EVERYTHING IS EH-OK IN CANADA

Canada defeats the United States 3-2 in overtime to win the Gold Medal (Saeed Khan/ AFP-Getty Images)

By Chris Carrano

In the time it takes to flick your wrist, Canada’s own Sidney Crosby went from being “Sid the Kid” to “Sid the Golden Boy.” With a flick of his wrist, Crosby scored the gold-medal winning goal, just 7:40 into overtime to set off a massive celebration and a collective sigh of relief throughout the Great White North. It was sweet revenge for the host country, which a week ago lost to the Americans 5-3, and left many Canadians scratching their heads.

Those same Canadians were scratching their heads again as it looked like their team was on its way to an epic collapse. Trailing 2-1 with 1:30 left in regulation, Team USA pulled goalie Ryan Miller in favor of an extra attacker. A little over a minute later, Patrick Kane took a shot from the right circle that deflected off of Jamie Langenbrunner’s skate and right to Zach Parise. Parise, who makes his living by camping out in front of the goal, put the puck past Canadian goalie Roberto Luongo for the game tying score. A wild celebration erupted on the American bench as it appeared they had all of the momentum going into overtime.

"We showed a lot of heart; scoring that goal with 20 seconds to go to force overtime," said Team USA captain Jamie Langenbrunner. "We really believed this was going to happen for us, but great players do great things and that is what happened."

Canada had a few chances to increase their lead before Parise’s goal. Eric Staal was stoned on a breakaway attempt when Ryan Miller made a spectacular save. Sidney Crosby also had a chance to put the American’s away on a breakaway chance, but Patrick Kane backchecked incredibly hard and got there just in time to thwart Crosby's deke before he was going to shoot on Miller. (NHL.com)

Crosby’s dagger came in overtime when while playing the puck along the boards; he poked the puck away from USA defenseman Brian Rafalski to teammate Jerome Iginla. As Crosby charged toward the net, Iginla dished him a perfect pass that Crosby wrist-shot under Miller’s legs for the game winner. “I barely remember what happened on the play,” said Crosby. “I just threw it at the net and then our guys were jumping on me. It was everything and more than I could imagine.”

It was a nice run for the young Team USA, a team that many people thought would be overmatched in this tournament. "It's just a shame that both teams couldn't have received a gold medal today. Sometimes, the best team in the tournament doesn't win a gold medal. I thought our team played as well as any team I have ever coached."

Ryan Miller stopped 36 shots this afternoon and played brilliantly throughout the Olympics, leading Team USA to a 5-1 record and recording two shutouts (he didn’t surrender a goal against Finland). Miller was named the MVP of the Olympic tournament and Brian Rafalski was named best defenseman.

Information and quotes from NHL.com was used in this article.

Slapshots…As much as it pains me to write about a Canadian victory over Team USA, I have to admit that this was one of the best hockey games I’ve seen. (Well I was working so I managed to see some of it, like Kesler and Parise’s goals and catch the highlights.) What was even more amazing is how people who don’t really watch hockey, watched this game. People were packed into bars as if it was the NFL playoffs. This was an epic contest that had all the ingredients of a great game: star power, close game, highlight reel goals, amazing saves and overtime suspense. If you don’t like hockey after seeing this game, chances are you probably never will. It was nice to read everyone’s FaceBook statuses and see everyone coming together to root for the USA. With that said, I have a message for NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL team owners: you must, absolutely must, continue to allow NHL players to play in future Olympic tournaments. A tournament of this magnitude, on this kind of stage, blows away any hype that an All-Star game can generate. Because of what transpired at Canada Hockey Place over the last two weeks (and today), many more casual fans will be tuning in to the NHL as the season winds down and continues into the playoffs. This game today was a gift to you Mr. Bettman. Use it wisely… Ryan Miller had a smile on his face as he walked in with the other American athletes during the closing ceremonies. He deserves the tournament MVP and along with his USA team mates, should hold their heads high and be proud of what they accomplished. In a way, maybe its better that Canada won. If they had lost, there would probably be rioting and fires all over Vancouver, just like in 1994!