15 years after the Golden Goal, Sidney Crosby still has it
It sure beats an All-Star Game, doesn’t it?
It’s been nine years since the top hockey players in the world have suited up in their nations’ colours and played best-on-best, but that all changed Wednesday night at Montreal’s Bell Centre, when the 4 Nations Faceoff kicked off with Canada taking down Sweden in overtime off of a Sidney Crosby assisted Mitch Marner goal.
Even the tournament nine years ago — the 2016 World Cup of Hockey (WCOH) — included the gimmick teams of North America, composed of Canadian and American players 23-and-under, and Europe, which was composed of players hailing from countries on the continent excluding Finland, Sweden, Russia, and Czech Republic, who had their own entries.
Unfortunately for Ralph Krueger’s coaching ambitions, there were no gimmick teams this time around — just a glaring lack of depth, as the league decided to shrink the tournament and stick to the four best national teams only.
But true best-on-best be damned, Team Canada remains Team Canada, and the nation’s hockey fans and media are going to treat them like such. The broadcast couldn’t have asked for any better from the players to cap off a crescendo after a slick opening sequence that hyped up the event.
Sportsnet began the production with a montage set to the Tragically Hip’s “Courage (for Hugh McLennan),” before leading into player introductions. After cheers for Sidney Crosby and the Canadian starting lineup and boos for Auston Matthews, these eventually led to a standing ovation for the legendary Mario Lemieux in his home province.
And after an errant high-stick from Matthews’ Leafs teammate William Nylander sent the Canadians to the power play, the crescendo was reached under a minute into the game, as Crosby sent a no-look, behind-the-back feed to his offseason training partner and Cole Harbour neighbour Nathan MacKinnon, who made no mistake and buried the tournaments’ first goal.
I still remember where I was 15 years ago (wow,) as a six-year-old watching Crosby score the Golden Goal in 2010 — in my parents basement, playing mini-sticks while watching the game on our ancient analog television — and as a 10-year-old in 2014, when Carey Price shut out Sweden to make it back-to-back golds — sleeping over at my friend’s house, where we set alarms to wake the entire house up for that 8 a.m. EST start.
It’s unlikely that the 4 Nations tournament this year will mean the same to kids growing up now. Maybe I’m just biased or was particularly forgetful as a 13-year-old, but I can barely recall that gold medal game, much less where I was for it. Be it the fall tournament or those aforementioned gimmick teams, the WCOH made it clear that international hockey is best played at the Olympics.
But hey, we’re still allowed to have a little fun watching Connor McDavid don the maple leaf in best-on-best competition for the first time ever — even if I eventually forget everything almost everything else about the tournament, like I did in 2016.
And I know that a goalie controversy sells, but it really doesn’t matter who’s in net for the team, as the media has been obsessing over for the last few months. The days of Price are unfortunately well in the rearview mirror, but Crosby — who added another primary assist in the second period of the 4-3 win and finished with three on the night — hasn’t skipped a beat since 2016, 2014, or 2010, and his supporting crew has only got younger and more talented.
The 4 Nations Faceoff is the prelims, if you will, for the main card that is the 2026 Olympics, and if Gary Bettman and the NHL finally make it back to the big dance for the first time in 12 years like they’ve promised, you can bet that tournament will breed those same memories if Canada returns to glory at Milan next year. A generation of children deserve it.
