The Golden Goal!

Team Canada won a stressful 3-2 victory in overtime to give the country a second Olympic gold medal to celebrate in eight years. For Canada, it also marked an Olympic-record 14 gold medals by a country in a single Winter Games. Sidney Crosby provided the heroics on Sunday in the extra period. He capped off a give-and-go with Jarome Iginla for the winner.



The atmosphere was electric from the moment the first person stepped into the building. The game was fierce and physical in the first period as both teams tried to establish themselves. After Canada took a 2-0 lead, the Americans fought back and, in the end, tied the game in the final minute on a goal by Zach Parise.

Ryan Miller earned MVP honours for the Olympics. Brian Rafalski was named the tournament's top defenceman, while Jonathan Toews was named the top forward. The Olympic tournament all-star team was Ryan Miller, Brian Ralfaski, Shea Weber, Pavol Demitra, Jonathan Toews and Zach Parise.



The game brought the Olympics to a close in a perfect fashion for most Canadians.

After a lacklustre tournament, Crosby waited until the final moment to make his mark. After three games with no points, Canada needed a big goal and Crosby provided it. For the tournament as a whole, youngsters like Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Drew Doughty, and Jonathan Toews led the team with Toews ultimately being named the top forward.



Card value winners - Roberto Luongo, Ryan Miller, Jaroslav Halak, Zach Parise, Jonathan Toews and Drew Doughty.

For cards of these players in upcoming products from In The Game and Upper Deck, visit Canada Card World.

Golden Three-Peat!

The Canadian women's hockey team have done it again. Led by an 18-year-old scoring phenom and a 23-year-old goalie who was considered as nothing more than a back-up just a few months ago, Canada skated to a 2-0 victory over their rivals from the United States and seized its third straight Olympic gold medal.



Marie-Philip Poulin of Beauceville, Que. scored two goals on U.S. netminder Jessie Vetter to lead the charge in her first Olympic Games. After easy wins in their preliminary games, Canada kept the medal momentum going Thursday evening as the women’s hockey team grabbed the gold in a convincing win over the United States. Poulin was a dynamo and goaltender Shannon Szabados of Edmonton made 28 saves to notch the first-ever shutout win in an Olympic women’s hockey final.



Jayna Hefford was the story early in the tournament with her scoring prowess but Shannon Szabados became the story at the end as she was impenetrable in the Canadian net, making 28 saves. Many saves made jaws drop and the crowd erupt.



Team captain Hayley Wickenheiser and the Canadian women errupted in celebration before a deafening crowd as the final buzzer sounded. As the two teams received their medals, there was an outpouring of sportsmanship from the fans for Finland, the bronze medallists, and particularly for the silver-medal-winning rivals from the U.S.

Although there has never been an abundance of female hockey cards on the market, there have been a smattering over the years. This season's O-Pee-Chee set contains all of the women in the Canadian Heroes subset and Upper Deck Series 2 contain some cards of the players competing at the Olympics. In The Game's O'Canada set from 2007 has base cards, autos, and memorabilia cards of most women on the Canadian team three years ago. 1997-98 UD Collectors Choice also contains a great selection of the women's hockey team including rookie cards of Wickenheiser and former captain Cassie Campbell.

Owning The Podium... Finally!

It was a red letter day for Canada at the Olympics with 1 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze. All of medals won by women! A gold and a silver in the bobsleigh. A silver in short-track speed skating relay. And most impressively, a bronze medal from Clara Hughes, her sixth career Olympic medal spanning both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Also a big shout-out to Heather Moyse from the women's gold medal bobsleigh team from Prince Edward Island!



Heading into the evening, the main focus of every person in Canada was on the quarter-final men's hockey game between Canada and Russia. The expected battle between Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin never happened as they were both in the background during this game. Canada scored early and often on Evgeni Nabokov to skate away with a 7-3 victory and move into the semi-finals versus Slovakia.



The real story of the game was Roberto Luongo who has taken the reigns from Martin Brodeur and won his third game from three starts in the Olympics. Luongo saw the bench after beating Norway 8-0 but returned to the crease to beat Germany and Russia after Brodeur's lacklustre efforts versus Switzerland and the Americans.



Entering the final few games of the men's hockey tournament, this will be the time to see who shines. Long-term hockey card values could be effected forever with a great performance in the semi-finals and finals. At this point in time, Roberto Luongo and Eric Staal have the greatest potential due to their efforts for Canada. Ryan Miller in the American goal has been outstanding as well. And let's not forget Jaroslav Halak who is making the Slovakians look like top contenders for gold in 2010 in Vancouver. The story will continue to unfold until Sunday night. Enjoy the ride.