Team Canada fans eager to cheer for gold after men’s hockey semifinal win

When looking back on the last men’s hockey gold medal game at the Olympics with NHL talent, Jesse Merilees remembers one thing clearly.

That being the level of exhaustion he was fighting on Feb. 23, 2014 just hours after tying the knot.

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“I got married the night before and I probably went to bed about three in the morning,” Merilees said. “I had to wake up two hours later to watch the gold medal game, so this time I’ll have a little more sleep and I’ll have a little more energy.”

Merilees will be climbing out of bed to watch Team Canada battle for gold on the ice on Sunday morning at the Milan Cortino Olympics, following Canada’s 3-2 victory over Finland in semifinal action Friday.

Watching the game at Sports on Tap in Saskatoon with a maple leaf logo on his chest, Merilees said it was a much tighter affair than what he was expecting, even after Canada’s narrow quarter-final win in overtime against Czechia.

“Nerve wracking I’ll tell you what,” Merilees said.

“I wasn’t thinking it was going to be a cake walk, but I wasn’t thinking I was going to be this stressed two games in a row. I’m happy they got the win and we’re just going to wake up early Sunday morning and keep at ‘er.”

Trailing 2-0 after the first period, Canada would battle back with goals from Sam Reinhart in the second and Shea Theodore in the third to tie the game at 2-2.

A turning point came with 2:35 remaining in regulation as Finnish defenceman Niko Mikkola would take a high-sticking penalty to send Canada to the power play.

With 35 seconds left on the clock before overtime, Canada broke the deadlock off a one-timer from Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon to punch their ticket to the gold medal game.

“I was just expecting it right?” Team Canada fan John Cornwell said. “It was great to see, but it was going to happen.”

Canada took the semifinal tilt over the Finns despite not dressing captain Sidney Crosby, who left midway through the team’s quarter-final win Wednesday with a lower-body injury.

Led by interim captain Connor McDavid, the Canadians will now have two days to figure out if Crosby will be able to dress for the Olympic gold medal game.

“Crosby goes down and everybody stepped up,” said Canada fan Trent G. “That’s the way it goes, every guy helps every other guy. At the end of the day, they know they’ll go to bat with them.”

Canada’s road to the gold medal game is reminding fans like Cornwell of another magical victory 16 years ago, which took the country by storm.

“It kind of reminds me right now of Vancouver,” Cornwell said. “It was really a big deal when it was in Vancouver, and this is a big deal.”

Team Canada will be playing for the country’s 10th gold medal with an opportunity to finish the job hockey fans from coast to coast have been waiting years for.

A reward of a gold medal victory is bringing plenty of anxiety and excitement leading to puck drop on Sunday.

“It’s going to be a lot of tension,” said Trent. “You’ll probably cut it with a knife. If the boys come out on top, it’s going to be the best country again in the world to be at when they win.”

Puck drop in the gold medal game is at 7:10 a.m. in Saskatchewan.

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