David Brien & Jason La Rose
2014 – CANADA 3, UNITED STATES 2 (OT) It will be remembered, quite simply, as The Comeback.
Down 2-0 to the Americans as the clock ticked away, Canada sat just four minutes from its run of three-consecutive Olympic gold medals coming to an end.
But on the bench, there was no quit.
“We thought, ‘Hey, we’ve been down by a couple of goals, we’ve all been down by a couple of goals, so many times in our hockey careers and it’s difficult, it takes a lot to come back from that, but it’s not impossible,” Brianne Jenner said shortly after the game. “Remembering the experiences we had throughout the year helped us in that situation.”
Jenner got it started with 3:26 to go, taking a pass off the boards from Meaghan Mikkelson and letting go a shot that hit a U.S. defenceman and found its way in to cut the American lead in half.
With just 1:25 remaining, the U.S. hit the now infamous goal post on an empty net, “a sign that we were meant to come back,” captain Caroline Ouellette said, and with 55 seconds left, Marie-Philip Poulin scored to pull Canada even and forcing overtime.
A parade of penalties in the extra period put Canada on the power play, and Poulin got the golden goal for the second Games in a row, setting off a celebration in Sochi, and from coast to coast to coast across the country.
“That’s a game that is going to be tough to beat for a long time, whether as a fan, or as a player,” said Jayna Hefford, who joined Ouellette and Hayley Wickenheiser as four-time Olympic gold medallists. “People all the time are relating it to the 1972 Summit Series, and that’s traditionally male hockey fans … which shows the impact that it had.”
OTHER GAMES
1960 – Bobby Rousseau scored four times, Fred Etcher and George Samolenko added three goals each and Canada routed Japan 19-1 to improve to 2-0 and clinch first place in Group A in Squaw Valley, Calif. Etcher finished with seven points in the win.
1980 – Jim Nill, Randy Gregg and Brad Pirie scored goals to give Canada a 3-1 lead early in the second period, but the Soviet Union rebounded to earn a 6-4 victory over the Canadians in the preliminary round finale for both in Lake Placid.
1988 – Serge Boisvert scored two of the Olympic record-setting 10 goals in the first period (Canada led France 7-3 after 20 minutes) and added his hat trick marker in the third as the Canadians scored a wild 9-5 win in Calgary.
1998 – Trevor Linden scored with 63 seconds left to tie the game, but Czech Republic goaltender Dominik Hasek stopped all five Canadians in the shootout to lead to Czechs to a 2-1 semifinal win and send Canada to the bronze medal game in Nagano.
2002 – Joe Sakic scored in the first period, Steve Yzerman got the game-winner in the second and Martin Brodeur stopped 18 shots as Canada advanced to the semifinals with a 2-1 quarter-final victory over Finland.
2006 – Jayna Hefford had a goal and an assist, Hayley Wickenheiser added two helpers and Canada held Sweden to just eight shots on goal to win its second consecutive Olympic gold medal with a 4-1 win in Turin.