It's a scream Jarome Iginla has heard many times in his career. But never this loudly, never with so much urgency.

The scream told Iginla where Sidney Crosby was on the ice. It told him where to pass the puck. And it told him how little time he had before the play went sour.

"There's different pitches of yelling," said Iginla. "He was yelling. He was yelling pretty urgently. I knew he had a step (on U.S. defenceman Brian Rafalski). So I was hoping I hadn't delayed in getting it to him."

Moments after Iginla heard the scream, he heard the roar. 

Although he did not see Crosby beat goaltender Ryan Miller with a wrist shot at 7:40 in overtime, the sold-out crowd at Canada Hockey Place told him Canada had just defeated the U.S. to win the men's hockey gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.

"I fell down so I didn't see it," said Iginla. "I couldn't believe it. It was done. I didn't see where he put it or whatever, I just saw him jump around. It was awesome."

The score was tied 2-2 when Crosby outraced Rafalski to the puck in the left corner of the U.S. zone. After passing the puck along the boards to Iginla, Crosby made a beeline to the net. 

Fighting off a check from Ryan Suter and with his back to the play, Iginla couldn't see Crosby skating into the slot for a give-and-go, but he listened for where his linemate was on the ice. And after hearing his nickname being screamed, Iginla wheeled around and fed Crosby a perfect pass before being knocked to the ground.

"I just tried to let him know where I was," Crosby said of Iginla. "He outmuscled the guy. That's basically what it came down to: a one-on-one battle and he won it and we were able to capitalize on it."

"We were talking all tournament (about) communicating," added Iginla. "We were saying all the time to let me know if he was open and stuff. He let me know there. He was screaming."

When Iginla got up, all of Canada Hockey Place was screaming. 

So was Iginla.

He couldn't quite believe he had won his second gold medal, but more importantly how he helped Canada set a Winter Olympic record with 14 gold medals.

"I'm very proud to be Canadian, to be part of these Olympics, to part of this team, to join the women's side in the gold medals," he said. "And you know what I'm really proud of? To join the Canadians in ... setting that record.

"Today is pretty special. You watch other Olympics and you're watching the gold medal hunt and we're not really in it, you know what I mean? We were looking for our first one at home and then all of a sudden we're setting a record. To be part of that I'm very proud and it's an awesome feeling."

I will remember Joannie Rochette's heartbreaking perfect skate, with the death of her mother hanging over her, and I will remember the moment I knew that Nodar Kumaritashvili was dead. The Olympics are full of glory, but it is those heartbreaking moments that made you feel the joy more deeply, that made you appreciate what all this means.

One young man died, and one mother died, and they forced you to remember that the Olympics are more than sport. They made you remember that the Olympics, at their core, are us.

Petra Madjic was her name. The Slovenian broke a ski and both poles in a crash minutes before the opening heat of the women's sprint classic.

Emergency workers wanted to take her for treatment. Madjic screamed at them to take her to the start. Madjic raced in the heats, and three more times that day to capture a bronze medal. She could barely walk at the news conference afterwards. It was later revealed she had broken three ribs and punctured a lung in her fall.

"The medal I won is not only a bronze medal, but for myself, this is a gold with little diamonds on [it]," Majdic said."I won already a medal when I go [to the] start for qualifications, because in that moment I was thinking it is over, it is over."

But my favourite memories are the ones where I got to put down my press pass and become a fan. 

Standing outside in front of a giant television screen at Robson Square, I cheered along with hundreds of others as Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won gold in Ice Dance. Walking among the massive crowds that spilled onto Granville Street each night, I gave high-fives to anyone who was wearing red and white.

Those moments brought together a country. Those moments made me proud to be a Canadian. Those moments defined the Games.

"Our second [Christoffer Svae] was supposed to hook us up with new pants and he showed up with these ones and we were like, oh no. No way we're playing in those." -- Thomas Ulsrud, skip of the Norwegian curling team. They wore the new pants.

