Stephen Brunt is a writer for the Globe and Mail and just a few days before the games in Vancouver came to a close he penned this essay on the Winter Olympics. It was put to an excellent video and music tribute to the games and goes along way to explaining what made these games so great and so special.
I fully intend on writing a review of my own in the coming days once the dust fully settles and I can properly look back on it. It was a brilliant games and it’s going to be fun to sum up after all this blogging.
Well, no doubt about it, the Sunday afternoon of the 28 February 2010 will go down in my book as one of the most dramatic sporting experiences of my life. Up there with the best of them and certainly (a couple of Belfast Giants memories aside) the greatest Hockey moment of my life.
I say the Belfast Giants aside due to my love of that team during my eight years of following them intensely while still back in Northern Ireland when I poured thousands of pounds and thousands of hours into following them at home, across the UK and even through Europe where I gathered a few memories that’ll last forever.
Sunday though was one I’ll never forget either. Those sort of sentiments, “the greatest Hockey moment of my life” etc. are thrown around too easy, too often by people, but on Sunday afternoon in a bar in Toronto there is no doubt that everyone present will remember it for a long time. These sort of moments come once in a generation and it’ll take some beating.
It wasn’t just the game itself or the drama of the overtime victory because those sort of wins will happen again, heck Canada could win the 2014 games in overtime 5-4 over the Russian’s and it still likely won’t beat this one. Or maybe that’s just me talking a few days after the event and those sentiments will change in years to come as future games come and go. But I doubt it.
This whole game was special because of the scenario around it. It was the Olympic Games, they were in Canada, it was the final event of a magnificent two weeks of athletic achievement, it was Canada looking for their 14th Gold medal of the games that would break the record for the most Gold medals won at a Winter Olympics by a nation ever. It was the U.S.A. as the opponent, the team that had beaten Canada in the group stages and it was a game that had been built up more than any Hockey game I had ever seen – the pressure on the players was immense.
On top of all that was the location I Was watching it at. While the arena was packed in Vancouver, and the big screens across that city crammed with fans, there were bars across the entire nation filled to the brim with people in Canadian shirts waving Canadian flags, with their faces painted and hoping for the party of their lives and homes filled with people on th edges of their seats. I was one of the many in a pub and one of the millions wearing a Team Canada shirt. My pub was the Loose Moose on Front Street Toronto and for a while I didn’t think I’d even get in.
Mix all of that together and and for the icing on top consider the game itself – one of the best displays of attacking Hockey from both sides full of star players you’ll see with a few dramatic twists and turns to boot.
The plan was to get down there about an hour before faceoff, grab a seat, get some grub and then find a good spot near a big screen to watch the game. I arrived outside the bar about an hour and forty minute prior to faceoff only to be hit with a line about 30 meters long that stretched down Front Street to the corner of University Ave. The atmosphere outside was great, everyone was pumped for the games and cars would drive past blasting their horns getting a rise out of the crowd. The line moved slowly however and when it came to an hour and ten before faceoff I started to grow concerned. Last thing I needed was to spend the hour prior to the game running around Toronto looking for a television to watch the game.
Then, a friend of one of the parties in my group who was already inside, looked out and pointed us out to the doorman and we were called to the front, had our hands stamped and pushed inside. A fantastic start.
Post-grub, we walked up to the big screen by the bar and found a standing spot within good view of that screen and a few other televisions and waited the start of the game. The crowd was now huge and it was certainly no place for someone who suffers from claustrophobia. Suddenly the crowd burst into a chorus of “Oh Canada,” the Canadian National Anthem which came to an end just as the puck hit the ice and battle commenced.
It was a cagy start by both teams but that kind of play didn’t last long as they traded chances. The checking was hard and it kept up throughout the game. The speed was intense, the passing on and you could tell from early on it would be a great game to watch and a close game at that. Canadian fans hoping for a start like the start against Russia earlier in the week when the Canadians tore them to shreds was not going to happen – this American team was to well coached and prepared.
