Part 37 - Pure Gold

The next day was the day of the final. This was it. The end of the road. It was do or die time. And all those other sports cliches. Either the boys were going home Champions of the World or they were going home second-best for the fourth straight year. Or was it fifth straight? I really didn’t know. But it had been a damn long time since they’d won this thing.

I sat, nervously as always in the stands. I hadn’t seen Sidney since the afternoon before, and I hadn’t been given the chance to see Dion at all. He’d been busy with the press and then it was Team Canada time. The guys were all nervous, and hanging out around each other’s nervous families and friends was probably not the best idea.

I spent most of the rest of the day watching TSN on satellite and I wasn’t impressed by what Alexander Ovechkin (the Russian answer to Sidney) was saying. Basically he was saying that he’d never seen Sidney play and that he didn’t think he was that great. Of course, there was the whole language barrier thing. Maybe he didn’t mean it. Maybe it was just because his grasp of the English language wasn’t that great.

But listening to the Canadian fans in the stands around us, I could tell that not so many people were thinking that way. They were all on the Alex Ovechkin hate squad. I mean, not that I could blame them. Games are always far more exciting when there is a sub plot, and in this case, it was all about the guy who dissed our phenom. In this particular situation, and even though a lot of people tended to say that Crosby would be a bust, he’d been insulted, so he was ours. All of ours.

But especially mine I knew as I gently fingered the bracelet he’d given me. I was wearing the Rebels For Life jersey that Fraz had given me, as well as the bracelets that D and Sidney had given me. Nothing I was wearing matched, but I didn’t really care. (Well mainly my jewelry didn’t match I wore jeans with the jersey, so that was cool).

The fact was, I was totally nervous. I wanted this game to be over. I wanted the Gold Medals to be around my boys’ necks. I wanted this to be done. “Calm down sexy.” Dane told me.

I took a deep breath. “I can’t.” I said jiggling my right knee nervously. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, and I know how nervous the boys are and that just makes me more nervous.”

“This is why Brent wouldn’t allow any of the family or friends around the guys after 4 yesterday afternoon.” Chris said wryly.

“I know.” I said. “I almost wish that I could be on the ice, as if I could help or something.” I added sarcastically.

The guys laughed. “That’s not actually that crazy.” Dane said. “I mean, you spent a lot of time with Seabrook when he was hurt, and you’ve been around Dion when he’s missed games. You know they wanted to be on the ice and not up here. Dion says that being in stands is harder then being on the ice, because at least on the ice you can get ease your nerves by hitting someone.”

I laughed. “That definitely sounds like my Dion.” I said smiling.

We chatted in order to ignore our nervousness as we waited for the puck to drop. When it finally did, it really didn’t really help get rid of the nervousness anymore then the chatting had. Well not immediately at least, but less then a minute into the game, Canada got their first lead of the game.

The crowd ERRUPTED as Getter put the puck in the net on a breakaway. “I love mouthy Saskatchewan boys even more now!” I cried as I hugged both Chris and Dane.

Chris laughed. “So does that mean I have a chance now?” He asked teasingly.

“I think Sid the kid has his claws in my sexy.” Dane said mournfully to Chris. “From what my brother’s saying, no one has a chance now.”

I laughed. “Sorry boys, but read the bracelet.” I said showing them the charm bracelet.

With the crowd buzzing about the lead, the parade to the penalty box had to start. Corey Perry (who was really a weasel I learned from Mikey Richards, who played him a lot in the OHL) took a penalty for interference, and then Shea Webber took a tripping penalty less then a minute in to Corey’s penalty, giving the Russians a long two-man advantage.

Fortunately, the Russians seemed unable to really get anything going and the boys were able to kill off the penalty. Then a couple of minutes later one of the Russian players took a penalty for slashing giving us a power play opportunity. With about 20 seconds left in the penalty Danny Syvret, a twice undrafted player, scored from Braydon Coburn and Patrice Bergeron, giving Canada a 2-0 lead.

