Rapture in the Bolshoy. After a stunning women’s ice hockey final that contained as much drama as the rest of Sochi 2014 put together, Canada won their third straight gold in sudden death overtime.
They had every opportunity to let it get away from them but somehow, from somewhere, they dug it out. For the second time at these games they beat the USA 3-2 but the scoreline doesn’t tell a fraction of the story.
In the end, it was desperately cruel on the American team. They were the better side in regulation – hungrier, smarter, more clinical in front of goal. They led 2-0 with under four minutes to go and seemed reasonably comfortable and confident of holding out.
Most agonising moment
Even when Brianne Jenner pulled a goal back with 56:34 of the 60 minutes gone, it looked as though the States would see it out. Canada pulled their goalie off the ice for the last two minutes, leading to the most agonising moment of the night when American player Kelli Stack essayed a clearance from her own half and that looked for all the world like it was going into the empty net.
A half an inch to the right and it was a goal and the gold was going to the US. Instead, it caromed off the post and skittered to safety, leaving Canada with one more chance to save themselves.
Which, improbably, they did with 55 seconds to go, Marie-Philip Poulin equalising and sending the place into orbit.
The night reeked with tension from the off. The Canadian women don’t lose at the Olympics, or at least they hadn’t since America beat them in Nagano in 1998. From that day to this, they had won 19 games in a row.
Not alone that, they had gone 1,057 minutes without trailing until the group game here when Meghan Duggan put the US into a lead they ultimately weren’t able to hold.
Winning that game nine days ago made them just about favourites going in here but not definitively and certainly not by much.
Nothing has been more gripping in Sochi than the rivalry between these two teams. The only event anywhere as close at the end was the dead heat in the women’s downhill. And as this pair swatted it out through overtime, gold medals for all didn’t seem the worst idea iever.
The US started better, the Canadians started rougher. Tara Watchorn was binned for body -checking inside the first two minutes – the first of three visits she would make before the night was out. It was a reminder that not only are these two rivals, they’re not particularly friendly rivals.
They’re by an ocean the two best teams in the sport and the to-and-fro between them has been far from cordial. Two of their warm-up games before Sochi descended into brawls, a legacy of countless World Championships and Olympic clashes in the past.
Before the 2010 final in Vancouver, for example, the two sides walked out of their dressing rooms towards the ice to find the corridors lined by the male teams from the opposing team's country trashtalking them the whole way to the rink. Not good-naturedly either.
'Chirping away'
"They were chirping away saying, you know, enjoy that silver medal," said American player Tessa Bonhomme.
So it was probably inevitable the early skirmishes here would be less than tender. The first period saw five players in the penalty box, three from Canada and two from the US.
Neither side could take advantage of the Power Plays, however and the first period ended scoreless.
When the US took the lead in the second period, it was against the run of play. Duggan found space and planted a perfect shot into a tiny spot in the top right-hand corner of the Canadian net. Postage stamp stuff.
Canada came back at them and forced a huge defensive performance out of them. Once they successfully fought off a five-in-three power play late in the second period, it seemed they had it in them to go on and close it out.
Especially when they pushed on into a 2-0 lead early in the third quarter. Alex Carpenter finished to the net from no more than a metre out after she was found with a brilliant pass from Hilary Knight. It was no more than they deserved really and you felt it was a long road back for the defending champions.
But then. Jenner. Goal. Stack. Post. Poulin. Goal. Overtime.
It was breathless stuff now. Overtime meant a player less each on the ice. A couple of penalties meant it went down to three-on-three. Canada with a final power play. Poulin – who had scored both goals in the 2010 final – popped up with her second.
Gold. Again. But what a fight they had to win it.