"You don't want to go the Tonya Harding route of winning medals. If you wanted just strictly to win medals, you could go through a whole long start list of racers and just go to their house in the off-season -- break a leg here, pull out a shoulder socket there -- and you'd probably have a whole bunch of medals." -- U.S. skier Bode Miller, playing down the importance of winning, to The Associated Press.

"It is hard to believe anything will surpass the organizational chaos and naked commercial greed of the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta or the financial disaster of the 1976 Games, which bankrupted Montreal, yet with every passing day the sense of drift and nervousness about the Vancouver Games grows ever more noticeable." -- Lawrence Donegan, The Guardian.

"He is infamous for offering monosyllabic answers to journalists. And even in victory, or near victory, he offers nothing. To see him on the podium, between a wildly celebrating American and Canadian, while he looked like he had just sucked on a lemon, was to cringe. All of it might be forgivable if there was the slightest sense he has more than a walnut's worth of feeling for his adopted country." -- Peter Fitzsimons, Sydney Morning Herald, on moguls silver medallist and adopted Australian Dale Begg-Smith.

"I am not going to stand here and bawl. It was such a long shot, did you see my bib number today? It was 47, out of 54 girls, that was my ranking. I was down with the exotics. I think I was in a Kazakhstan sandwich. No offence Kazakhstan." -- Chandra Crawford, Olympic cross-country gold medalist in Turin in 2006, after failing to advance beyond the quarter-finals in the ladies sprint classic.

"Without quadruples, I don't know, sorry, but it's not men. It's not men's figure skating." -- Russian figure skater Evgeni Plushenko, mocking the competition for their failure to include quads in their short programs.

"Well, no, I'm not buying it. That's not skating. There's no edges. There's nothing to his program. All he does is quad [jump], then skates around in a circle, then a triple Axel and then skate down the ice and do a triple Lutz and his program is done." -- Jamie Salé, Canadian pairs champion and gold medallist at the 2002 Games, on Plushenko.

"I'll take it. It's not offensive or anything. It's nice, I guess. It's really a tabloid magazine, right. So, like ... yeah." -- Canadian speed skater Shannon Rempel, on making the cut in a British tabloid's "Top 10 Winter Sports Babes."

"Any gift that I give her will not be able to beat the medal that she has won. The only thing that could outshine that is a ring." -- Canadian short-track speed skater Charles Hamelin, whose girlfriend Marianne St-Gelais celebrated her birthday with a silver medal in the women's 500-metre short-track.

"As far as I'm concerned, until you're on the track, nobody has the right of way. I was already at a disadvantage being on the outside. We both crashed, but she fell. It's not my fault she's clumsier than I am." -- British short-track speed skater Sarah Lindsay blasts Canadian rival Jessica Gregg following the crash that led to her being disqualified in the 500-metre quarterfinal.

"If Julia Mancuso had knocked on your door two months ago, wearing her blue U.S. winter coat, you would have thought, 'Wow, the new mailman is cute!' " -- Michael Rosenberg, for SI.com,on the anonymity of Olympians such as U.S. skier Mancuso. 

"The Rio games will make for riveting television, partly because everybody will be naked." -- Rosenberg, again.

"U. S. skeleton team member Zach Lund was once suspended for using a banned hair-replacement product. The drug has since been allowed. He is now bald." -- Chris Erskine, The Los Angeles Times

"I love my mother very much, but I wouldn't want her around me all the time when I'm working." -- Frank Snoeks, a Dutch television commentator, on the ever-present mother of American speed-skating star Shani Davis, in The New York Times.

"I knew the track was extremely difficult. I had heard enough horror stories. Every athlete treats this track with the utmost respect. Nearly every athlete is scared to death of this track." -- Former luge Olympian Werner Hoeger, who competed in the Turin and Salt Lake Games for Venezuela, on the Whistler sliding centre.

"The photographers wanted a picture of me holding the medal just with my teeth. Later at dinner I noticed a bit of one my teeth was missing." -- German David Moeller, silver medal winner in the men's luge, to German daily Bild. 

