Canada wins hockey gold; sets new Olympic record

VANCOUVER — Canada captured its long-awaited gold medal and Roberto Luongo captured his long-awaited place in Olympic hockey history Sunday.

The win also secured Canada’s record as the nation with the most gold medals ever during an Olympic Games.

Sidney Crosby ended the overtime suspense when he took a pass from Jarome Iginla and whipped a wrist shot between the pads of goaltender Ryan Miller at 7:40 of the extra session for a dramatic 3-2 victory over the U.S. at Canada Hockey Place. The overtime was forced when Zach Parise scored with 24. 4 seconds remaining in regulation time and set the stage for four-on-four overtime.

Canada was hoping to avenge 5-3 loss to the Americans in the preliminary round which cost Canada the Pool A title. And Luongo was hoping to stake his claim as one of the game’s great goaltenders after the Vancouver Canucks stopper watched from the bench in the preliminary loss to the Americans. He did the same back in 2006 when Canada finished seventh in the Turin Games, where the U.S. was eighth.

Corey Perry and Jonathan Toews also scored for Canada on Sunday, while Ryan Kesler’s deflection of a Kane wrister looked like it was going to be the only shot to get past a resilient Luongo in the biggest game of his career. The Canadians nearly put the game on ice with three minutes left in regulation time when Crosby was stopped on a partial breakaway by Ryan Miller before Parise struck.

The U.S., which is also trying to avenge a 5-2 loss to Canada in the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, looked like momentum had swung its way after Kesler got his blade on a Kane wrister at 12:44 of the second period to set the stage for a hectic finish.

Luongo was then forced to make a save off Zach Parise on a 2-on-1 break before U.S. goalie Ryan Miller responded with a save off Mike Richards as Canada held a 25-23 shot advantage after 40 minutes.

Perry had made it a two-goal cushion at 7:13 of the second period when a centring pass by Ryan Getzlaf bounced off American defenceman Ryan Whitney and right to a trailing Perry who snapped it past Miller. Canada opened scoring when Richards stripped Erik Johnson of the puck deep in the U.S. zone and then got a shot off before pounced on the ensuing rebound and whipped a wrist shot past Miller’s glove at 12:50. Canada outshot the U.S. 10-8 in the opening 20 minutes.

The best chance for the Americans in the first period came midway through the period when winger Dustin Brown went around defenceman Drew Doughty and used a backhand-to-forehand move to try and jam the puck past Luongo. The goalie hugged the post with his pad as Kane jammed at a loose puck that sat on the goalline before being swept away by defenceman Duncan Keith.

The allstar team was also announced Sunday:

MVP – Ryan Miller (USA)

Goal – Ryan Miller (USA)

Defence – Brian Rafalski (USA), Shea Weber (Can)

Forwards – Jonathan Toews (Can), Pavol Demitra (Slovakia), Zach Parise (USA)