They wouldn’t let what happened in the
preliminary-round loss happen again. They would make Miller vulnerable.
They would wear him down, knock him out.
And in overtime of this remarkable hockey game, they came at Miller with gold-medal purpose.
And then, in the eighth minute of overtime,
“It feels like a dream,” said Crosby, who hadn’t scored a point in more than 180 minutes.
It is one of those moments in history that every
Canadian will remember. He or she will know exactly where they were and
how they felt the day Crosby scored the gold medal goal.
“None better to score it than him,” forward
newsprint and everywhere across the world. He’s one of those players
who’s a great player and when he gets on this stage, he steps up.
“With him it’s always just a matter of time and
today his time was in overtime. It was pretty awesome for him, and for
this team and for everyone in this country.”
The Winter Olympics couldn’t have asked for a better ending.
Everything that had happened—from
It was as if the Olympics didn’t want to end.
This game was as good as these Games. Crosby’s goal was the perfect ending. It just took a little longer than Canada expected.
The fuse already had been lit about 25 minutes
earlier. The loudest, most raucous party Canada ever has thrown was
24.4 seconds from beginning.
But Canada’s goalie
it needed was one, final smothering save to start the celebration.
Luongo allowed a rare rebound that
A game that was too good to end would continue.
“All we said in the locker room (after regulation)
was that this just means it’s going to feel even better when we win it
in overtime,” said Canada’s Staal.
This may have been the most important moment in the
history of Canadian sports, and when it was over, after every player
was draped with their goal medal, it seemed like nobody wanted to
leave. Ever.
People would have stayed here all night, held a
“This country loves hockey and loves everything
about hockey players,” said Staal, who was stoned by Miller on a
late-game breakaway. “And for us to be able to come into this
environment and deliver, and for me to be part of it, is definitely an
honor.”
How long had Canadian sports fans waited for this
moment on their soil? Since Vancouver was awarded the Games in 2003?
Or, more likely, forever?
If the 2010 Winter Olympics needed this final
Canadian gold to define their success, then the Vancouver Games,
despite its bad beginnings, were an unquestioned triumph.
Canada recovered from a tragic start. It didn’t “Own
the Podium,” as was promised, but it owned the top rung of the podium,
finishing with a Games-high 14 gold medals.
“It’s great just to know we were part of that,” defenseman
After the medal ceremony, after one more Canadian crowd sang one final chilling “O Canada,”
All of them held the flag aloft and skated a victory semi-lap as if it the flag were the Stanley Cup.
It wasn’t. It was better.
“To wrap up the entire Olympics with a gold medal,
that’s pretty special,” Iginla said. “But what I’m really proud of is
just being a Canadian and being part of all the gold medals, not just
the hockey gold medal. We’d never won gold here before in Canada and
then for the country to do what we did, it’s an amazing feeling.”
For Canada, this is the feeling of a lifetime.
North American rivals
Year Result
2010 Canada 3, USA 2 (OT) X
2010 USA 5, Canada 3
2002 Canada 5, USA, 2 X
1998 Canada 4, USA 1
1994 Canada 3, USA 3
1984 Canada 4, USA 2
1968 Canada 3, USA 2
1964 Canada 8, USA 6
1960 USA 2, Canada 1
1956 USA 4, Canada 1
1952 Canada 3, USA 3
1948 Canada 12, USA 3
1936 Canada 1, USA 0
1932 Canada 2, USA 1, OT
1932 Canada 2, USA 2, OT
1924 Canada 6, USA 1
1920 Canada 2, USA 0
X- Gold medal game.
USA record: 3-10-3
—
(c) 2010, The Seattle Times.
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