"I wasn't sure what the format was. Then the coach came over and said, 'You want to go again?' " -- Sidney Crosby, on Canada's hockey shootout with the Swiss.

"I want to puke." -- Canadian ski-cross racer Stan Hayer, when asked what his first thought was when he woke up yesterday, race day.

"They have all kinds of money for hockey in their country. They should have a solid women's program. We have North American women getting paid to play in a Russian women's league, so you can't tell me they don't have money." -- Julie Healy, Hockey Canada's director of female hockey, pointing the finger at Russia as the worst offender in the failure to improve the standards of women's hockey. 

"Normally after appendix surgery, the doctor is saying for one week you cannot fly in a plane. But driving with a sled, he didn't know. Now I can say that the athlete can drive after 10 days. We are a little crazy. Crazy Latvians." -- Bobsled pilot Janis Minins, who took part in four-man bobsleigh training, just 10 days after having emergency surgery to remove his appendix.

"The 1,500 metres, you kind of go all out. You can taste blood in your lungs sometimes. That's how I would describe it." -- Kristina Groves of Canada.

"Once you reach the finish line you are being treated worse than sheep going to slaughter. They are running around, shouting and you cannot enjoy your victory." -- Germany's biathlon double gold medallist Magdalena Neuner, on the finish-line harassment being imposed by doping officials.

"I don't agree with the system. They [Virtue and Moir] are not real dancers. They are very technical and don't really 'dance' on the ice." -- Italy's Massimo Scali, questioning the gold medal won by the Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. Scali finished fifth with partner Federica Faiella.

"It just made more sense to hang out with a cute girl than with 19 other guys." -- Figure skater Scott Moir, on choosing ice dancing over hockey when he was nine years old.

"Grandmas love him, When we do an autograph signing, every grandma within 65 miles wants a picture." -- Jules Owchar, longtime coach of Canadian curling skip Kevin Martin, tells The New York Times.

"Your position in the house [the curling rings] is not always very ladylike and I can imagine something flipping up. That's a wardrobe malfunction that wouldn't be very good at all." -- Canadian curler Cheryl Bernard on why she won't wear a kilt in competition.

"Then Jon Montgomery went out and won the skeleton and I've never met him in my life. He killed my streak." -- Moir, joking about having spent time with Canadian teammates Alex Bilodeau, Maëlle Ricker and Christine Nesbitt the day before each of them won gold.

"This is Canada so there will be 5,000 fans for Canada and about 500 for Norway. But the good thing about Norwegian fans is that you'll be able to recognize them. They'll all be wearing funny pants." -- Ulsrud again.

"To be honest, I was really in my bubble. I try not to let the emotions get to me too much. I just press on the automatic button and let my body do the work." -- Joannie Rochette, on CTV Sunday, on her award-winning performance.

"We commit. We work hard. It's up to the rest of the world to catch up. This is not as easy as it looks, trust me." -- Canada's women's hockey team captain Hayley Wickenheiser, on the talent gap between her team and the rest of the world.

"I know a lot of people have been concerned but it's a dangerous sport. But that's the reason there's not a big line up to represent our country, some of us are doing it on our heads." -- Bobsledder Mike Kohn of the USA on the number of crashes during Heats 1 and 2.

But each seemed to have a different story as to how they managed to attend one of the biggest and most memorable games in Canadian hockey history.

Sandy MacKenzie of Clearwater, Alta., had a friend-of-a-friend who won a pair of tickets in a radio contest. The friend was a student who needed the money more than she needed to watch a hockey game. So she offered to sell the seats for face value.

"When my buddy asked me if I wanted to go, I said just looked at him and said, 'Are you kidding me?' "

Jim McGillis of Edmonton won the tickets about a year in a raffle. The last time he won something was when playing the lottery. The amount was $1,000.

"This was a lot better," he said.

