Crosby's OT goal gives Canada win vs. USA

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Their game, their gold: Crosby's OT goal gives Canada win vs. USA
By Greg Wyshynski



VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Sidney Crosby, literally Canada's golden boy.

The Pittsburgh Penguins star scored at 67:40 of the Olympic men's hockey final, an overtime game-winner that gave Canada the gold medal in a heart-stopping 3-2 win over the U.S. The crowd chanted "Crosby, Crosby" as the hardware was placed around his neck.

No miracles. Miller Time was over. Canada's game, Canada's gold, thanks to Crosby.

Defenseman Brian Rafalski lost the puck in the Team USA zone, and Jarome Iginla made a backhand pass around Ryan Suter to Crosby, who had beaten Rafalski to the net. Sid the Kid, having his best goal-scoring season in the NHL, beat goalie Ryan Miller (36 saves) for the gold.

His heroics came after Canada blew a lead late in the third period. Zach Parise's goal for the U.S. made OT possible. With Miller pulled, Patrick Kane blasted the puck off of Jamie Langenbrunner's skate. It hit Roberto Luongo, who fought it off, and then trickled to Parise for the tying goal. He slapped his stick on the ice, skated to the glass and was mobbed by his teammates. We'd call it a miracle, but there's nothing miraculous about the Canadian defense allowing two U.S. forwards behind them with less than a minute to go.

Yet, in the end, it's as much a career-defining game for Luongo as it's another legendary moment for Crosby, who won his first Stanley Cup last season.

Luongo, who replaced Martin Brodeur after Canada's earlier loss to the U.S. in the preliminary rounds, was confident in the first period, and then rebounded from a shaky second period to shut down several American chances in the third. He made four saves in overtime. Luongo was there when Canada needed him — and now he's wearing gold in front of a delirious arena.

The Americans win silver, thanks to Miller, who found his zone after getting down 2-0. No shame. A star made a play. And Canada achieves its destiny, winning gold on home ice in men's and women's hockey. They own the puck podium.

And I watched it all Good game though, great ending with the game-tieing goal in the last minute and Sid the Kid finishing off the game in OT.

I am happy with USA's Silver. Most experts had them ranked as low as 5th in the tournement, so they did far better then anyone expected. Hopefully, the NHL will use the popularity of the Olympics to build popularity for the NHL. In American sports, the NHL is not even a factor. Crosby is only 22 and he already has a Stanley Cup and a Gold Medal. Could he be on his way to surpassing The Great One?

Nah Looking at the statistics he's putting up, he's still behind The Great One. That and even though Crosby scored the winning goal for Canada, he really didn't do anything for the entire tournament til that point.

He is only 22 though. He probably has 10 years of peak performance left.

Crosby has 475 points so far in his career. Wayne had 813.

OK, that is a lot more Maybe he will not be better then or as good as Wayne, but he could be one of the best ever. Damn, I knew Gretsky was great, but I had no idea he had that many points, that soon. When did Gretsky win his first Cup?

I think he was a year older than Crosby when he won his first. But then he won 5 in the next 7 years. We'll have to see if Crosby can do that.


*EDIT*
And the ratings are in:

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Canada's 3-2 overtime win over the U.S. in Sunday's gold-medal Olympic men’s hockey game has become the most-watched television broadcast in Canadian history, with nearly half of the country's population watching the entire contest.

Some 26.5 million, roughly 80 per cent of Canadians, tuned in for part of the final at Canada Hockey Place in Vancouver, with an average audience of 16.6 million viewers, setting the record. The audience peaked at 22 million -- or two thirds of the nation -- when Sidney Crosby scored in the extra frame to ignite a cheer heard across Canada.

The game, which aired live on nine television networks in eight languages, captured an 85 share, meaning 85 per cent of Canadians watching television at the time were watching the gold medal match.

Meanwhile, the closing ceremony averaged 14.3 million viewers, now the second-most watched TV program ever in Canada, with 24.5 million watching some part of the broadcast.

South of the border, NBC said the hockey final was the most-watched hockey game in the U.S. in 30 years.

The NBC broadcast drew an average viewership of 27.6 million, the biggest hockey number since the U.S. versus Finland 1980 gold medal game in Lake Placid (32.8 million). It got a 17.6 overnight rating, about four times what the NASCAR race on Sunday did.

That game might have been the biggest single game in the history of Hockey. The NHL has a big chance to build on those huge ratings.

i saw the game and crosby was amazing as a canadian im very proud of what he did for our country