Add another one to the trophy case.
And to the already outrageous legend.
At 7:40 of overtime yesterday, Pittsburgh Penguins' Captain Sidney Crosby scored one of the most significant goals the sport of hockey -- let alone Canadian Nation -- has ever known when he beat USA goaltender Ryan Miller between the legs to give Canada a 3-2 victory and deliver the home nation 2010 Olympic gold in the sport always held to be the country's birthright.
Observers everywhere are already calling yesterday's game one of the greatest contests of all time.
Veteran national media members in Canada and the United States are calling Canada's victory perhaps the greatest game they have ever covered.
I think both are understating it.
Yesterday's hockey was thrilling in almost every aspect. Each inch of ice was contested and fought for by a galaxy of all-star players that demonstrated skill and determination like never seen before.
North of the border, Crosby's goal already ranks up there with the other two goals commonly held to be the country's greatest: 1) the goal scored by Penguin legend -- and Crosby's still current landlord in Pittsburgh -- Mario Lemieux, in overtime to beat the Soviet Union in the 1997 Canada Cup; and 2) the 1972 marker in game 8 of the Summit Series by Paul Henderson, again over the Soveit Union.
The funniest part about Crosby's goal yesterday is that he didn't even see the puck go in.
While in overtime playing 4-on-4, Sid beat his man -- USA defenseman Brian Rafalski, who was among the best players in the whole Olympic tournament -- off the far wall before yelling for the biscuit from linemate Jarome Iginla, taking a nice, quick pass off the far boards from him and quickly ripping the puck through Miller's five-hole before anyone knew what happened.
Then?
Delirium.
I hope Alexander Ovechkin was watching.
While the other details of the game -- Canada running out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Jonathan Toews and Corey Perry, the USA tying it with 24 seconds left in regulation on a goal by Zach Parise, USA netminder Ryan Miller as the tournament MVP in defeat after allowing only 8 goals in 6 games -- will be remembered in the near term, it will be Crosby's goal will stand alone in the long run.
Forget that Crosby had an average Olympic tournament on the whole.
Forget that he was scoreless in two games heading into the gold medal match and otherwise looked pedestrian in the three regulation periods before overtime yesterday.
When the spotlight was the greatest, Crosby delivered -- as he almost always does.
This time he just didn't do it for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
He did it for an entire country.
Unbelieveable.
Here are some other good pieces on yesterday's epic game.
Congratulations to Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury and Team Canada.
Congrats also are in order to Penguins defenseman Brooks Oprik, who had a strong game yesterday for the USA, and also comes home with a silver medal.
Everyone take a deep breath.
It's time to move past the Olympics and get back to the NHL season and a whole different realm of excitement.
The NHL trade deadline.
I'll have something up mid-day today on all the rumors of player movement currently surrounding the Penguins. As we get closer to Wednesday's 3 PM deadline, you don't want to miss it.
Stay tuned.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment