Hockey’s Golden Finish Makes Canadians Proud

Ryan Popilchak — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:08:36 +0000

Yesterday’s epic gold medal clash between Canada and the USA in men’s hockey had a bigger impact on Canada than most casual fans realize.

This won’t shock you, but Canadians LOVE hockey. We love it so much that we didn’t exactly celebrate the win yesterday, we let go of our pent up nerves and worries much the same as a father celebrates his first born child, just happy that everyone is healthy.

When you’re widely considered the favorite, there is everything to lose and very little to gain. Canadians couldn’t stand the thought of losing.

We want to win at hockey so badly, that we take pride in our “win at all costs” mentality. What other country would revere someone like Bobby Clarke for his role in purposely breaking Valeri Kharlamov’s ankle in the ’72 Summit Series.

We love that once again Sidney Crosby is the victor over other world talents like Alexander Ovechkin, despite the fact that Ovechkin has more pure talent. He’s Canadian, so he’s a winner.

More than winning though, we want other countries to realize that hockey is a great game. We’re proud of the sport, we’re proud of it’s traditions, and of course, we love winning at the game we love.

For the gold medal to be decided in overtime with the whole world watching and against the USA was perfect, but not in the way most of you think.

Yes, we love beating our neighbor to the south, but we also like showing them what they’re missing.

In Canada, it hits a collective national nerve that we send our best players to NHL clubs in the United States, lose our franchises to southern cities, and yet hockey appears to be only the 5^th most popular sport behind football, basketball, baseball and NASCAR.

Yesterday’s game was the perfect display to kick-start our beloved sport back into North American consciousness.

The game featured the same two countries that host the NHL. Gary Bettman couldn’t have asked for a better target audience.

Two-thirds of all Canadian households and one-third of US households watched the game. Those are astronomical numbers for hockey. It was the most viewed hockey game in 30 years, since the Miracle on Ice in Lake Placid.

The viewership for the game was better than every World Series game since 2004 and every NBA Finals since 1998, proving that hockey DOES have the ability to appeal to the masses.

The NFL and NBA are both heading towards labor disputes which could thrust the NHL back into the North American sports spotlight. That’s terrible news for football and basketball, but hockey needs it badly.

Today we have a certain swagger, knowing that our cherished sport is back on the map. And just in case you missed it, we’re still the champs.

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Bilodeau Takes Gold…and the Pressure Off

Ryan Popilchak — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:40:02 +0000

Last night, a whole country got the chance to hold their breath, cross their fingers and knock on wood. It may be only a minor source of embarrassment for us Canadians, but nonetheless we needed to see the monkey off our back. With four skiers in the finals of the Men’s Moguls, this was one of our best chances to finally win a gold medal on home soil.

And man did I get sucked in. From the moment that Vincent Marquis unleashed the run of his life, and sat atop the leaderboard, I was on the edge of the couch. Most of us will remember Bilodeau and I’ll get to more of that in a minute, but it was Marquis who set the early tone for Canada. He blew the lid off the crowd, taking the tension out of fans at the venue and in living rooms across the country. He may have been bumped down to 4^th place overall after the big names got their chance, but it was a great run nonetheless.

Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau’s run right after Marquis’ gave us thoughts that we might just dominate the podium. His is another great story given that he’s missed the last two Olympics with complications from a broken neck and mononucleosis. Rousseau had a very solid run and put himself in 2^nd place at the time, and finished 5^th overall.

Part of the reason the event was so special, was the presence of a true villain to combat our hero. That villain came in the person of Dale Begg-Smith. For those that are unfamiliar, Begg-Smith grew up in Canada and left to train, live and compete for Australia with his brother. He now refuses to acknowledge his Canadian heritage and refuses to converse with any non-Australian media, especially those from the host country. He also has a shady history in relation to his internet business CPM Media Inc. In general, he’s the type of athlete people like to root against. They don’t even seem to like him that much in Australia. His solid, yet unspectacular run put him just ahead of Marquis and sitting in first until Bilodeau got his shot.

To say that Bilodeau’s run was electric was an understatement. He combined big air with technical turns and blazing speed. Check it out here. His father said it best.

”I know the sport so well and I knew when he crossed the finish line that it was the best run and no one could beat it.” — Bilodeau’s father Serge.

Probably the biggest winner of the whole event was the sport of moguls. Between the men’s competition last night and the women’s final the night before, the ‘net and conversations in public are peppered with remarks like “Can you believe how fast they go?” and “How do their knees not explode on contact?”

Most of us have come to the realization that mogul skiing combines speed, power, technique, agility and bravery to a degree that most of us will never experience.

Thank you to Alexandre Bilodeau for breaking the “home soil jinx” and giving us all a riveting experience to cheer for.

“It’s so big for Canada. Since the beginning, and with Jenn (Heil) yesterday, these Games are all about Canada. I want every young Canadian and (old) Canadian to be inspired by all of these athletes.” — Dominick Gauthier, who coaches both Bilodeau and (women’s mogul’s silver medallist) Heil.

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Sports Opinionated » gold medal

Hockey’s Golden Finish Makes Canadians Proud

Bilodeau Takes Gold…and the Pressure Off