Canada took a two goal lead though, the bar going wild with joy each time the puck hit the net. The flags waived, people jumped around and beer spillage could likely be measured by the litre rather than in drops. The first goal came from Jonathan Toews after superb work from Mike Richards to win the puck. This line of Richards – Toews – Nash had been put together midway through the tournament as the forth line – looked on to check a little and perhaps contribute on offence if they could. As it turns out, for the rest of the tournament, they were Canada’s best forward line. Richard’s grinding, Toews skill and Nash’s size combined brilliantly for the Canadian team.
Corey Perry made it 2-0 when he scored on a rebound and from that moment you could sense quite a few people could taste victory. “The U.S.A. had been great in this tournament but there was no way they were coming back from this against the mighty Canadians.” That was the feeling you got as the chanting got louder the flag waving more frequent and the clock ticked down. I wasn’t as sure, “Still a long way to go and they always say a two goal lead is the worst lead of all.” That is very true you know. A one goal lead and you work hard to defend it, a three goal lead and it probably is in the bag, but a two goal lead and you can sometimes start to believe it is over, however, in Hockey a goal can happen in a split second and before you know it, it’s 2-1 and suddenly they are another split second away from tying it up.
And so it happened.
The States brought it back to 2-1 and the crowd, for a moment looked a touch nervous. The alcohol kicked in however and the noise levels went up again as we headed into the final moments. The flag waving was going at a furious rate now and the girl standing in front of me had climbed onto the bar to wave her large Canadian flag. This is okay between play, during commercial breaks or while the players are in the dressing room between periods but during play? It didn’t block my view but I’m sure someone was missing the action though most people seemed to intoxicated to care.
Now, I’m not someone who believes in jinxing a game or an event by making a few comments, but even I should have known better and perhaps even felt like I was chancing my arm when I took out my camera and started recording the crowd and the big screen during the final minute of play. I was duly punished when Zach Parise put the rebound past Luongo and forced the game into overtime. The bar went silent and I quickly and quietly slide the camera back into my pocket. This wasn’t the first time in my life I have committed such an error. Back in July 2000 I was at a friends house cheering for Italy in the final of the European Championships against France with Italy leading the game. Me and a fellow friend supporting Italy decided to get a joint photo in front of the television pointing at the score … moments later France tied the game, forced golden-goal extra-time and went on to win it.
I wouldn’t have dared mention any of this had it not been for what was to follow in over-time. Canada came out for the four-on-four twenty minute overtime like a team possessed. With a man short each and more room to move on the ice the Canadian team of superstars looked dominant. They had a host of players who could take a good hard shift at four-on-four and they went at it. The passing was better than never, the speed quicker still and the ice appeared to slop steeply in the direction of Ryan Miller’s goal.
Then Crosby rushed up the ice working the puck into the far corner of the rink. It got caught up in the referee’s skate just briefly as I yelled something to the effect of, “Get out of the way ref” … The puck broke to Jarome Iginla in the corner who we later found out after the game heard someone yelling “Iggy, Iggy,” and knowing the pitch of the voice likely meant someone had got a step on his marker, he fed the puck in the direction of the sound. The voice doing the yelling was Sidney Crosby’s, the puck hit his stick and in one quick motion he moved it with speed towards the goal and perhaps for the first time in this entire tournament the American goalie Ryan Miller was beaten by a shot he would love to have had back – right through his five-hole.
The bar went – to coin a Northern Irish phrase – buck daft as people climbed up onto the bar to dance. The flags went into overdrive and the cheering got to a deafening stage. People I never knew were high-fiving me, hugging me and yelling with delight in my face. I grabbed my camera again and started recording the magic all around me as people overcome with joy cheering, almost in disbelief, at what had just happened. In dramatic fashion Canada had blown a two goal lead only to win it in sudden death overtime through, who else, but Sidney Crosby.
