1ST Canada's hockey dream comes true in record host haul (Roundup)

By Barry Whelan Feb 28, 2010, 23:16 GMT

Vacouver - Canada defeated the United States 3-2 for the ice hockey gold medal on Sunday and a perfect ending of the Vancouver Games which saw the host team set new standards amid an unprecedented Olympic frenzy.

NHL superstar Sidney Crosby was the hero when he clinched matters 7:40 minutes into sudden death overtime, after Zach Parise had spoilt the Canadian party in regulation by grabbing the 2-2 equalizer with 24.4 seconds left.

The triumph in the country's favourite sport was Canada's 14th gold medal, a mark never reached before at the Winter Games by any country.

Earlier Sunday, Petter Northug became the most successful male athlete of the Games when he pushed passed German Axel Teichmann on the home stretch of the 50-kilometres cross country ski marathon.

Northug finished with two golds, one silver and one bronze. The most successful women's athlete was also a Norwegian cross-country skier, Marit Bjoergen, with three golds, one silver and one bronze.

Already assured of the top of the medal table, Canada finished with a final tally of 14 gold, seven silver and five bronze, ahead of Germany (10-13-7), the US (9-15-13) and Norway 9-8-6) from the 86 events a few hours before the closing ceremony.

The 37 US medals were also a Winter Games record, but they would have likely preferred a 10th goal in the hockey final which brought the whole of Canada to a standstill.

The excitement was huge and Canada got its revenge for a 5-3 group stage defeat last Sunday.

Jonathan Toews scored in the first period and Corey Perry made it 2-0 in the second for Canada.

The United States cut the deficit in half with Ryan Kesler's goal later in the second. And Parise' equalizer late in regulation added to the Canadian nerves before Crosby's winner let Canada Hockey Place and the whole nation erupt in joy.

Canada waited eight years to once again win Olympic gold. And Mike Babcock's men came through a week after losing 5-3 to the United States in the final round robin match.

The hockey medals were presented by International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, who had earlier expressed his delight with the Games which had to overcome some inital 'teething pains' and the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili.

'When you see a young athlete pursuing his dream to participate in Olympics Games and having such an accident it hurts, that's for sure. I am sure no one will forget that,' said Rogge.

Looking at the overall Games, Rogge spoke of 'this extraordinary embrace of the entire city of the Olympic Games, something I have never seen on this scale before.

'I have seen this embrace in Lillehammer (in 1994) but Lillehammer is a small city of 20,000 and here we are over 1 million. It is totally different and this is really something unique and has given a great atmosphere for these Games.'

Earlier, the 50km world champion Northug pushed past Teichmann on the home stretch like he did in the team sprint on Monday to win the classic style marathon in 2 hours 5 minutes 35.1 seconds, blowing a kiss into the sky as he crossed the line.

Teichmann got silver 0.3 seconds behind the winner and Johan Olsson of Sweden grabbed bronze in the dramatic finish, one second off the pace.

'It was my dream before the season to win the 50km ... These championships have been great. It feels great,' said Northug after his first individual gold.

Teichmann, who made up a deficit of almost 30 seconds on the leaders at 35km, attacked on the final uphill but just couldn't get a big enough lead to survive Northug's furious finish in the stadium.