By Frank
This hadn’t happened for fifty years. The fans were going crazy: a spontaneous round of O Canada was shaking the rafters, as the team celebrated below. The year was 2002, the game was hockey, and it was Canada’s game. Fighting through thirteen penalties, the women’s team beat team USA 3-2. Three days later, the world stood in awe as the men’s team took the gold five to two. Wayne Gretzky couldn’t have been happier. After fifty years of disappointment, and four years of nay-saying, nit-picking and general tension for the Canadians, not one but two gold medals were coming home. It was a moment that would go down in history, and when the national anthem was played, it would be joined by twelve million patriots and hockey fans singing “We stand on guard for thee.”
No one was betting on Canada’s women. They had lost eight straight games against the US in the pre-Olympic games (Golden Girls). They were on American home ice, and Stacy Livingston, the American referee, certainly wasn’t cutting them any slack (MacLean’s). She called a total of 13 penalties against Canada that game, including two first period five-on-threes (Golden Girls). However, fired with a determination never seen on NHL ice, the Canadian penalty kill unit fought flawlessly. The scoreboard didn’t give these girls justice; the standings never could. These women had earned the gold, against all expectations; they had done their country proud.
The men were ready. Having been bulldozed by Sweden 5-2 in the first game of the season and then barely beating Germany 3-2, there was a lot of tension in the dressing room. But the team had worked hard, they wanted that medal, and they knew they could get it. Joe Sakic even stated "Getting smoked by Sweden probably was a good thing, because we knew we had to get better." (On Guard) The game was a nail-biter, with a US goal in the first minute. At the end of the second period, however, Sakic put the puck through Mike Richter’s pads and it was 3:2 for Canada. That was the end of it. The Americans spent the third period desperately trying for a tying goal. We would have loved to win, but if we couldn't, there's nobody better to do it," U.S. forward Jeremy Roenick said. "We were playing hockey's creators."
Gretzky was relieved. There were some other words which might work: “ecstatic,” “euphoric,” but “relieved” worked just fine. The Canadian public had seemed determined to make the Great One’s job as hard as it could possibly be. Millions upon millions of internet debates sprang up in the weeks leading up to the Olympics, second-guessing Gretzky’s every twitch and ripping his hand-picked team to shreds. The criticism only redoubled after the team’s initial loss. In desperation, Gretzky attracted attention to himself in a few terse speeches. The criticisms were scathing and endless. "Our team, behind the scenes and everywhere, had taken so much criticism," an exhausted but happy Gretzky explained after the final. "I felt we weren't comfortable and relaxed. I felt, 'Okay, take some heat off the guys,' and I did. But I didn't sleep for five days." (MacLean’s) Canada won gold, and for the first time since he took on the general manager job, Gretzky was a hero.
Perhaps Gretzky can attribute some of his success to providence. No one really knows who arranged for the Loonie to be buried at center ice. Some of the workers were Canadian, but no one admitted to putting it there. Gretzky certainly didn’t confess to any strings pulled on his part, as he stood there in awe of the little golden marvel. Which worker it was who gave up the dollar, enshrined in the hockey hall of fame, will never be known. The man is better known in the shadow of anonomy. His actions, as he lovingly, carefully placed layer after layer of ice on the small one dollar coin. We can be sure of nothing, except that when the Canadians stepped onto the ice for that fateful game in Salt Lake City Utah, they were playing on Canadian ice.
These games brought Canada together. Every Canadian had a stake in the outcome, or at least acted like it. The Salt Lake arena was packed with Canadians, out-shouting their American cousins and filling the air with the refrain “True patriot love”. Back at home 10.25 million people, fully one third of Canada’s population, were glued to the television for the entire game, another two million joining in for the last period (MacLean’s). Al MacInnis said. "Everybody in Canada was watching with the same intensity that we played the game with. It's amazing the way a sport can bring the country together," (On Guard). Amazing it may be, but this wasn’t just any game. This was hockey, us versus the world. This was Canada’s game.
Thus it was, that after fifty years of disappointment, months of criticism, and years of hard work, not one but two gold metals were coming home. The women had triumphed against all odds. The men, with hockey’s Great One at their head, had brought Canadians what they had so longed for. That American rink, filled with Canadian ice, will echo eternally with the cheers of Canada’s people, and the song with which they filled the air. Those games, this game, will stand forever as a symbol of national pride. We win at hockey. We stand on guard for thee.