Sidney Crosby, The Overtime Hero: Canada Golden In Men’s Hockey

Here’s video of Sidney Crosby’s game-winning -- and gold-winning -- goal against Team USA on Sunday.

(via Jose, of course)

It had been almost 80 minutes since Team USA had scored a goal, dating back to the first period of the semifinal round against Finland. But after Ryan Kesler’s goal on Patrick Kane, the Americans really turned up the energy and the hustle.

As a result, the Americans are alive in this gold medal game. Still, they are down by a goal and the next one scored in this one will be gigantic, perhaps decisive. If the Americans come out in the third period with the energy they displayed in the latter portion of the second and they can beat Roberto Luongo again, they could ride the wave all the way to the gold medal.

After successfully killing off a USA power play, Canada quickly regained offensive control of the puck. Entering the American zone, the Canadians just stuck to the basics. A little cross-ice pass, a quick shot on goal, and a rebound came right off of Ryan Miller into the front of the net. Falling right on Corey Perry’s stick, he easily tossed it up top over Miller’s shoulder.

2-0 Canada. The Americans still need to generate more offense and force Roberto Luongo to work.

The USA hockey team wasn’t built to be able to completely control the offensive side of a hockey game. With an elite goaltender in net and a balanced defense that emphasizes hard work and aggressive checking, they were built to contain the elite offenses that they’ll face in this tournament.

Canada is one of those offenses, but the one goal they scored in this game so far developed from the kind of hard work that the Americans need to display to win this game. Mike Richards battled with the American defense, earned the puck along the boards, and ultimately it found it’s way into the back of the net when Jonathan Toews scored off of Richards’ rebound.

If you’d like to follow today’s game with other fans from around SB Nation, head on over to our open game thread where people are beginning to gather prior to the game.

Click here to join in.

Today’s game will be broadcast in the United States, live coast-to-coast at 3:00 PM ET / 12:00 PM ET on NBC. In Canada, the game will be broadcast live on CTV. Puck drop is at 3:15 PM ET / 12:15 PM PT.

At each Canadian hockey game during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, there have been several signs in the crowd proclaiming that ‘Hockey Is Canada’s Game.’ With a victory today, the Americans can prove that to be false, at least for the next four years.