Crosby is the Golden kid of Canadian Hockey in the 21st century. A player who has been in the spotlight since before he was even a teenager. Watched intently through his Junior years he was said by some to be the next Gretzky. Now that is a huge title to live up to and while Crosby has not become the next Gretzky, rather the first Crosby, he certainly knows how to play big when it matters. He had been pretty quiet through the tournament so far – few goals, few standout moments but rather a solid team roll that sometimes is required by even the best players for a multi-talented team to win. But when they needed the biggest goal in Canadian Hockey for a generation, he came good and in his interview after claimed he didn’t even see it hit the net.
In 1972 Canada beat the Russian’s in the summit series in what Canadians call the greatest Hockey games ever played. Goals from Paul Henderson back then – a solid, but far from superstar NHLer – went down in history as the biggest in the nations history and the debates following this goal was whether Crosby’s goal in this game would stand up in comparison? Why not? Crosby is no solid every day NHL player, he is the face of the game along with Russian Alex Ovechkin and it seems, if not fitting, but some kind of fate that it would be he who would step up in sudden death overtime of the Gold medal game of the Olympics being held in Canada, to win it for Canada. After becoming the youngest Captain ever to captain his club to the Stanley Cup last season he has now gone and done this and cemented his place in the annuls of Hockey history.
But let’s not take away from the fine team performance. Not a single player had a sub-par game – there was nobody you could say the rest of the team had to cover for – and everyone chipped in with the rolls they were required to do. From Richard’s incessant forechecking to Ryan Getzlaf’s hard work to 20-year old Drew Doughty’s coming out party as perhaps the most talented young defenseman in many years, everyone came good when it counted. Sure they blew the lead, but when it really was on the line in the 4-on-4 overtime, Canada took the game to a whole new level and put on a clinic of exhibition Hockey.
Back in the bar the celebrations raged on. Nobody seemed to have enough of cheering, flag waving and hugging strangers and the only thing left to do was to take the party to the streets. An announcement over the bars PA system informed everyone that the police had closed Front Street and that there was a street party going on. We poured out into the street to jump around some more and get hugged by more strangers.
Not long after – and due to not having a coat – I hit the subway and headed home while thousands redirected their celebrations to the Yonge/Dundas square were partying went on for hours and hours after – even a game of street hockey broke out in the middle of Yonge Street.
When I got home I turned on the news, seen the goal again – a few dozen times – and heard the opinions of many; from the great and the good of Hockey to the average fan on the street.
In years to come the clip of Crosby’s goal will be shown again and again and the images of the fans in the stadiums and the ones surrounding the large screens throughout Vancouver who erupted in celebration will be remembered forever. For me though, it won’t just be the goal that I remember or even the game itself for that matter, but the location were it was watched, the people all around that bar who also erupted in celebration as Canada, on their own turf/ice made history by winning their 14th Gold medal of the games – a record by any nation at a Winter Olympics – and of course, the occasion. It was the grand achievement that captured my imagination and joy in the bar that day, more-so than just winning a big Hockey game against the States and even as a Flyers fan I was, for a few hours anyway, a Crosby fan.
Below is some of the video footage from the Loose Moose that day:
Canada have never had a medal haul like this in one day after the Canadian Curling boys beat the Norway team 6-3 in tonight’s final. Canada were in control for the most part of the game and took a three point lead going into the final end which they comfortably held onto. It was also the countries 13th Gold medal of the game tying a record set by the USSR and Norway for the most Gold’s ever in a single Winter Olympics with a chance to better it in tomorrow’s Hockey final against the U.S.A. Canada have also won more Gold’s as a host nation than any nation before them. Like all other athletes from Canada who have won Gold in these games the Curling team got a rosing rendition of “Oh Canada” sung to them by the massive crowd packed into the building which included the Prime Minister, the Team Canada coach Mike Babcock and actor Donald Sutherland.
The only other event left today is the Bronze medal game between Slovakia and Finland in the Hockey and tomorrow we’ll have the grueling 50 km men’s Cross Country race followed by the Gold medal Hockey match.
