FEATURE: 2010 Gold Medal Game, 10 Years Later

SUNRISE, Fla.- Patrick Kane remembers looking into the crowd and seeing grown men cry.
Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith vividly recall the burden of playing with the weight of an entire nation on their backs.
It was 10 years ago Friday that the Blackhawks teammates - along with another, Brent Seabrook - took the ice for what turned out to be arguably the greatest hockey game ever played.

On Feb. 28, 2010, Toews, Keith and Seabrook pulled on their Team Canada sweaters and faced off against Kane and the rest of Team USA in the gold-medal game of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

"It's a game that was bigger than any of the players involved," Toews said. "You're honored to be on the ice and have a chance to play in a game like that at some point in your career."
It was a game that held the highest stakes imaginable for players who grew up in North America with hockey sticks in their hands. With the Olympics held in hockey-crazed Canada, the men's tournament transcended all other events in the Games and the gold-medal contest lived up to the hype.
With the United States having defeated Canada in the preliminary round, by the time the teams met in the finale the tension in the arena - not to mention throughout Canada itself - was palpable.
"The only word you can use to describe it is electric," Toews said. "It was everything you could imagine it would be at that level. Something like that is the dream since you were a kid and when it comes true it meets every expectation you could ever imagine."
As the game wore on, the electricity in the building continued to spark with red-cladded fans standing, waving flags and roaring as the Canadians held a 2-1 lead into into the final minutes.
That was when the United States staged a comeback for the ages and it began with perhaps the greatest defensive play in Kane's career. With 3:15 remaining, Team Canada's Sidney Crosby scooped up a loose puck and sped into the U.S. zone on a breakaway. With
Crosby zeroing in on goaltender Ryan Miller intent to put the game away, Kane raced from his own zone to catch Crosby and finish a monumental back check by disrupting Crosby's stick at the last possible moment and spoiling what would have been a crippling score to the U.S.

"It was an important time of the game," Kane said. "It was 2-1 and we were down and obviously you don't want to give up a goal because it would be tough to come back from a two-goal deficit against a team like that. I saw (Crosby) skating and I just figured I'd give it my all to try and get back to catch him."
Kane did, preserving the one-goal deficit and keeping U.S. hopes alive. With less than a minute remaining and the crowd in a frenzy, Kane then played a key role in tying the game. The winger spun and fired a shot that hit a skate en route to the net and ricocheted off Team Canada goaltender Roberto Luongo and onto the stick of Team USA's Zach Parise, who knocked it into the net with 24.4 seconds remaining.
The stunned crowd looked on as the Americans celebrated and Canadian players leaned on their sticks almost in disbelief. A short time later, the teams were in their respective dressing rooms preparing for overtime.
"It was scary when the U.S. scored that late goal to tie it," said Toews, who was named best forward of the tournament. "We were so close to finishing the job and could we really have let it slip away? All the guys did a good job of calming ourselves in the room. A lot of guys spoke up and said, 'hey, we're fine, we're going to go get that next one.'"

Meanwhile, in the Team USA room the Americans believed they were about to pull off a mini-miracle on ice.
"Oh yeah, for sure," Kane said. "We had all the momentum when we came back and everyone was jacked up."
When the teams took the ice for overtime, the air was thick with anticipation and it fell squarely on the players.
"As a group of players in that room we were basically on a mission," Keith said. "There was only one thing to do and that was to win gold. That was the only thing that would basically satisfy not only us but obviously the entire country.
"You just kind of stay in the moment and try not to think anything too far ahead and you just be present in the moment," Keith added. "Obviously, there are some nerves there but you try to control everything mentally in your thoughts and feelings and emotions. Luckily, it didn't go too long and we were able to get it done."
It took exactly 7:40 into overtime for Team Canada to get it done as Crosby took a feed from Jarome Iginla and scored the Golden Goal.
As Team Canada erupted in celebration, hockey fans young and old stretching from Vancouver to Newfoundland let out a collective breath.
"It was just nice that it was over," Keith said. "It was a huge weight off your shoulders. It was crazy in that building, loud with the fans. It was pretty neat to wave the flag and skate around with the team and take celebratory victory laps with our fans. It was a very, very special moment in my career."

Toews called Crosby scoring to end it "a perfect situation. It's one of those moments that you can't really believe was happening. You just do your best to try and take it all in.
"I just remember being so exhilarated and exhausted," Toews continued. "I was emotionally spent. Every moment feels like it's drawn out and it feels a lot longer than it is because there was so much pressure, so much weight on your psyche."
At the time, Kane joined his teammates in crushing disappointment but said the experience "is a positive now."
"It was an amazing game," Kane said. "It was probably one of the best games I've ever been a part of. An amazing finish to it, us being down 2-0 and coming back tying it 2-2 and then a pretty amazing goal by Crosby to win it for them. It was disappointing at the time and obviously it would be nice to have a gold medal.
"Everyone wanted to win that men's ice hockey event in Canada," Kane added. "I remember looking up at the crowd after and you're seeing grown men crying and hugging each other. It was just so important to them."

Making the moment that much more special was being able to experience it with teammates that a few months later would combine forces to capture the Blackhawks' first Stanley Cup championship in 49 years.
"It's funny, you line up next to 'Duncs' and you just look at him and start smiling," Kane said of the Olympics experience. "The first time we played Canada in the round-robin me and Toews were kind of chirping each other after the first period. I guess your competitiveness takes over. I don't really like playing against them but it was fun to do it in a situation like that."
The four players on the ice for the gold-medal game were part of the contingent of six Blackhawks participating in the Games - Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky represented Slovakia - and it is something they will share the rest of their lives.
"I've been fortunate to have a lot of great memories with those guys over the years," Keith said. "It was cool playing 'Kaner' in the finals - it would have been nice if he was on our team but definitely Canada-USA in Canada, it didn't get any bigger than that. Overall, I'm just grateful to be a part of that tournament and grateful to have teammates like Kane, Toews and Seabrook to celebrate and take that moment in with them."
The four - along with the rest of the Blackhawks save for an ill Cristobal Huet - took the celebration to late-night TV a few weeks later when they appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" with their Olympic medals around their necks.
In a pre-planned skit, Leno was distracted by a flashing light while giving his monologue and eventually the camera shifted to Kane, who explained that the glare was coming from his silver medal.
"Sorry, Jay, I think it's coming from the silver medal I won at the Olympics," Kane said on the show.
It was then that Toews, Keith and Seabrook stood up and Toews said, "hang on there, Jay, I'm pretty sure the glare is coming from these three Canada gold medals over here."
Toews flashed a smile remembering the moment he and Blackhawks teammates went Hollywood.
"It was just a little joke we could crack at 'Kaner' having a silver medal and us flashing the gold," Toews said. "I know that probably wasn't too popular with the crowd at the Leno show. It was kind of cool to be honored on that show.
"It was my acting debut and finale, I guess, too," Toews said.
It all came about because of that magical game in Vancouver a decade ago.
"It was an incredible moment for our country," Toews said. "Everyone was really proud of what Canada did at the Olympics and to cap it off with a gold medal in men's hockey I think is kind of the Holy Grail for our country. We felt the pressure and it was incredible to be able to deliver. Everyone remembers where they were when it happened so it's pretty cool to be a part of it."