And then there was Alex Reid, who lives in Chilliwack, B.C. His wife surprised him on Friday with a pair of seats bought from a ticket agency in the nosebleeds for him and his son for $6,000. It was an "uncomfortable price." 

But moments after Sidney Crosby scored the game-winner in overtime -- and the crowd was singing and dancing together -- the price of the tickets did not seem to matter.

"This was worth it," he said. "This was definitely worth it."

They were not the only ones who would have paid anything to see what was often described as an "once-in-a-lifetime experience."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who became a bit of good luck charm for the Canadians at these Olympics, was in attendance. So was Vancouver Organizing Committee CEO John Furlong, gold medallists John Montgomery (luge), Kevin Martin and John Morris (curling) and Edmonton-born actor Michael J. Fox.

Together, with the sold-out crowd, they rang cowbells, chanted "Go Canada Go!" and proudly sang the national anthem after the host country defeated the U.S. 3-2 in overtime.

Minneapolis-born Vince Vaughn, who wore a Team USA jersey, and four-time medallist in Nordic combined Johnny Spillane were among the minority cheering for what some fans called the "the enemy."

"I prefer Canadian to Miller," read a sign in the crowd. 

Another made reference to the U.S.'s previous win against Canada a week ago: "Miracles are nice but they don't happen twice." 

Even Vancouver Canucks forward Ryan Kesler, who is usually cheered by these same fans during the NHL season, was derivatively called "a hermit."

For those who could not get tickets into the A-list event, the television was an obvious alternative. Or, if you were Joe Costa, you and your friends simply grabbed some hockey sticks, a couple of nets and recreated the game on the street.

Anyone was invited to join in and play, he said. Even the local police.

"They manhandled us," said Costa, who is an orthopedic surgeon resident at the University of British Columbia. "Probably because they were carrying guns."

When asked if any Americans had challenged the Canadians to game, he shook his head. 

"Maybe they thought they couldn't beat us," he joked.

He was right. 

Canadians are used to mouth-twisting names. We know it's U-clue-let, and Newfoundland, not Newfoundland. 

But the name of the Canadian men's hockey player, Jonathan Toews -- pronounced Taves -- seems to have confused even our tolerant Canadian tongues. 

"Taves" is currently a trending topic on Twitter in Canada. "How is Toews pronounced Taves" wrote one, "Yeah, I know I spelled it wrong. Maybe he should learn how to pronounce it," wrote another. 

Clearly, a Governor General's Award for that other famous Manitoba Toews, the writer Miriam, and her novel A Complicated Kindness wasn't enough. Maybe they should band together with Vic Toews, M.P. for Provencher, Manitoba. 

Say it together, now: Taaayvvvesss.

Now that the Olympics are winding down, it's time for athletes to refocus on their training and gear up for the 2014 Olympics. It's also time for many to return to studying, or making a living. (After all, those skates don't buy themselves). 

So what do some of our gold medal winners do when they're not owning the podium? Below, a summary of some gilt-tinged day jobs. 

Kevin Martin, skip, curling: Owns and runs Kevin's Rocks-n-Racquets, a curling supply store in Edmonton

Jasey-Jay Anderson, men's parallel giant slalom: blueberry farmer, the Laurentians, Quebec

Mathieu Giroux, speed skating, men's team pursuit: pharmacy student, Université de Montréal

Meghan Agosta, women's hockey: Mercyhurst College, Pennsylvania

Tessa Virtue, ice dancing: psychology student, University of Windsor

Lucas Makowsky, speed skating, men's team pursuit: engineering and economics student at Calgary's Shulich School of Engineering 

Denny Morrison, speed skating, men's team pursuit: student at the University of Calgary

Charles Hamelin, 5000 m relay: kinesiology student

François Hamelin, 5000 m relay: kinesiology student at UQAM

Jon Montgomery, skeleton: used car salesman and auctioneer

Marie-Philip Poulain, women's hockey: student, Dawson College, Montreal

Vancouver's less-than-wintry weather was the subject of much snivelling and snow-shifting throughout the Olympics. Its not-so-frozen precipitation even caused the cancellation of 8,000 tickets for snowboard cross, at a $50 a pop loss for VANOC organizers.