It is now official. Canada can not be beaten to the top of the Gold Medal table and today will be remembered as the day they officially got it done – and in dramatic fashion about which I have already described. Of course it wouldn’t be fair on the other ten Gold’s that have come from other days in the games for forget their massive contribution and even yesterday when they picked up another two Golds will be remembered for along time for its drama. With just three Gold Medal’s left to be won and Canada in two of the finals they are nicely set to break the all-time record for Gold’s won, while Germany, the second place team on Golds have only a chance to Gold medal in the 50 km Cross-Country Ski race tomorrow afternoon.
In one of the most dramatic moments of the games so far Canada all but locked up the Gold Medal table by winning two Golds in two different events in the space of about five minutes and with the Curling boys still to come in the final of that in less than an hour.
I spent the time on the sofa fighting with the channels to try and fit both events in but thankfully whatever way they came together neither overlapped and the nation got to see both. First up was the men’s long-track team pursuit Speed Skating and it was a Canada v USA final. The Canadians went off hard from the start and quickly built up a three-quarters of a second lead on the American team who then spent the rest of the race slowing closing the gap. Canada kept pushing though and against my fears refused to blow up and lose serious ground. The crowd were cheering them on with the Prime Minister and other athletes in the stands and the boys held on winning by just 0.21 of a second. Too close for comfort but a win nonetheless.
The race and just about finished and we seen them do a quick lap of honor before jumping across to the top of the hill for the men’s Snowboarding parallel giant slalom. The first run had taken place before the Speed Skating final and it hadn’t gone so well for JJ Anderson as he came in 0.76 of a second behind his opponent, Austrian Benjamin Karl. Karl had done the first run on the faster course so it was likely Anderson would make up time but could he make up enough and then move ahead? I didn’t see it but thankfully Anderson did and put in the run of a lifetime. It was one of them runs were he could go for broke, if he fell he could get up, cruise down the hill and take the Silver he was guaranteed so on this run he could leave it all on the hill. The Austrian got the 0.76 head start but by halfway down the hill Anderson was on him and when he hit the line he had beaten Karl by 0.35. An incredible run and another big Gold for Canada. They may not be winning the total medal table, but they are winning the actual events more than others.
Ironically Canada looks set to top the medal table almost everywhere in the World apart from North America where they judge total medals won, not Golds. So if you’re anywhere in the World except here, Canada have indeed “Owned the Podium”. I’m sure the medal table can be adjusted to suit.
It doesn’t make sense to rank it by total medals anyway. They perhaps should give five points for a Gold, three for a Silver and one for a Bronze or just stick with the most Golds. Is it right that a country that gets 30 Bronze medals should finish higher in the table than Canada who are now on 12 Golds? Then again, is it right that Britain, with one Gold should be ranked ahead of a team that wins 10 Silvers? The points system seems good, but ranking it by Golds is definitely better than ranking it by totals. Winning is what matters most.
Anyway, what a dramatic few minutes of racing in two completely different sports. Now Canada go for Gold in the Bobsleigh (they currently sit 2nd after three runs and the Silver looks more likely) but are in the final of the Curling and the Hockey and Golds in both would break the record for the most Golds by a nation in an Olympics ever.
It is hard to convey just how Canadian these Winter Games have been.
Multi-Olympic veterans to whom I’ve spoken are in awe of it. Even Canadians seem occasionally taken aback. Vancouver is a city painted red and white, partying long and loud into every night on the crest of a wave of national fervour. Each gold medal is a new excuse for Canada to celebrate the fact of its existence.
I have sat and watched as floods of fans transformed empty venues into a seething mass of maple leaves – nowhere more so than the Olympic ice hockey arena, Canada Hockey Place, for the women’s gold medal game on Thursday.
— Ollie Williams, BBC.co.uk, 27 Feb ‘10
A great blow by Ollie Williams of the BBC on whether the British fans can replicate the patriotism shown by the Canadian fans in these games. I have to say as a non-Canadian now living in Canada and wanting to see them do well, I have been blown away by how incredible the support at every event has been and I haven’t even had the pleasure of being out and about on the streets of Vancouver and Whistler.
