Hockey gold medal the icing on the cake for Canada

THERE were two closing ceremonies to the Vancouver Winter Olympics, the formal pageant of farewell, and Canada's melodramatic victory in the ice hockey final. The former was a rite, but the latter was much more momentous; it was a right.

From Sunday's rainy dawn, queues began to form outside bars showing the match, even though they would not open for hours. By game time, Canada Hockey Place was a seething mass of red, as ablaze as the Olympic cauldron. Seemingly, all of Canada's gold medallists were there.

Of the many banners, one was more to the point than perhaps it intended. ''Destiny on ice'', it read. ''On ice'' means ''for another day''. For Canada, home, heartland and hotbed of ice hockey, too often it has been so. In more than 50 years, it had won only one men's ice hockey Olympic gold medal, in Salt Lake City in 2002. On home ice, anything less than gold would be a right stolen.

Although caught on the back skate early by the US in the final, Canada soon had control, and early in the second period led 2-0. The closest the US had come was to bundle Canadian goalkeeper Roberto Luongo into the net, but not the puck.

Before the end of the second period, the US had clawed back a goal.

Twice already in this tournament, Canada had looked into the face of destiny and frozen. The first was in a group match against the US, which it dominated but lost 3-5. The second was in its semi-final against Slovakia, which it led 3-0, but conceded two late goals and only just survived a siege.

The US, an industrious team, clawed a goal back in the second period when Luongo fumbled. The third period was helter-skelter. With less than three minutes remaining, Sidney Crosby, archetypal all-Canadian boy, reigning Stanley Cup captain with the Pittsburgh Penguins, was one-on-one with US goalkeeper Ryan Miller. Crosby was a fisherman, Miller on his line, but Crosby played him out a fraction too long, and the goal wriggled away.

With just over a minute remaining, the US gambled all on an ''empty net'' play: no goalkeeper, six outfielders. With 24 seconds of this siege remaining, Zach Parise slapped a rebound into the net. A nation was hushed.

Almost eight minutes into golden-goal extra time, veteran Jarome Iginla, two-goal hero of Salt Lake City, worked the puck to Crosby who without a second's hesitation flashed it through the merest chink of a gap on Miller's near side. ''I just shot it; maybe it went five hole,'' Crosby said. ''Five hole'' is hockey slang for ''between the legs''. It was the only one of five goals in the final that was not scored from rebound or deflection; it was pure.