But at least Vancouver has a frostier rep than the 2014 Winter Games host, Sochi.

The prevailing weather in the Black Sea resort is characterized, unpromisingly for a winter sports venue, in Encyclopedia Britannica as a "warm (humid subtropical) climate" with lots of mineral springs and flora "filled with exotic, subtropical trees and shrubs."

The 2014 Olympics will take place from Feb. 7 to 23; the average February temperatures for Sochi are a relatively balmy high of 10 (to be fair, Vancouver's is 7). 

Sochi's weather forecast for today? A high of 15 degrees.

However, its winter weather can be unpredictable, due to something called, awesomely, the Siberian anticyclone (no, that's not the next Neko Case album, it's just a contrarian cyclone that blows clockwise) which carries polar air down from the north.

So, Sochi packing summary: a bikini, a parka, an umbrella.  

Only 1,439 days to go. 

She might've been the ice queen at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, but icy behavior by gold medal figure skater Katarina Witt failed to impress her Alberta hosts last week.

Witt was a VIP guest aboard Alberta government's smash-hit private train to Whistler last week, a celebrity brought aboard to wow international travel and business passengers and a jaw-dropping attraction for smitten Alberta officials recalling her eye-popping performances on skates and Playboy centerfold exposure.

Perhaps it was the 6 a.m. departure time or a late-night-before, but Witt, now 44, was in no mood to play nice when she arrived for her free ride up the mountain, several officials aboard the train confided to me this weekend.

Upon boarding in North Vancouver, she immediately demanded to be served breakfast. When told it was still being prepared, she ordered the staff to inform the kitchen it was Katarina Witt who was hungry. "They'll serve it to me," she snapped.   

The servers complied with her demand, but were startled when she refused to eat in the regular dining section, disappearing into the privacy of the bar car to scarf the meal down by herself.

She then spent the three-hour train ride talking only to her entourage and generally behaving "like a spoiled snob," said one travel official who handles celebrities regularly.  

When asked if Ms. Witt would consent to an interview with a journalist, she demanded a private area so her makeup artist and hair stylist could perfect her appearance first. Almost an hour later she emerged for the chat which, it should be pointed out, was with a PRINT journalist so the cosmetic enhancements weren't necessary.

So how'd she look?, I asked? "Well, her Olympic medal win was 22 years ago," one staffer said, struggling to be diplomatic. "And it shows."

Ouch. 

NBC, for the most part, has been very complimentary of Canada as a host nation of the Olympics.

The United States' official broadcaster had veteran anchor Tom Brokaw do a touching video tribute to the country. Current anchor Brian Williams also wrote his a friendly goodbye note after spending two weeks in Vancouver.

However, NBC still (forever?) means an exposure to Jay Leno. And with Leno returning to late night after the Olympics, following a failed stint as a host in prime time, NBC has promoting the heck out of the move.

His latest promotion has him declaring his apparent lifelong love for curling.

The clip has Leno trying to further curling by using a leaf-blower and a vacuum. It is funny because those are both household instruments, just like brooms, which curlers use, are. Get it?

And was anybody expecting a picture of Leno's collection of cars to be his other love, and not hosting his show?

What should a television broadcaster do when someone calls claiming to be Team USA goalie Ryan Miller?

Put him on the air -- live!

That's exactly what MSNBC did on Friday, and guess what? It wasn't really Ryan Miller. At all. Like, not even close.

The prankster played the six-minute interview straight, stopping to correct himself where he mixed up the facts and added enough "ums" and "you knows" to sounds like a bona fide athlete. Everything was tickety-boo until the fake Miller promised to bring home a gold medal. 

"We're feeling very confident," the prankster claimed. "We think we should bring the gold  back home to the good USA."

Even the hosts of the segment seemed shocked when the fake Miller went on to claim, unprompted: "We're almost as confident [we] can guarantee victory in the gold medal game."

