http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2010/03/01/mb-hockey-fans-winnipeg.htmlElated hockey fans flood streetsLast Updated: Monday, March 1, 2010 | 11:50 AM CT
Elated hockey fans flood streets
Hockey fans celebrated Canada's gold-winning game by showing their colours at Portage and Main. (CBC)Exuberant hockey fans flooded Winnipeg's famed intersection of Portage and Main Sunday to celebrate Team Canada's gold medal win over the U.S. at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Waving flags, wearing body paint, smoking cigars, cheering, screaming and running past cars to dish out high-fives, frenetic fans let loose after a tight game.
Canada won 3-2 in overtime, returning to the top of the podium. The men's team was knocked out early at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, losing 2-0 to Russia in the quarterfinals.
"We don't have an NHL team here [in Winnipeg, so] we just love Canada. Go Canada go," shouted Kristian Rents, who wore only a pair of long underwear bottoms and a smile as he waved a flag.
Elated hockey fans flood streets
Fans played an impromptu game of road hockey at Portage and Main as a nod to Canada's gold medal-winning men's team. (CBC)Canada was leading Sunday's game 2-0 but after the U.S. scored to tie it up with 24 seconds left, there was a collective gasp across the country.
Sidney Crosby's overtime goal set off an ecstatic exhale.
In Winnipeg, some 4,300 people packed the MTS Centre downtown to watch the big game on giant screens suspended above centre ice.
They roared when Winnipegger Jonathan Toews opened the scoring in the first period but Crosby's winner sent them out of their seats and into the streets.
"It was absolutely unbelievable. I can't imagine sitting watching this at home instead of with cheering fans," said Greg Enns, who took the game in at the MTS Centre. He wasn't so jubilant, however, minutes earlier when the U.S. tied the game.
Elated hockey fans flood streets
Fans with flags filled the street corners at Portage and Main while police kept a close eye to make sure the celebrations didn't stop traffic. (CBC)"I actually felt literally sick to my stomach. I was standing at the time and I just sat back down in my seat with my head in my hands," Enns said.
But Joanne Diviase said she wasn't worried.
"I'm like, 'Crosby's got this,' and sure enough, he got it," she said. "I'm proud to be a Canadian."
Toews, who was named a top forward and Olympic hockey tournament all-star, was beaming as he posed for the Team Canada photo after the game.
But behind the scene, the bigger smile belonged to his mom and dad, who sat a few rows from ice level in Vancouver.
"It was just very, very special for all of us. Everybody was pinching each other, that's for sure," said Toews dad, Brian.
"To be on the top of the absolute hockey world, I mean it's just so hard to believe."
