February 24, 2002: Canada End Their Hockey Gold Medal Drought

February 24, 2002: Canada wins the Gold Medal in the Winter Olympic hockey tournament, defeating the U.S. team, 5-2 at the E Center (now the Maverik Center) in the Salt Lake City suburb of West Valley City, Utah.

Jarome Iginla and Joe Sakic each score 2 goals. Herb Brooks, the coach who took the U.S. team to the Gold Medal in Lake Placid in 1980, was brought back, but could only lead them to the Silver Medal this time.

Canada's amateur players had fallen short against the "amateur" players of Eastern Europe, especially the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, since their last Gold Medal in 1952. And the efforts of NHL teams to sign the best amateur players before they could reach the Olympic team prevented the best players from leading them to Gold Medals.

Bobby Orr and Bobby Clarke in 1964; Guy Lafleur, Ken Dryden and Denis Potvin in 1968; Mike Bossy in 1972; Wayne Gretzky in 1976; Mario Lemieux, Patrick Roy and Steve Yzerman in 1980; Martin Brodeur and Eric Lindros in 1988 -- they weren't ready. Orr and Clarke in 1968; Lafleur, Dryden and Potvin in 1972; Bossy in 1976; Gretzky in 1980; Lemieux, Roy and Yzerman in 1984; Brodeur and Lindros in 1992 -- they were already professionals, and thus ineligible for the Olympics under the rules of the time.

In for Nagano, Japan in 1998, professionals were allowed to play. Canada put together perhaps the most talented group of hockey players ever assembled: Centers Gretzky, Yzerman, Lindros, Joe Nieuwendyk, Keith Primeau, Rod Brind'Amour; left wings Joe Sakic, Brendan Shanahan, Shayne Corson and Rob Zamuner; right wings Theoren Fleury, Trevor Linden and Mark Recchi; defensemen Ray Bourque, Scott Stevens, Al MacInnis, Éric Desjardins, Chris Pronger, Rob Blake, Adam Foote; and goaltenders Roy, Martin Brodeur and Curtis Joseph.

And it was a disaster. After eliminating the United States in the Quarterfinals -- and the American team, also loaded, were badly behaved, including trashing their hotel rooms -- Canada lost the Semifinal to the Czech Republic, which then beat Russia for the Gold Medal.

Gretzky retired as an active player in 1999, and was named general manager for the 2002 team. This team was younger on the average, but also better-coached: Pat Quinn had taken the Philadelphia Flyers and the Vancouver Canucks to the Stanley Cup Finals; Wayne Fleming and Jacques Martin had been assistants to Quinn; and assistant Ken Hitchcock had coached the Dallas Stars to the 1999 Stanley Cup.

The team they assembled to end a half-century's Gold drought was a mixture of '98 players and newcomers: Centers Lemieux, Yzerman, Lindros, Nieuwendyk, Michael Peca and Ryan Smyth; left wings Sakic, Shanahan, Paul Kariya and Simon Gagné; right wings Fleury, Owen Nolan and Jarome Iginla; defensemen MacInnis, Blake, Pronger, Foote, Scott Niedermayer, Eric Brewer and Ed Jovanovski; and goaltenders Brodeur, Joseph and Ed Belfour.

This time, the letdown came in the 1st game, when they were beaten 5-2 by Sweden. They beat Germany 3-2, and were held to a 3-3 tie by the Czech Republic, qualifying for the knockout stage by the skin of their teeth. Then they got serious, beating Finland 2-1 in the Quarterfinal, and Belarus 7-1 in the Semifinal. The Final would have them face a U.S. team, coming off a win over Russia on home ice that had their fans thinking it was 1980 all over again.

It was a weird situation for me. There were Martin Brodeur and Scott Niedermayer of the New Jersey Devils, wearing red and white; and Brian Leetch and Mike Richter of the New York Rangers, wearing red, white and blue. Both what I was used to. And yet, this was international hockey, so my usual rooting was reversed: I had to root for the American Rangers against the Canadian Devils.

Tony Amonte opened the scoring at 8:49 of the 1st period. But it was mostly Canada from then onward. Kariya scored at 14:50, and Iginla gave Canada the lead at 18:33.

Brian Rafalski, the only Devils player on the U.S. team, tied the game at 15:30 of the 2nd period, but Sakic gave Canada the lead back at 18:19. It was still only 3-2 Canada with 4 minutes left in regulation, but Iginla put the game away. With 1:20 left, Sakic put the cherry on the sundae.

Canada won, 5-2. It was their 1st Gold Medal in the sport they invented in 50 years. And it was the happiest moment for Canadian hockey since the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union.

Canada beat the U.S. in the Final again in 2010, on home ice in Vancouver; and beat Sweden in the Final in Sochi, Russia in 2014.

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February 24, 2002 was a Sunday. Baseball and football were out of season. The NHL had, naturally, suspended play for the length of the Olympic Games.

There were 8 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Los Angeles Lakers, 107-91 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Charlotte Hornets, 95-93 at the Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Miami Heat beat the Washington Wizards, 92-80 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.

* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Toronto Raptors, 101-92 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Orlando Magic, 111-96 at the Gund Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Detroit Pistons, 89-82 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Denver Nuggets, 89-84 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.

* And the Phoenix Suns beat the San Antonio Spurs, 92-83 at the America West Arena (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix. Stephon Marbury of the Suns led all scorers on the day with 36 points.