goaltender would have helped,” said Lundin.

He considered the Canadians a favorite and expected them “to be in there until the end.”

He never fathomed that the Canadians would be shut out all three times “with all their scoring and all that talent up front.”

Senior right wing John Hopson of Prince George, British Columbia, and junior right wing Mike Hamilton of Victoria, British Columbia, were also miffed by Canada’s inability to score.

“That was crazy. With all that firepower, you’d never think that would have happened,” said Hamilton.

“I was very surprised. I expected Canada to go all the way,” said Hopson.

Senior defenseman Travis Wight said he knew the U.S. team wasn’t as strong as the 2002 team in Salt Lake City.

“They had a lot of young guys this time. They weren’t no-names, but they weren’t as high caliber as they usually have,” said Wight. “I was surprised they were out. I was surprised Finland was that good.”

He thought the Canadians played “terrible” in their loss to Russia.

“Their offense…it seemed like they weren’t trying. The effort wasn’t that good,” said Wight.