Canada vs. the USA - an occasion to saviour

Posted: Monday 22nd February 2010 | 5:47

From Ryan Bangs, Sportsbeat, in Vancouver

I'VE been lucky enough to go to my fair share of major sporting events over the past decade - last day of Ashes tests, American football at Wembley, FA Cup finals, even ATP World Tour finals.

SELL-OUT: Tickets for the Canada vs. USA ice hockey match were hot property in Vancouver, Sportsbeat's Ryan Bangs explains why (Getty Images)

However none of them quite matched going to watch ice hockey powerhouses Canada and USA go head-to-head at the Winter Olympics here in Vancouver - and it wasn't even a final.

Although, had you been living in a box for the past week you could have easily mistaken this group match as final such was the atmosphere in and around Canada Hockey Place.

And if you thought the partisan crowd blew the roof off the Vancouver Olympic Centre when their curlers took on Great Britain last night - referred to by one Canadian television channel as Team Scotland - this was something else.

Hockey is a religion in Canada but rarely have I seen a more well-mannered sporting crowd and where as us Brits would have hit the rowdy pubs in preparation, the Canadians popped down to the Olympic flame to get drunk on national pride.

Canadians are uniquely polite and chants of ‘USA, USA' were welcomed just as much ‘Go, Canada, Go', one can't imagine that being the case if Great Britain's footballers were to be drawn again Germany at London 2012.

Although I must take time out to say that had luck been on Britain's two-man bobsleigh team of John Jackson and Dan Money I would have been 117 kilometres away in Whistler for the final two runs without a care for the hockey.

Instead I was part of a crowd which, draped head to toe in their nations colours, was redder than Shaun White's hair and at one stage their frenzied flag waving reached such levels I wanted to steal someone's and join in, unlike IOC president Jacques Rogge who seemed reluctant to match their enthusiasm.

And as far as ice hockey games go it had everything.

The beauty of Real Madrid against Barcelona, the needle of Galatasary versus Fenerbahce, at times the calamity of Kingstonian and Tooting and Mitcham and more drama than EastEnders.

America looked to be cruising to a 4-2 win when Jamie Langenbrunner scored on the power play in the third period but Canada and their partisan crowd had other ideas in the closing stages.

After minutes of concerted pressure the marquee name of Canadian ice hockey Sidney Crosby netted a power play goal to pull his side to within one with three minutes to go.

Canada peppered an outstanding Ryan Miller in the American goal as the tension reached boiling point and the crowd expected a shock comeback inside Canada Hockey Place.

But just when they thought they had found a way through, with 45 seconds left and netminder Martin Brodeur pulled, Ryan Kesler seal a 5-3 win with a fine diving shot into an empty net goal - tiring stuff.

For my sins I backed America to gain revenge on Canada for the Olympic final loss eight years ago in Salt Lake City, not a bad decision, eh!