On March 1, 2010, The Globe and Mail - Canada's National Newspaper as it proclaims itself - devoted its front page to a full page spread of the celebration that was just ensuing in Canada Hockey Place as the nation came to realize that the sudden-death overtime victory in the men's hockey final had been won.
It still had barely registered that it was Canada's 14th gold of the games. Fans are caught midway out of their seats. The bench has yet to empty. The flags still mere red leafs with those red representatives of sea and shining sea yet to be unfurled. Jarome Iginla, still on one knee, hasn't caught a good view of the goal or Ryan Miller's looming dejection. Sidney Crosby seems an eternity away from realizing what he has wrought for his nation, his team and himself and flinging stick, gloves and mouthguard into a flight of celebration. The moment has been seered into the nation's consciousness without the erosion of perspective that will visit it later and again and again.
A few minutes later, or more likely hours, the contemplation begins. Sportswriters and Sidney Crosby's potential biographers sharpen their tap on their keyboards to compose the moment and struggle just that much harder to fend off hyperbole and the desire to be a fan. The odd one or two might make the note, "Consult with numerologist re: Crosby's birthdate (8/7/87)," a few others might move it up their to do list as they try to find whatever insight they can into that dint of the otherworldly that has set Crosby apart, again it seems, on this day.
There are the inevitable comparisons. Immediately, Paul Henderson's goal comes to mind. For those who wonder about the secrets of the numbers, that goal was also on the 28th. The month and the year firmly entrenched. There are other international tournaments that come to mind. Beyond that there might be a comparison to another overtime goal 40 years ago. Bobby Orr's Stanley Cup winner in overtime in 1970, his flight foreshadowing fragility. To go beyond hockey, perhaps it would be Tiger Woods' putt on the 16th hole at the 2005 Masters. In each of those cases, it seemed the stage was set for or by someone with a nose for immortality or a pull toward destiny that few others possess.
Destiny?
In an era when the main event at every Olympics is a cage match between idealism and cynicism, refereed by corporatism, it is reasonable for sports audiences to ask why bother watching. Destiny? In times like these? The nutritionist and sports psychologists have done their utmost to minimize that variable of the sports equation, haven't they?
Fans probably find it difficult to buy into destiny anymore and Sidney Crosby's rise to his place among the pantheon of Canadian hockey players has been a rocky one, but maturity has gradually muted the criticism. In retrospect, Don Cherry's long-ago excoriation of Crosby's Q-league lacrosse move seems to be more of a baptism in the media fire. The reputation as a whiner or a humourless scold, the challenge of having Alexander Ovechkin as his foil and rival have all challenged Sidney Crosby in ways that few can comprehend. As he has matured, the criticism has subsided, but there were still a few doubters up until 2:52pm PST on February 28.
It was easy to single Crosby out for not scoring in the previous two games and few players would have received as much criticism as Crosby had Canada lost the game to the United States again. The game won and the goal of Crosby's stick, however, it is easy to acknowledge that things unfolded as they should have. The added drama on the Olympic stage on that Sunday afternoon was the ideal complement to the jubilation, tears, grief and glory that were the XXI Winter Olympiad.
It could have been anybody else on the Canadian roster and anyone of them would have had a story to wrap themselves in. For some, comebacks from injury; for others, surpassing expectations to prove they indeed belonged on the team, or the likes of youngsters like Crosby, continuing their own precocious climb to the center of the Canadian hockey consciousness.
The stage, destiny and stark consequences that failure might entail all pointed to Sidney Crosby and a scant eight months after becoming the youngest captain to hoist the Stanley Cup, he was decorated with the last medal of the Vancouver games and punctuated his career with a moment that has lifted the weight of the country off his shoulders and enshrined him in the hearts of his country.
At the age of 22.
Already.
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