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Canada lives and breathes hockey
By Tim Buckley
Deseret News Olympic specialist
For natives of our northern neighbor, the relative importance of hockey is a given.
Nothing matters more.
For most of the rest of us, however, it's a hard concept to comprehend. Sort of like explaining why two plus two is four. It just is.
Leave it to the folks whose flag is adorned by a maple leaf, then, to express just what winning 2002 Olympic-hockey gold would mean in Canada — not just for the men who might claim it, but for every man, woman and child in the chilly land.
"There are other things going on in the world, but in Canada that's it," said defenseman Chris Pronger, who along with his countrymen is going for it beginning with today's final-round Salt Lake Games showdown with Sweden.
After Canada failed to leave Nagano with gold in 1998, Pronger said, reaction was something like this: " 'We didn't win, so life's over.' "
Such was the sentiment throughout Canada, from the farms of Alberta to the capital in Ottawa, from the French-speaking province of Quebec to the splendor of British Columbia.
"There's nothing in the States that equals this," said ESPN hockey commentator and former NHL Los Angeles Kings coach Barry Melrose, a Canadian himself. "It's national pride. It's something that we believe we're better at than anyone else. You're weaned on it, you grew up on it, you love it. Canada's got to win."
That understood, Canada's men feel more pressure than any of the other seven finalists — more than the hungry Russians, the host Americans or even the defending-champion Czechs.
Yet it's a burden readily accepted by those who will play to win Canada's first Olympic men's hockey gold since, amazingly, the 1952 Winter Games in Oslo.
"It's been a long time, obviously," Canadian captain Mario Lemieux said. "I think everybody is aware of that. The whole country is aware of that.
"If guys can't play under pressure, maybe they should just sit home and watch it on TV, " Lemieux added. "We want to win Canada's first gold medal in 50 years, and we know that pressure is just part of the game."
No one knows that better than retired superstar Wayne Gretzky, who, for everything he accomplished in hockey — four-time Stanley Cup champion, the league's all-time leader in goals, assists and points in both the regular season and the playoffs, 10-time Art Ross Trophy winner as the NHL's scoring leader and nine-time Hart Trophy winner as its Most Valuable Player — never did manage to bring home Olympic gold.
Now executive director of Team Canada, Gretzky realizes all eyes from Vancouver to Calgary to Edmonton to Winnipeg to Toronto to Montreal to Quebec City, and all parts in between, are on the club of NHL stars whose assembly he oversaw.
"When we picked the team, I said, 'There's going to be talking about this team forever — good, or bad,' " Gretzky said. "People are going to be second-guessing it. There's going to be controversy over it. That's a credit to our country — to how much they love this game."
That in mind, the Canadians pieced together what they hope is a better version offensively of the grinders who failed to medal in Nagano.
If it isn't, hearts will break, from Moose Jaw to Moncton, and all the way up to the Northwest Territories.
"Every household in Canada," goalie Curtis Joseph said, "will be watching."
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com
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February 15, 2002
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