"I love it!" gushed interviewer William "Willy" Geist, the host of "Olympic Update."

The broadcaster later interrupted a "Hardball" segment to apologize for its error in judgement.

Geist broke in to say concede, "We were the victims of a prank."

The real Ryan Miller took it all in stride when Geist apologized on the air: "No problem, I appreciate a good prank. I do try to keep my reputation intact. Up here at the Olympics, especially here in Canada, everybody's taking things very personally, so I just want to clear it up that I, ah ... I wouldn't be guaranteeing a gold medal. I look forward to a great game to compete for a gold medal, though."

Undoubtedly, Simon Whitfield is one of the best Summer Olympians Canada has ever produced. You will remember the triathlon competitor's stirring gold-medal victory in Sydney in 2000. Eight years later, he made a stunning final push to win a silver medal in Beijing. Truly, those were two of the most memorable Canadian Olympic moments of the first decade of this century.

Whitfield, however, has been keeping a close eye on the Winter Olympics, despite not taking part in the Games. His Twitter feed is certainly one of the more active ones among Olympians of any season.  

A brief sample, not including the fun he had at the expense of Post columnist Bruce Arthur, disputing the notion that the government and the Canadian Olympic Committee had put too much pressure on Canadian athletes.

About Alexandre Bilodeau on Feb. 15: "Watching the Bilodeau family in the studio I can't help but relive 10 years ago with my mom and dad in studio in Sydney... Thanks Alex."

On Jon Montgomery, before the skeleton racer's final run on Feb. 19: "He's in second with 1 run to go. He was asked if he would ride conservatively & he responded 'no chance to win if I do, so no!' Love it."

On Feb. 20: "An Aussie TV show just asked Torah Bright 'how important is it to be good looking to be a snow boarder.'"

About the atmosphere surrounding Canadian men's hockey team on Feb. 21: "I would give anything to be under the kinda pressure Crosby and the boys are under. Love it. I envy them."

On Feb. 24: "International hockey seems to work without the fighting... I thought that was impossible, 'it's a key part of the game..' Really?"

On Canadian men's speedskating coach Marcel Lacroix on Feb. 26: "The Canadian speed skating coach looks so bad ass, the sunglasses and the intense fist pumps!!!"

Olympics 1992 at Albertville, France 

Event Short-track speed skating, women's 3,000-metre relay

The setting Leading up to the 1992 Olympics, Canada's women's 3,000-metre relay team had won every world championship since 1986. Speed skating was a demonstration sport at the 1988 Olympics, so the 2002 Winter Games was the first time skating was an official sport. 

On the day Canada had only won two medals in Albertville before the relay team took the ice. The 3,000-metre veterans beat the United States to win gold, and guided Canada to its best Winter Games showing since 1932. 

Afterlife Daigle, a veteran of the sport, retired in 1994 after winning a silver medal in Lillehammer. Perreault won another gold at the 1998 Games in Nagano. Lambert and Cutrone joined forces with Isabelle Charest and Christine Boudrais in 1993 to form the 3,000-metre team that held the world record from 1993 to 1995. 

Olympics 2002 at Salt Lake City, Utah

Event Short-track speed skating, men's 5,000-metre relay

The setting Canada's long-track speed-skating team had already suffered a pair of medal setbacks:  Catriona Le May-Doan and Jeremy Wotherspoon fell early in the qualifying rounds. 

On the day Gagnon captured first place in the 500-metre race only an hour before the relay final and anchored the team to a gold medal finish. Guilmette, who won silver in the same 500-metre race, also did his part as Canada outraced Italy in the final. 

Afterlife Salt Lake City was the last Olympics for Gagnon, while Guilmette, Bedard and Tremblay went on to win silver in the 5,000-metre relay at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy. Turcotte also finished his Olympic career in Italy, placing sixth in the 1,500-metres. Tremblay has said his last Olympic race will be in Vancouver.