Wow, wow, wow! What a day...
Yesterday was a day I'll never forget. It was a day people are going to talk about for generations. People will ask were did you watch the game? Where were you when Canada changed? I was unbelievably fortunate to be at the game, live in person. Screaming at the top of my lungs; Go Canada Go! and the occasional "Luuuuuu!" for Luongo Canada's Goalie!
The game started out great, the crowd was amazing and Team Canada had the weight of the country on their shoulders. The pressure these guys were under was probably equal to 4 Stanley Cup Finals put together. Canadian hockey fans don't expect less than gold when any of our national hockey teams play. We love our hockey and to win Olympic Gold in hockey matching the women's hockey would be the only thing Canada would be happy with.
The game was intense and Canada got off to a great start with a 2-0 lead by the middle of the second period. I'm sure the country was pretty excited at this point to have a 2 goal lead. Unfortunately the US team would get their first with about 8 minutes left in the second period. Confidence was still high and Canada was in a great spot with the lead going into the third. Canada seemed to be on their heels in the third with the US team putting lots of pressure on Luongo. With 2 minutes left the crowd was getting more excited at our chance at gold everyone was going crazy! Team USA pulled their goalie to have an extra guy on the ice and Canada had a hard time defending against it they ended putting one in with 24 f-ing seconds left! The crowd was distraught, only about 5% of the crowd was up cheering. I think everyone said or thought "OH MY GOD, WE CAN'T LOSE THIS!" Everyone was in disbelief.
Of course we know how this ends... Our Canadian hero Crosby put it in to WIN! The crowd went insane, like nothing I've ever experienced. Everyone was hugging and high five-ing and screaming! We did it! We won at home against the US and it couldn't have felt any better. It was a storybook ending, as much as we hated having to go into OT the story just got better. Crosby who didn't do much in the previous 2 games or this one, put it in for the win. That boy has been launched into super stardom, even more than he already was.
It was an experience I will never forget and I will tell my future kids about. Just sitting here thinking about it again gives me goose bumps and I'm getting choked up about it recalling the experience. I don't think there was any other moment in Canadian history that had the country cheering and screaming all at the same time like this did!
As if the day wasn't amazing enough we left the arena among the cheering crowds and headed next door to the closing ceremonies. When we got to our seat and each person had a kit that contained a blue poncho, flashing LED light, Russian light-up snow globe, giant coloured card, and a closing ceremony program. We went through a crash course on when we needed what and when we were going to be singing. A little comedy skit at the beginning of the show brought the last arm up which failed to show during the opening ceremonies. And the rest of the show was Canada making fun of itself. It was a great show to see in person and just another great moment to be apart of.
At dinner after the closing ceremonies I was talking to a gentleman from Minnesota. He told me he has been to 10 Olympic games, that's right 10! He works for big Olympics corporate sponsors and sets them up and get's them organized for there Olympic visits. So needless to say he's not only been to 10 Olympic games he's been heavily in all of them. He said "at no other Olympics has the host country shown so much pride in their country!" He was at the Gold medal hockey game as an American cheering on his team. But he said there was a piece of him that wanted to Canada to win. He knew what this meant to Canada and how proud we would be of this moment. He said "that Hockey game was the single most amazing event I have ever seen at any Olympics I've been to!" It was pretty amazing and I can't even fathom what could top that for Canada...
We've had just an amazing 4 days. Every event we seen that Canada was participating in we won Gold, which is just mind blowing! Canada won a record 14 gold medals and we watched 5 of them. Now that's a pretty good showing and dam good luck for us. A lot of people are saying Canada has changed, we are wearing our pride on our sleeves now, not just in our hearts! I know every Canadian has always been proud to be Canadian, but something has changed... We brought out the good in this country and made it great! We are not just West Coasters or East Coasters, French or English speaking or any other language, we are Canadians! We have come together and cheered on our athletes, we are so proud of all of them and what they achieved. Not just the ones who made the podiums, all of them. They wore our flag and competed for us on the biggest stage, they are Canadian and that's why we are so proud of them!
Total Medal Count we seen:
Gold - Women's Hockey
Gold & Bronze - Short Track Speed Skating men's 500m
Gold - Short Track Speed Skating Men's 5000m relay
Gold - Men's Snowboarding GS
Gold - Men's Hockey!
Thanks for reading!
Yesterday was a day I'll never forget. It was a day people are going to talk about for generations. People will ask were did you watch the game? Where were you when Canada changed? I was unbelievably fortunate to be at the game, live in person. Screaming at the top of my lungs; Go Canada Go! and the occasional "Luuuuuu!" for Luongo Canada's Goalie!
