BEIJING – Let the games begin. 

The second-guessing games that come on the heels of any tough loss.

While the U.S. Women’s Olympic Team fought back tears and searched for the right words to articulate the indescribable emotions of the moment, questions arose about just what went wrong or, if you want to be politically correct, what didn’t go according to plan, in the team’s 3-2 loss to Canada in the gold-medal game.

Joel Johnson understands better than most that it comes with the territory. With more than 20 years of experience behind the bench at the collegiate and international levels, he knows coaches get too much credit when their team wins and shoulder most of the burden of blame when things don’t go their way.

And coaching a powerhouse program like the U.S. Women’s Team on the biggest stage in sports, the questions and critiques are part of the job.

“As a coach, you always say shoulda, coulda, woulda in any situation,” Johnson said at the postgame press conference. “Line combinations and ice time are always one of those things that when you win, nobody asks the question. When you don’t win, all of a sudden everybody’s got curious.”

That’s a good thing. It means people care about women’s hockey. And nobody cares more about the game than these 23 athletes and the coaching staff who have given their hearts and souls over the last four years to make this dream a reality.

It’s not like the U.S. didn’t have its chances. As long as we’re playing guessing games, one can only wonder how things could have been different if Hannah Brandt’s shot three minutes into the game had been an inch closer to the net instead of bouncing off the outside of the post.

“We just needed stuff to go just a little bit,” Brandt said. “One inch changes a lot.”

And how big of a difference did Brianna Decker’s injury play in the outcome? In an all-hands-on-deck situation like a gold-medal game, having the ultimate warrior in women’s hockey in the trenches with you is a good feeling.

Decker was hurt 10 minutes into the first game of the tournament and while her presence in the locker room and around the athletes’ village was huge, her absence on the ice was a big loss.

“To lose your top player, who is one of the best players in the world, definitely hurt our team,” said Amanda Kessel. “We did our best to try to come together and I'm proud of our team for sticking together through it all.”

Injuries are a part of the game when you’re playing high-level hockey and the successful teams are the ones who employ the next man up (or in this case the woman) to step in and fill the void.

Questioning a coach’s decision on who to start between the pipes could be an Olympic sport all on its own, and when you’re blessed with three of the best in the game, there is always room for second guessing.