Canada's Hockey Team Wins in Overtime

"And Canada, if you didn't know Marie-Philip Poulin after the Vancouver games, you better know her now."  (Cassie Campbell-Pascal)

The fans were on the edge of the seat at the Bolshoy Ice Dome on Thursday.  Canada was down 2-0 with less than four minutes left in the game.  And yet the unthinkable happened and Canada came away with a win, in large part thanks to heroine Marie-Philippe Poulin.

Canada was undefeated in Sochi and had already beat the Americans once.  But they knew that the Americans could beat them at any time.  Canadian Meaghan Mikkelson would be playing with a broken right hand.  But veterans Hayley Wickenheiser, Jayna Hefford and Caroline Ouellette, who had already won three Olympic golds, would be relied on heavily.

For the gold medal match in Sochi, things started off slowly.  The Americans scored a goal.  Then they scored a second goal.  For the longest time, the score remained 2-0.  However, with 3:26 minutes remaining, Canada scored a goal and the momentum seemed to shift to their side.  A flurry of activity ensued with the Canadians scoring the tie breaker with only 55 seconds left in the game.

Into overtime they went.  Hayley Wickenheiser had a breakaway, but was taken down by an American. The result was a 4 on 3 during which Poulin (the heroine from the Vancouver games) scored the go-ahead goal.   The crowd erupted.  Canadians took to their cell phones, recording a plethora of texts.  The Canadian hockey team was mentioned 121,000 times on social media.  The Canadians were golden for the fourth time in Olympic history.