VANCOUVER -- All along, this was the Canada we were waiting for, hoping for. This was the Canada we believed was possible, if everything could just click, if they could just get the hell out of their own way, if they could just stop thinking and play hockey. Just play.
Oh, how they played. Against Russia, in the quarter-finals, Canada unleashed itself. It was 4-1 at the end of the first period; it was 7-3 after the second. By the end, Canada had played a bonfire of a game and won by that score to advance to the semi-finals here in Vancouver.
"[Russia has] so much skill and so much speed, and it really took everybody to take that away. It really was a team effort," said Sidney Crosby, who managed not to register a point.
"We played well as a group, on every side of the puck. ... We made some smart plays on some goals, and defensively didn't give them a lot of space."
And Canada was more than equal to the moment. Earlier in this tournament, as they struggled with Switzerland and lost to the United States, this team's cohesion did not equal its talent. On this night, however, this team's forecheck, its intensity, its physicality, its drive -- it simply cowed the Russians, who came apart. And they never recovered.
"It feels real good to be back in the tournament," said Canadian coach Mike Babcock.
Defenceman Dan Boyle was an example of how things had changed. Babcock had said Boyle was thinking too much earlier in the tournament, but last night he created Canada's first goal by spotting an opening, driving to the net, and feeding Ryan Getzlaf for Canada's first goal, just 2:21 in. Boyle would score Canada's second goal, and assist on its fourth.
"I welcomed him back after the game," said Babcock. "It was nice to see him."
Like Boyle, Canada abandoned all hesitation and simply played, and the goals came one after another, carried by the avalanche. By the time Russia pulled starting goaltender Evgeni Nabokov for Ilya Bryzgalov, it was 6-1.
"What I think?" said Bryzgalov, asked what he was thinking on the bench. "I'm thinking, 'uh oh.'
"They came like gorillas out of a cage ... we didn't give ourselves a chance."
Indeed, when Canada took a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty midway through the second period, you half wondered whether they'd been getting away with it for the entire game. Two hockey superpowers entered, and only one looked the part. It was shocking.
"I guess yes and no," said defenceman Brent Seabrook, when asked if he was surprised. "I mean, we know how good we are."
Russia's superstars, meanwhile, were silenced. Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Alexander Semin and Pavel Datsyuk combined for one lonesome assist, and in the third the crowd rejoiced and chanted "O-vie! O-vie!" The noise could have cracked the earth.
"It's a pretty amazing atmosphere," said Crosby. "I mean, we always talk about Canada-Russia, the rivalry, but you feel it more than ever in this building. We all, I think, responded well to that."
That they did. Canada had not defeated Russia in the Olympics in 50 years, and while the tenor has changed since the end of the Soviet empire -- Crosby and Malkin play on the same team, now -- it is still a grand argument over who owns the game.
Today Canada rules, and will play Slovakia as a reward.
Before this game began, there was no way to be sure of this Canadian team. Russia was a terrifying prospect; the road looked treacherous. And the way Canada was searching for its game, it was.
Now? Bring on Slovakia. Bring on the Americans. Bring on the underdogs, the powerhouses, the world. Sure, anything can happen. Sure, anyone can win. This could still all end in our Canadian version of tragedy. The gold remains a long way away.
But this was the Canada we had been waiting for, and if they play like this, let the others shake. We took our time arriving, but here we are.
The Canadian team celebrates a goal during the Men's Ice Hockey quarter-finals game between Russia and Canada at the Canada Hockey Place during the XXI Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada on February 24, 2010. LUIS ACOSTA/AFP/Getty Images
