[mastodonfarm]

I was on ESPN.com this morning, slowly waking up with that first cup of half-caf coffee. I was looking for some happier NHL news to read. As a Ranger fan, today will probably be a frustrating day - getting thumped by the goons of Philly to finally put us out of our playoff hopin' misery. (I won't get into the supposed vengeance of Carcillo's beating of Gabby last month...) The teaser for Bucci's mail bag included the following line: "Crosby's goal - the great Canadian goal of ALL TIME!" Really? Hyperbolic statements in sports are the norm and acceptable, sure, but shouldn't they at least be accurate? That line really bothered me. Henderson's goal in '72 gets that designation, right?

I realized however,that as an American hockey fan who only became a fan in 1990 at the age of 26 (yeah, yeah - my becoming a fan mostly had to do with the Ranger's relative success of the period - I hear that from original six fans quite often. Also EA NHL '91 and my "then" Canadian buddy were influences too!), maybe I'm not qualified to comment on another country's moments of national pride - especially one's where I was but a year old. And especially when my only knowledge of the event comes from vague anecdotal references and the very first Hip song I ever heard in 1998.

(Don't get me started on that song - for "Fireworks" to be played on American radio and for me to randomly stumble across it is amazing to me. It turned me on to one of my favorite albums and my eventual favorite band. Amazing! Forget about the message of amazing civil and nationalistic pride - a pride of such strength that America seemingly hasn't felt for decades. Forget about the fact that it emotes such strong feelings EVERY time I hear it and I am in no way connected to the event it references. Simply, it's my first Hip song and it will always kick ass, never get old and will be to me what "Blow" or "Twist" or "100M" might be to some of the older Hip fans.)

So I did some research and found this article on a very interesting site:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.1972summitseries.com/unknownarticle.html">http://www.1972summitseries.com/unknownarticle.html</a><!-- m -->
So interesting! I see myself killing much downtime at work on this site.

Anyway, since both of the mentioned events ('72 Henderson, '10 Crosby) effected most of the fans here much more deeply, and since I can only assume that 90% of the hockey fans here have exponentially more hockey knowledge than I do, I was curious on y'all's take. Is Bucci insane for labeling Crosby's goal as the greatest Canadian goal ever? Is he spot on? Do recent events make for stronger moments than past ones?

[thedarkcanuck]

For me personally, THE goal is Lemieux in the 87 Canada Cup. I think alot of it would have to do with your age,
for kids that are say 7-20, Sids goal is probably at the top, mainly because they weren't here to witness the other
goals firsthand.

[Summiteer]

For me personally, THE goal is Lemieux in the 87 Canada Cup. I think alot of it would have to do with your age,
for kids that are say 7-20, Sids goal is probably at the top, mainly because they weren't here to witness the other
goals firsthand.

I'm with 87 as well, those 3 games were some of the best hockey I've ever witnessed, and ya Lemieux from Gretz was just fucking amazing,remember it like yesterday.

[The Darkest Canuck]

Crosby's goal was seen by more people, plus it was on our on soil. It would've been a true heartbreaker to have lost that game after being mere seconds away from the victory before Parise sent it into overtime...plus, there's the Crosby factor. It was our best hockey player scoring the biggest goal of his career, right when we needed him to pot one the most. It was his first time represnting Team Canada at the Olympics, and although he didn't put up the numbers some might've been expecting him to during the games, he put the one number up that mattered the most, and the celebration that ensued was pretty much as big as the goal. I wasn't around for the other ones (Canada Cup I don't really remember, I was only 2), but I doubt that there were people in the streets like there were for this one, that was something else, the whole country exploded with joy. I seriously had wondered to myself how even if they won the gold, they would be able to top 2002, but this one was beauty, not just the perfect ending, but the game itself was magnificent, truly one of the best hockey games I've ever had the pleasure of watching.

[grimes]

It's a generational thing. For those that were around in '72 nothing will ever top it...same for 87 to some extent I guess. For those of us too young to remember either of those, Crosby's goal is now the standard.