Canada reward their faithful with thrilling Olympic hockey gold

From James Toney, Sportsbeat, at Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver

"GEOGRAPHY has made us neighbours. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies." 

What John F Kennedy forgot to add, when he talked about US-Canadian relations just under half a century ago, was that hockey had made also them enemies and Vancouver's Olympics will have only enhanced that legend.

JOY: It was Canada fans celebrating as star forward Sidney Crosby secured a thrilling overtime win over the USA to capture the men's Olympic hockey title (Getty Images)

Canadians think they've been the butt of jokes from their neighbours to the south for far too long and this was the chance to finally wipe that smirk from their face.

And after a tense 3-2 overtime victory in a thrilling men's Olympic ice hockey final, that neutrals will have never wanted to end, they were finally giggling all the way to gold.

A sea of red shirts snaked their way from Vancouver's downtown to Canada Hockey Place, swept along by a renewed sense of national pride and tidal wave of expectation and optimism.

In a country where hockey is a religion, these lucky chosen ones, plus hundreds of thousands watching in packed bars around the city and millions viewing on television across the country, were the true believers.

They carried banners which stated ‘Our Game, Our Gold', because if there is one thing in which they can always claim a sense of superiority over America, it's their status as the cradle of a sport that has become more than a national obsession.

It's just an irony that a country known for its unfailing politeness should excel at a game of such brute force and aggression.

The faithful didn't need the announcer to plea for them to ‘make some noise', raising the roof when Jonathan Toews finally breached the resolve of US goal ie Ryan Miller after less than 13 minutes and blowing it clean off when Corey Perry doubled the advantage, after pouncing on Duncan Keith's initial shot.

It was all in stark contrast to the shocked sound of silence when Ryan Kesler pounced and took advantage of some dubious work by Canada goalie Roberto Luongo - whose place on the team has been the subject of much debate. It was to be a rare mistake, in an otherwise impressive performance.

Vancouver organisers paid one ‘super fan' to whip the crowd up throughout the Olympic tournament, soaked in sweat, he dances like your Dad before ripping off a t-shirt and flinging it into the crowd. 

He wears 35 layers for each game and you don't want to be the unlucky recipient of the last one he removes.

It's all good fun - although something you don't see working at Wembley - but with fans that redefine frenzied, it's also quite surplus to requirements.

One week ago Canada lost this same fixture in a group match, but their win here underlined that old truth about the importance of timing and peaking too soon.

Nerves and tempers frayed during a tense third quarter but just as a wave of relief finally started to roll around the arena, American forward Zach Parise equalised - with just 23 seconds and fractions remaining.

However, although they didn't know it at the time, this victory will probably be all the sweeter for Canada's fans coming in overtime.

And it was captain Sidney Crosby who netted to secure his place in the history of this young nation.

Canada's victory is their 14th and surely most prized gold of the Games, five more than the USA, although they've won 11 less medals overall - not bad for a country with a tenth of the population.

Tonight they will bring down the curtain on their occasionally troubled Olympics with an opening ceremony and fireworks display, but they'll struggle to find anything as explosive as this thrilling and heart-stopping denouement.

 

PLAY BY PLAY - Read the minute by minute match report of the dramatic final