Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Mar 01/02) - When Canada's men's ice hockey team won the gold medal Sunday at the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, cheers could be heard all the way up in the Delta.

"We put all those skeptics to rest, people who think we can't play hockey," Julie Candow said.

She admitted that she was nervous prior to the game, and who could blame her? It had been exactly 50 years to the day since the Edmonton Mercurys last won men's hockey Olympic gold for Canada.

As well, many fans can still recall the bitter sting left by the 1994 and 1998 Olympics, where Canada's golden hopes were dashed by shootouts. No doubt fans hoped that Canada would not try to achieve a reverse hat trick.

Canada won without a shootout, beating the Americans 5-2. Candow said the turning point in the whole tournament was early last week when Team Canada executive director, and retired NHL legend, Wayne Gretzky launched a tirade against the criticism his team was taking.

Candow watched the game at the Inuvik fire hall along with her husband Brad and about 15 other fans. Brad said he too was nervous about the match, as the Americans seemed to be the stronger team.

Brad said the match was quite significant because it helped create more hockey fans south of the border, and instilled a lot of pride north of the border. "It was quite a moment," Brad said.

He called the match the third best hockey game he's ever seen, after the 1987 Canada Cup and the 1996 World Cup.

Coun. Denny Rodgers is also happy with Sunday's outcome, and said it's great that Gretzky will not have to contend with four years of second guessing.

"He looked pretty stressed," Rodgers said. "I'm the happiest for Wayne Gretzky and Don Cherry."

Not to be forgotten, of course, is that Canada's women's hockey team also won gold, with a victory over the U.S. Vince Schlachter said it was nice to see the double gold results, and that it was great for Canada.

Schlachter said he was also pleased that Canada finished fourth in the medal count with 17, ahead of Russia.

"Our athletes did a great job," Schlachter said.