Oh what a game!

Where were you when the USA and Canada played for the 2010 gold medal? Hopefully you were comfortable, because there was no way you were moving.

Sunday’s gold medal game was the type of contest that can convert the most ardent hockey haters into beer league players. It was a game that was played with passion; passion is not something you see professional players exude.

It was unadulterated drama, it was unbridled ecstasy, it was perfect.

Lifelong hockey fans savor the moments that games like USA-Canada give. No sport can elicit such excitement. Pulled goalie, down by one, gold medal on the line? I defy anyone to find a more desperate moment than that. And from the depths of desperation comes the greatest moments of jubilation.

The game’s greatness wasn’t bound to the final minute of regulation. Each goal had a storyline that was straight out of a hollywood script.

Goal one, scored by the next Canadian captain, Jonathan Toews, who dominated in each game he played, making the Olympics his own personal coming-out party. Goal two scored by Corey Perry, a bit of redemption for the player who could have been singlehandedly blamed for Canada’s loss to the US a week before. Ryan Kesler scoring goal number three to give the US a chance, giving the out-spoken and controversial Vancouver Canuck the body of work back up his words. The final goal, well, if it wasn’t Zach Parise, it wasn’t going to be scored. The finisher, in overtime, scored by the NHL’s brightest star. It had to be Toews. It had to be Perry. You would expect no different from Kesler and Parise, and you knew that it was going to be Crosby with the puck on his stick, deciding the game.

Oh my, what a game it was. Only one word can describe it: transcendent.