The game started out great, the crowd was amazing and Team Canada had the weight of the country on their shoulders. The pressure these guys were under was probably equal to 4 Stanley Cup Finals put together. Canadian hockey fans don't expect less than gold when any of our national hockey teams play. We love our hockey and to win Olympic Gold in hockey matching the women's hockey would be the only thing Canada would be happy with.
The game was intense and Canada got off to a great start with a 2-0 lead by the middle of the second period. I'm sure the country was pretty excited at this point to have a 2 goal lead. Unfortunately the US team would get their first with about 8 minutes left in the second period. Confidence was still high and Canada was in a great spot with the lead going into the third. Canada seemed to be on their heels in the third with the US team putting lots of pressure on Luongo. With 2 minutes left the crowd was getting more excited at our chance at gold everyone was going crazy! Team USA pulled their goalie to have an extra guy on the ice and Canada had a hard time defending against it they ended putting one in with 24 f-ing seconds left! The crowd was distraught, only about 5% of the crowd was up cheering. I think everyone said or thought "OH MY GOD, WE CAN'T LOSE THIS!" Everyone was in disbelief.
Of course we know how this ends... Our Canadian hero Crosby put it in to WIN! The crowd went insane, like nothing I've ever experienced. Everyone was hugging and high five-ing and screaming! We did it! We won at home against the US and it couldn't have felt any better. It was a storybook ending, as much as we hated having to go into OT the story just got better. Crosby who didn't do much in the previous 2 games or this one, put it in for the win. That boy has been launched into super stardom, even more than he already was.
It was an experience I will never forget and I will tell my future kids about. Just sitting here thinking about it again gives me goose bumps and I'm getting choked up about it recalling the experience. I don't think there was any other moment in Canadian history that had the country cheering and screaming all at the same time like this did!
As if the day wasn't amazing enough we left the arena among the cheering crowds and headed next door to the closing ceremonies. When we got to our seat and each person had a kit that contained a blue poncho, flashing LED light, Russian light-up snow globe, giant coloured card, and a closing ceremony program. We went through a crash course on when we needed what and when we were going to be singing. A little comedy skit at the beginning of the show brought the last arm up which failed to show during the opening ceremonies. And the rest of the show was Canada making fun of itself. It was a great show to see in person and just another great moment to be apart of.
At dinner after the closing ceremonies I was talking to a gentleman from Minnesota. He told me he has been to 10 Olympic games, that's right 10! He works for big Olympics corporate sponsors and sets them up and get's them organized for there Olympic visits. So needless to say he's not only been to 10 Olympic games he's been heavily in all of them. He said "at no other Olympics has the host country shown so much pride in their country!" He was at the Gold medal hockey game as an American cheering on his team. But he said there was a piece of him that wanted to Canada to win. He knew what this meant to Canada and how proud we would be of this moment. He said "that Hockey game was the single most amazing event I have ever seen at any Olympics I've been to!" It was pretty amazing and I can't even fathom what could top that for Canada...
We've had just an amazing 4 days. Every event we seen that Canada was participating in we won Gold, which is just mind blowing! Canada won a record 14 gold medals and we watched 5 of them. Now that's a pretty good showing and dam good luck for us. A lot of people are saying Canada has changed, we are wearing our pride on our sleeves now, not just in our hearts! I know every Canadian has always been proud to be Canadian, but something has changed... We brought out the good in this country and made it great! We are not just West Coasters or East Coasters, French or English speaking or any other language, we are Canadians! We have come together and cheered on our athletes, we are so proud of all of them and what they achieved. Not just the ones who made the podiums, all of them. They wore our flag and competed for us on the biggest stage, they are Canadian and that's why we are so proud of them!
Total Medal Count we seen:
Gold - Women's Hockey
Gold & Bronze - Short Track Speed Skating men's 500m
Gold - Short Track Speed Skating Men's 5000m relay
Gold - Men's Snowboarding GS
Gold - Men's Hockey!
Thanks for reading!
Opening Face-Off
Go Canada!
Our View
Canada Wins Gold!
Canadian Hero... :-)
Flag Parade!
Closing Ceremonies...
These guys were crazy... So many just came piling out...
Canadiana...
The Athletes...
Just before the Flame went out...
What an experience! Many of us feel we got an enhanced experience through your facebook updates, blog posts and photos. Thanks for making it more exciting!
ReplyDeleteAlways been proud to be Canadian but showing it a bit more now :)