QUEBEC -- This is the home game they wanted all along, a clash of hockey titans, a renewal of Canada vs. Russia for all the marbles.
It's not the Olympics. It's not the iconic Summit Series of 1972. It's the first world hockey championship on Canadian soil and that ought to mean something. Strangely enough, it's also the first gold-medal meeting between Canada and Russia at this tournament.
The teams are loaded with talent and Le Colisée will rock with the noise of fans who know and appreciate the value of this game. It may be a classic in its own right.
"I think it has a chance," said captain Shane Doan, who owns the keenest sense of hockey history outside of the Team Canada coaches' room. "You always hear the Russians, the Russians, the Russians. As a Canadian, to get a chance to play against them in the gold-medal game is pretty special."
So, too, is Doan's cherished picture of Paul Henderson, captured moments after he scored that goal on Vladislav Tretiak in 1972. You know the one. Black and white. Henderson is jumping into the arms of Yvan Cournoyer. Tretiak is flat on his back, a beaten man with the weight of a proud hockey nation on his chest. At the mere mention of 1972, hockey fans of a certain vintage can conjure its tiniest details and weave them into the tinny soundtrack provided by Foster Hewitt.
"Here's a shot. Henderson makes a wild stab for it and fell. Here's another shot. Right in front. They score! Henderson scores for Canada!"
Doan wasn't alive then but he has heard and seen that slice of Canadiana more times than he could possibly count.
"It's gotta be hundreds," he said. "You see it and hear it. The sound is so incredible."
That series, that game and Hewitt's call capture the essence of what the struggle used to be. It was mysterious because of the information gap that existed at the time. They were the Soviets. They came to Canada wearing vintage gear and constant frowns. The players were obvious enough. But were the assistant coaches really coaches or KGB men in disguise, sent along to prevent defections?
There is no comparing that series or even Game 8 to this one on any level, political, sociological or sporting. To make that case would be foolish. But it's the biggest single Canada-Russia winner-take-all game at the senior level since the 1992 Olympics in Albertville.
"These are two nations everybody cares about," said Russian coach and former player Slava Bykov, who won gold in that Olympic final. "This is the final everybody was hoping for."
It's the one that makes sense.
"We were the best two teams from start to finish. As much as we're excited, we're also curious to see how our good young players do against their good young players."
To a man, these Canadians young and old feel lucky and proud to be playing in this game. The eight Canadians who won last year -- Doan, Cam Ward, Jason Chimera, Jamal Mayers, Eric Staal, Rick Nash, Jonathan Toews and Dan Hamhuis -- feel doubly blessed. They know the attention of Canadians has been diverted by the National Hockey League playoffs and improving weather. But they also know Canadians.
"Hockey is Canada," said Ward, who starts in goal today. "We all know everyone is going to be watching. You've got to embrace it and enjoy the moment. You can't look at it as pressure. You don't want to go out there tense with the what-ifs."
Like, what if Alexander Ovechkin gets a breakaway 30 seconds in? What if Rick Nash scores another highlight-reel goal? What if it's tied after regulation time? What if a bad bounce decides the colour of their medal?
What happens happens. There are 12 Russians on this team who also played in Moscow last year and didn't have the chance to play for gold. They are truly happy to be in this spot.
"It was pressure for us last year," said Alexander Radulov. "Here we've got lots of fans but I think more pressure is going to be on them. It's their hometown."
That picture of Tretiak and Henderson hangs in Doan's Phoenix home, a tangible example of his love for game and country. He bought it nine years ago at a silent auction and thought at the time he may have paid too much for it.
If Canada wins its 25th gold medal today, there will be another picture taken, with Doan in it. He will have paid a price for that piece of history, too. And it will have been well worth it.
-- Canwest News Service
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