YAY! WE WON! WE CAN ALL GO BACK TO BED NOW - NOT! PLUS SOME OLYMPICS FACTS

Yay! We Won!

2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics CANADA
Photo: Michael Francis McCarthy

Yes, it’s finally over, and after getting up in the ungodly hours of 7am on a Sunday morning, (uhm, not me, just the rest of Canada), to watch the game, the partying has just begun and the memories… well, they’ll be going on forever. And from a non-hockey sports fan point of view, this was another great moment in time when waking up to hear “We won the game 3-0”, made me all giddy and wanting to rewind, relive and research the moment over and over again.

All teams gave it their best, I even thought the Americans played great, (from the bits I’ve managed to watch here and there), but who the hell am I and what the hell do I know about hockey? In the end, somebody had to win and that happened to be CANADA – YAY!! Now hockey will be even more embedded into Canada’s identity as a nation.

When it’s all said and done, Canada won not because of pure luck or good timing but because of an amazing show of solid team work with, (as one site puts it), a ferocious commitment to defense and discipline.

Here are some firsts for Canada, then and now:

• The first use of the name “Team Canada” was back in the 1972 Canada-USSR series (now known as the Summit Series) when Canada’s continuing strength as a hockey super power was demonstrated. This was meant to be a true match of Canada’s best against those of the Soviet Union, as the series allowed the use of professional players. The Summit Series was hard fought on both sides and led to intense nationalist sensations in both countries. In the end, with seconds left in the final game of the series, Canadian Paul Henderson made a heroic goal to win the series.

  

  Canada showing its pride…
  Photo:Flickr user TofflerAnn

• Canada finished atop the medal standings for the first time, at the 2010 Winter Olympics, winning the most gold medals of any country – 14, surpassing the previous record of 13 gold medals in one Games set by the Soviet Union in 1976 and matched by Norway in 2002.
• Canada became the first team in the NHL era of Olympic hockey to go undefeated through the entire tournament. The Canadians became the first team in 26 years to defend the Olympic gold medal, and the only squad in the NHL era to do so.
• Jonathan Toews not only scored the first goal in this Sochi game but he also scored Canada’s first goal in the gold-medal game in Vancouver.
• It’s the first time, I think, we’ve changed the liquor laws in parts of Canada… for a hockey game.
• But enough about Canada already, we’re the hockey gods – and we know it!

Did you know, this is the most expensive Olympics EVER?  Read this plus other interesting tidbits I’ve discovered about the Winter Olympics…

 

Resource(s):

mediacomtoday | olympic | usatoday | ftw.usatoday | wikipedia