Just over three minutes later though, the parade to the penalty box continued as Andy took a cross-checking penalty. The boys killed off the penalty but four minutes later, Braydon Coburn took a hooking penalty. With this much time spent on the power play, it wasn’t surprising that the Russians managed to get their offense going.

What was surprising though, was that Alexander Ovechkin had headed to the dressing room. It was true he’d been hit HARD a few times, and that Sidney had been laying the body a lot more then he typically did in this game (and I was totally proud of him for it – he looked like a mini-Dion at times), trying to throw the Russian phenom off his game. D had smacked him a few times to. Either way, whatever they had done, it worked, because he wasn’t in the game.

However, that didn’t stop the Russians from scoring on the power play. The score was 2-1 and as the period expired less then 30 seconds later Jeff Carter and Evgeni Malkin took off setting minors for slashing. I sighed deeply as the boys trooped off the ice. We had the lead, Ovechkin’s status was unknown, and it was going to be 4 on 4 when we the second period started.

Apparently my sigh was louder and lustier then I’d thought, because Dane and Chris laughed at me. “We have the lead Drew.” Chris pointed out.

I raised my eyebrows. “We can’t just be happy with the lead.” I snapped. “We had the lead last year too.”

“I know.” He said. “I remember. But Fleury was far more excitable then Glass is. He’s calm, cool and collected and you know it.”

I sighed. “You’re right.” I admitted. “I just, well, gah, this is so fricking stressful.”

“Totally.” Dane agreed.

“I wonder what’s wrong with Ovechkin.” Chris said.

I shrugged. “He took some pretty hard hits.” I said. “Sidney and D both crunched him good a few times.”

Dane laughed. “Yeah, D got him real good a couple teams.”

“And Sid nailed him to the boards behind the Canadian net.” I grinned and laughed. “That was GREAT.”

Chris laughed. “I don’t think Ryan’s been on the ice at the same time as he has.” He said. “But I’m sure he’d love to get a chance to take him out on the boards.”

We all laughed. Then I realized that this wasn’t very nice of us. “Guys this isn’t very nice. I mean, I wouldn’t want Russian fans gloating over the fact that they sent D, Getter or Sidney to the locker room with an injury….” I said, thinking of the huge ass bruise that had been on Sidney’s back for so much of this tournament. “Or any of the other guys for that matter.” I added, thinking about Mikey and Brent and Fraz and Reggie and Patrice.

Dane rolled his eyes. “Jeez Drew, we’re just playing sexy. We don’t really want Ovechkin to be hurt.”

“I know, I just couldn’t help thinking of our boys.” I said, taking a sip of my diet coke. “Some of them are pretty banged up.”

“Like Sidney?” Dane asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Hush.” I snapped. “He’s fine Dane.”

“That’s not what Dion said.” Dane replied.

“Shut up Dane.” I snapped. “Would you want everyone to know if Dion was hurt?” I asked quietly.

“Point taken.” He replied. “Sorry sexy.”

The second period started then and it started with 4 on 4 hockey for two minutes because of the incidental minors to Jeff Carter and Evgeni Malkin. Ovechkin, I noticed was back on the bench. The 4 on 4 was kind of exciting, but neither team managed to get anything. But the Canadians did manage to get the momentum back after the late Russian goal though.

That became more then apparent when, just over a minute and a half after Jeff Carter got out of the box when he made the score 3-1 on the Calgary connection (from Andy and Getter in case you didn’t get that). For some reason (that I don’t think that I will ever really understand) the Russian’s decided to change goalies.

To make matters worse for the Russians, Ovechkin had been on the ice for one shift and he’d headed back to the dressing room again. A lot of people in the crowd were excited about it, just like Dane and Chris and I had been earlier. Personally I just hoped that he was okay. Yes, it was good for us, because their top player wasn’t even on the bench, and yes young Russian superstars are easy to hate, but that doesn’t mean that I ever want anyone to get hurt.

