The Olympics doesn't get better than Sunday's gold medal game in men's hockey between the United States and Canada.
It represented everything the Olympics aspire to be. It was a clean, fun exciting game that had no political underscore (like a certain U.S. win in 1980). No, all that was on the line in this game, besides the medals, was national pride.
Think about what the game meant to Canada. If you're a Canadian, you've dealt with more crushing blows than your average Cubs fan. There was 2006 when Jerome Iginla and company were knocked out in the quarterfinal. Or 1960 in Squaw Valley when an underdog U.S. team took home the gold, sending the Canadians home with silver. The worst loss came in 1988 in Calgary. Failure to win a medal hurts, but doing it on home ice hurts even worse.
While the Canadians won in 2002 at Salt Lake City, this win means so much more. Sunday's game was arguably the greatest hockey game ever played. Two National Hockey League all-star teams went head to head, and it wasn't about money or fame.
This game was about pride. The Canadians couldn't lose in their national sport, especially not to their biggest rivals. For them, this game wasn't just about a gold medal, it was about maintaining the right to call themselves the best in the world in the game most closely associated with their country.
What really seals the deal for me about how this game embodied everything the Olympics strive to represent was a picture. Sid the Kid screaming with joy like every red-blooded Canadian child does when they score that same goal while shooting around in their spare time. We've all done it. The fake buzzer beater, the "Super Bowl winning" throw and catch with our best friends or the walk-off grand slam to win the World Series. I look at that picture of Crosby and see myself, I see my best friends, heck I even see my dad and my uncle. I see every 10-year-old with a dream.
The Olympics are the place where dreams are made and sadly hearts are broken. In Vancouver we saw a skiing leopard. We saw a remarkable comeback from J.R. Celski. We saw redemption for Bode Miller. We saw unthinkable heartbreak for Georgia following the loss of 21-year-old luger Nodar Kumaritashvili.
But for Canada, these games will be remembered as the Golden Olympics. "Own the Podium" may not have worked out exactly as planned, but with the completion of their sweep of hockey gold on Sunday, Canada took home their 13th gold medal, better than anyone else in the world. On Sunday, Canada's dream finally came true.
So Canadians — go crazy, you've earned it. Miamians, take pride too. Thanks to Dan Boyle, we can now add alma mater of an Olympic Gold Medalist to our long list of bragging points.
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