VANCOUVER — Sidney Crosby shared the same daydream millions of Canadian youngsters have entertained.
Alone on the ice or at the rink with friends, they imagine it, complete with sound effects. The score is tied in the gold medal hockey game of the Winter Olympics. They square off against their biggest rival — the USA. The noise is deafening, the pressure stifling. And then, the puck comes to him.
He shoots. He scores. He wins gold, fulfilling the dream, the desperate desire of an entire nation with one marvelous moment.
"Every kid dreams of this," said Crosby, who scored the game-winning goal seven minutes and 40 seconds into a 20-minute sudden-death overtime Sunday at Canada Hockey Place. He threw his gloves into the air and was mobbed by his teammates after the 3-2 win in front of a crowd that was 90 percent Canadian.
"It's pretty incredible, for sure," he said, looking down at the medal draped around his neck. "It's the opportunity of a lifetime. You dream of that one thousand times growing up. It was a pretty amazing feeling."
Crosby's goal rescued the Canadians from what would have been a bitter disappointment, despite winning more gold medals (14 with the hockey win) than any other host country in the Winter Games.
With just 24.4 seconds left in the third period, Zach Parise, who plays for the NHL's New Jersey Devils, tied the game at 2-2 when he scored on Roberto Luongo, who plays for the Vancouver Canucks, to silence an already celebrating crowd. Parise's father is Canadian hockey player, J.P. Parise, who scored two goals for Canada in the 1972 Canada Summit Series.
Crosby's goal, his first in three games, came with help from Jarome Iginla. The two had discussed better communication when they were on the ice together after their loss to the U.S. in pool play last Sunday.
Iginla heard Crosby screaming as he desperately tried to fight off a U.S. defender.
"Sid turned up the wall and all of a sudden he was yelling for it," he said. "I sent it to him, hoping I wasn't too late. I didn't see where he put it; I just saw him jumping around. It was done."
Frustrated and often criticized, Crosby was low-key, almost stunned as he talked about what he and his teammates accomplished in the last competition of the 2010 Vancouver Games.
"I just tried to let him know where I was," said Crosby, who at just 22 is one of the few hockey legends who has won a Stanley Cup and an Olympic Gold medal within a year. "I didn't see it go in. I literally just heard the screams. I knew where I was; I knew where the net was and I just shot it."
To earn their 14th gold medal, the Canadians had to withstand a furious, sometimes desperate pace set by the Americans.
And while no one else might have thought this U.S. team was a real threat to the legends on Canada's roster, the players themselves always believed they'd win gold.
"Disappointed," was all Ryan Kesler said, who also plays for the Canucks. "Obviously, we came in really confident. That's what happens in overtime. One lucky break and they capitalized on it. That's overtime."
Crosby said the Canadian team never stopped believing they'd deliver for the hometown crowd.
"Our team worked so unbelievably hard," Crosby said. "Today was really tough, especially when they got a goal late in regulation. But we came back and got it in overtime."
Luongo just grinned when asked what it meant to deliver in a big game, something he's been accused of being unable to do. He finished 5-0, after taking over starting goalie duties for Martin Brodeur, who was benched following the 5-3 loss to the U.S. last Sunday.
"I've got a gold medal around my neck and no one can take that away from me," he said. "I was disappointed, but once we got back in the locker room, we were able to focus and come out strong."
He said it was almost too wonderful to comprehend — beating the U.S. for a gold medal in the Olympic games.
"It's unreal," he said. "You work hard your whole life and to get rewarded with gold. It's amazing."
He said his experience as an Olympian is something he'll cherish, and would have, regardless of the game's outcome.
"That fact that we won makes it so much more fun, but I've enjoyed every minute," he said.
Iginla said earning the win in front of a home crowd was priceless.
"I am very proud to be Canadian and take part in the Olympic Games," he said. "I'm really proud to join the Canadians in setting the gold medal record. We've been cheering everyone else on. It's pretty special."
The players have said throughout the tournament that they felt tremendous pressure, but also tremendous pride in trying to earn the country a gold medal in a game they consider their own.
"Definitely part of the battle was controlling those emotions," Iginla said. "It's amazing because coming into these games we were looking to win that first gold medal at home. Then all of a sudden we're setting a gold-medal record."
U.S. goalie Ryan Miller, who was the tournament MVP, stopped a breakaway shot by Crosby late in the third period. That was something Crosby thought about after the U.S. sent the game into overtime.
"Any guy would have that going through their mind, especially once they tied it up," Crosby said. "That spoiled things for a while. You never know if you're going to get this chance again."
Crosby said he's proud of not just how the Canadian athletes have competed, but how the country has embraced the Games.
"I've always been a proud Canadian, whether I played hockey or not," he said. "To see the passion Canadians have not just for hockey but for everything, has really been amazing."
e-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com