Right after the Russians changed goalies the crowd was deflated when we took a too many men on the ice penalty. Then the boys did a good job of killing off the penalty, bringing the crowd back into it. With about 10 seconds left in the Canadian penalty, one of the Russians’ took a penalty for charging. (Which by the way, is a penalty I have never really understood, I mean hitting from behind and boarding I get, but charging?)

That sent Canada to the power play with a cold goalie in the Russian net. Do I really need to tell you what happened? Sidney passed to Corey, Corey shot, Patrice got the rebound, shoveled it home, and Sidney jumped on Patrice in a what can only be described as a comical manner. Basically he jumped on him with his legs wrapped around his waist. That’s exactly how it happened. I jumped up and hugged Dane and Chris for all I was worth.

The score was 4-1 and the Canadian fans were buzzing. But they weren’t the only ones who were buzzing. The Canadian players were buzzing around the Russian goal, and a minute after the power play marker Anthony Stewart scored from Nigel Dawes and Mikey. Now it was 5-1.

It was just over a half and hour away. There was just a half an hour left in the game. We had a 4 goal lead. Better, by far, then the 3 goal lead that they had had the year before in the Gold Medal game. The Gold was so close that the crowd could taste it. I looked down at the boys on the bench. They were pumped, but they were trying hard to stay in the game because they knew that there was over a ½ hour left.

The Russians took a penalty for kneeing abut five minutes later and I jumped up and screamed with the rest of the crowd as the puck hit the net. “D-D-D-D-FENSE! D-D-D-D-FENSE!” I yelled. “Way to go D! REBELS FOR LIFE!!” I finished and popped the collar and dusted off the shoulders.

Dane, standing next to me was yelling something to his brother and I was jumping up and down, pounding Chris on the back. “Nice pass Ryan!” Chris yelled as the assists went up.

“Gotta love those Central DUB boys!” I added, yelling loudly.

Everyone around us laughed. But it wasn’t all sunshine and roses, as Dion scored one of the Russians took a swat at one of our guys with his stick. This put Canada right back on the power play, a 5 minute power play too, since this was deliberate. Then we all cheered as he was given a match penalty, which basically meant that he was booted from the game.

We didn’t do much on the power play, but it was almost as if the Russians had totally given up. They were playing a lack luster style of hockey. It wasn’t even desperation. Ovechkin had been standing, in street clothes (and his jersey) in the tunnel near his team’s bench for awhile, and he looked disgusted. The hockey wasn’t exciting anymore.

But honestly, as a fan in the crowd, that didn’t really matter to me or to anyone else for that matter. We were having too much fun chanting and singing and yelling. Particularly in the third period, when “Oh Canada” was the song of choice for the fans in the crowd. We sang and laughed and cheered and both teams essentially, just played out the third.

With less then a minute left in the game all the guys on the Canadian bench had ripped off their helmets and were yelling and screaming just as much as the crowd was. The guys on the ice couldn’t get a change, and they spent the last minute and a ½ on the ice. I was just grinning and cheering. There wasn’t anything to do. The boys had done it. They’d proven that they could live up to all the hype and that they were the best World Junior Team in Canadian history, hands down.

I couldn’t wait to see the boys. I grinned and laughed and cheered as they piled on each other (and on Jeff Glass). I watched with pride as the medals were hung around their necks and sung along to “Oh Canada” as they did, and watched with even more pride as they shook hands with and congratulated the Russians on a good game.

It was clearly cold comfort to the Russians, who had sat around dejected as the Canadians had celebrated. I watched Sidney and D and laughed. They were just being plain silly now. “You coming Drew?” Chris asked. “It’s gonna be a circus.”

“It’s all worth it for gold Chris.” I pointed out as we headed out of the stands. “In fact, its more then worth it for pure gold.”