Marking 10 years since the golden goal that brought Canada to its feet

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It was a moment that went down in history, and just thinking about it gives many Canadians chills to this day.

On Feb. 28, 2010, Sidney Crosby brought the entire country to its feet when he scored the Golden Goal at Rogers Arena — then-named GM Place — winning Canada the gold medal in men’s hockey at the Olympics.

The moment sent Canadians around the world into a frenzy.

James Cybulski with Sportsnet 650 admits his experience was a little different — because he was stuck on plane.

Cybulski had just wrapped up covering events at the Winter Games and was heading back home when the history-making moment happened.

“And I remember picking up my phone, I said ‘I don’t care if I get in trouble for talking on my phone on this plane, I am calling my parents and telling them put the phone to the TV, I need to listen to this!'” he recalled. “Thankfully, they scored before takeoff and I yelled, ‘Canada scored!'”

He said the moment was bittersweet — while everyone on the plane was elated, cheering in their seats and celebrating together, it’s not lost on him that he missed a once-in-a-lifetime moment.

“It was the worst because it was like the biggest game in my life and I have to sit there, and I work in sports, and can’t watch the game!” Cybulski said, laughing.

Considering the mythical status the goal now has in the Canadian psyche, he isn’t sure if we’ll have another moment like it anytime soon.

“I think the Games as a whole really ignited a psyche in this country about our sense of nationalism,” he said. “I feel like, sometimes, these days, the word ‘nationalism’ almost some people view it as a dirty word. But all of a sudden we became really passionate as Canadians, probably [something] we hadn’t seen since almost 100 years since the first World War. And the passion that really validated the 2010 Games.”

For the man himself, Crosby told Sportsnet’s Hockey Central on Tursday it’s hard to believe a decade has passed since his golden goal moment.

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