Men’s hockey team proves golden in Vancouver
Selecting the top moments in Canadian Winter Olympic history isn’t easy. There are so many to celebrate. We’ve narrowed it down to our top 25. Visit www. calgaryherald.com/olympics and vote on your favourite in our Postmedia poll. 1. 2010: Men’s hockey team If anyone had predicted how the men’s hockey final would end beforehand — in overtime against the U.S., Jarome Iginla to Sidney Crosby, he shoots, he scores — it would have seemed way too good to be true.
But that’s exactly the way it played out, on home ice, the 3-2 victory securing perhaps the greatest medal in Canadian Olympic history. Not only did it cap the Games with the one medal the country coveted most, it was Canada’s 14th gold, a new Olympic record.
“It’s pretty cool,” said Iginla, paying tribute to the larger Canadian team performance, to which his team contributed but a single gold. “You know, you watch other Olympics, and see the gold medal hunt, and we’re not really in it — we were looking for our first gold medal ever at home and suddenly here we are setting the record, and we get to be part of that. That’s a very proud and awesome feeling.”
As in Salt Lake, Canada finished the Olympics with gold medals in both men’s and women’s hockey.
While the men had a challenging path to the final, including a loss to the U.S. in the round robin — which cost Martin Brodeur the starter’s job in favour of Canuck Roberto Luongo — and a 3-2 squeaker over Slovakia in the semifinals, the women had it fairly easy.
Unlike the penalty-plagued final in Salt Lake, the biggest controversy in Vancouver came after Marie-Philip Poulin scored two goals and Shannon Szabados made 28 saves to give Canada a 2-0 win over the U.S. The women were criticized for celebrating on-ice with champagne, beer and cigars.