WinterSports2002.com - Canadians get a little 'loonie' in their quest for elusive Olympic gold

WinterSports2002.com, Monday, February 25, 2002

Canadians get a little 'loonie' in their quest for elusive Olympic gold

Cha-ching! Lucky coin pays off for Team Canada

By Jody Genessy
Deseret News sports writer

WEST VALLEY CITY — It's a well-known fact that Canada is crazy about hockey. So, it only makes sense that there was something "loonie" about the Canadians winning a gold medal.

At the end of his postgame news conference, Wayne Gretzky held up a Canadian dollar coin — a loonie is what it's called — and gave away the country's hidden secret.

The loonie had been placed under the middle circle of the E Center rink before the ice was frozen on top of the Olympic surface. Salt Lake resident Dan Craig, the NHL's ice specialist and a Canadian, buried the gold-colored medallion there in hopes of giving his native homeland some extra luck.

Cha-ching. The coin paid off big-time for Canada.

"We got two gold medals out of it," said a smiling Gretzky in reference to the Canadian men and women winning. "It's something special."

Gretzky is going to submit the loonie to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

As for Craig?

Said Gretzky with a chuckle: "I don't know if he'll get fired."

Here's guessing Craig will land a job somewhere in Canada if that's the case.

TOO EASY: In the second period, Mario Lemieux had a wide-open point-blank shot that appeared to be as easy for him to make as an uncontested layup would be for Michael Jordan. But Super Mario clanged the shot off the left post.

"I just couldn't believe it," he said. "I hit the post and missed an open net. That's not something that's happened too many times in my career."

Wayne Gretzky one-upped him: "Mario missed a chance I don't think he's ever missed in his life."

TIMING'S EVERYTHING: Always a classy guy, Lemieux skated right to U.S. coach Herb Brooks and shook his hand shortly after Canada won the gold. As owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Lemieux is Brooks' boss in the NHL.

"I didn't ask for a raise," joked Brooks, a scout for Pittsburgh, "but maybe it was a good time to do it."

LAST CALL? Brooks, U.S. coach in 1980 and 2002 and France's coach in 1998, was asked if he would like to come back and be part of the U.S. coaching staff again in Torino in 2006.

"My telephone number is 651," said Brooks, interrupting himself. "If a lady named Mrs. Brooks answers, you better ask her."

BIG WIN, EH: Gretzky, executive director of this Canadian club, on how important it was for the team wearing Maple Leafs to claim gold.

"Like anything else you win, you get bragging rights for a while," he said. "We desperately needed to win this tournament."

GREAT PARTY: Winning the NHL championships with the New Jersey Devils was nice and all. But that doesn't compare to receiving the gold medal for Scott Niedermayer.

Niedermayer loved the pomp and circumstance surrounding the medal ceremony, which included, of course, the playing of Canada's national anthem, "O Canada."

"When you win the Stanley Cup," he said, "they don't do anything like that."

GOOD TIMES: Not getting a gold medal didn't spoil the Olympic experience for U.S. star Jeremy Roenick.

"It's been a pleasure to play on our own soil," said the Boston native. "Everyone of us will take this to our graves as one of the greatest tournaments we've been a part of, and the fans are a big part of it."

E-mail: jody@desnews.com

Contributing: Tim Buckley