Kevin Dineen, centre, when he was named head coach of the Canadian Olympic women's hockey team. |
When Kevin Dineen was announced as the head coach for the Canadian
Women’s Olympic hockey team,
he said he had some unfinished business at the
Olympics. Well a few weeks ago in Sochi, Russia, Dineen completed his
Olympic journey as the Canadian women mounted a stirring comeback to win the
gold medal in overtime.
A long time ago, in an arena far, far away (even before the Saddledome
was built)
It took me back 30 years, to the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo,
Yugoslavia. There was no women’s hockey, and the men’s game was vastly
different. Professionals were barred from playing, effectively keeping out
Canada’s biggest and brightest players. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union dominated,
skirting around this rule by saying their players were not paid to play, even
though they played together virtually year-round and hockey was their full-time
job.
Canada had reacted in various ways to this situation. At one point, we
even refused to send teams, ending that boycott in 1980 at the Winter Olympics
in Lake Placid, New York, best known for the American hockey team’s “Miracle on
Ice” gold medal victory.
The 1984 Canadian Olympic hockey team. |
Things changed for Canadian Olympic hockey with the arrival of coach
Dave King. He had been successful at the junior and university level, and
guided Canada to its first-ever World Junior hockey gold medal in 1982. After
he joined the Olympic program, a renaissance dawned.
Back then, the team was based in Calgary and played virtually year
round. However, the players had to maintain their amateur status, which meant
they could not get paid, so a lot came and went, as the pros came calling –
especially when they were making playoff runs.
The 1984 team saw a shift begin, as a number of high draft choices joined
Team Canada, and a few NHL teams let their prospects play for their country.
That meant expectations were higher when the boys travelled to Sarajevo then
they had been in a long time.
Hockey in the former Yugoslavia
Kevin Dineen in 1984 playing for Team Canada. |
Team Canada had some firepower entering the 1984 Olympic tournament.
Their top line was made up of Pat Flatley, Kirk Muller, and Carey Wilson, while
their defence was anchored by Jim Patrick (who played for King on that 1982
World Junior championship team), Doug Lidster, Bruce Driver, and Jean Jacques
Daigneault. Their top goaltender was, and still is, one of my all-time
favourite players: Mario Gosselin, and he stood on his head for Canada.
Kevin Dineen was also part of that renewal. He played two seasons with
the University of Denver Pioneers, where he had been captain as a sophomore,
before joining Team Canada in 1983. Back then, the Olympic team drew many of
their players from college hockey.
The 1984 tournament was a marathon. Canada played in Group “B”,
opening with a 4-1 win against the Americans, followed by an 8-1 beating of
Austria, a 4-2 win over Finland, and an 8-1 win over Norway. The only team
standing in the way of finishing first in the pool was the vaunted team from
Czechoslovakia, considered the second best team in the world after the Soviet
Union. The Czechs proved it, dominating from the opening face-off, and skating
to a 4-0 win.
The top two teams from each pool advanced to the medal round, where
they played the top two teams from the other pool. The results from the round
robin also carried over. That meant Canada already started 0-1, with that loss
to the Czechs.
A bronze controversy
Team Canada opened the medal round against the Soviets, who won 4-0.
They could still win a bronze medal with a win over Sweden.
I was in Grade 9, and anxiously awaited the results. I kept asking my
teacher, because they had the game on in the staff room. He broke the bad news
to me – Canada had lost 2-0. We finished fourth and out of the medals.
When I got home, I discovered the game was marred by a controversial
incident involving Flatley and the referee. The first thing I heard was Flatley
had been ejected in the second period, the only player kicked out in the entire
tournament. He claimed the referee took a dive. When I saw the highlights, I
had to agree with Flatley. It seemed he brushed the ref as he turned to go back
to the bench.
We’ll never know what Flatley’s presence would have done in the last
half of that game. However, he was Canada’s second-leading scorer and one of
their emotional leaders.
It was hard not to believe Flatley’s story because international
hockey, especially back then, was officiated by the Keystone Kops. The referees
could not keep up with the play, and bought every dive out there. Worse, they
seemed to dislike the physical style Canada played and penalized them for
“penalties” that would never be called in North America.
The incident would have marred the Olympics in any event, but
happening in the de facto bronze medal game just sullied the whole tournament.
Hey, I still vividly remember it 30 years later.
Coach Kevin Dineen with Genevieve Lacasse, Shannon Szabados, and Charline Labonte after they beat the United States for the gold medal at the Sochi Olympics. |
Finishing Olympic business
So this, along with the fact Dineen was held pointless in those 1984 Olympics, was the backdrop to his appointment to coach Team
Canada’s women, mere months before they had to travel to Russia.
He did not make an auspicious debut. The Canadians dropped every game
to their top rival, the Americans, in an Olympic tune-up. He stripped the
captaincy from Hayley Wickenheiser who many consider the greatest women’s
hockey player ever, and gave it to a relative unknown. He changed the culture
on the team.
When the Olympics arrived, Canada mowed through everyone in the round robin, and beat the Americans
to finish first. Still, everyone on Earth knew they would face Team USA in the
gold medal final – which they did. The round-robin game was a classic, but that
gold medal championship was even better.
The game was a close, tight-checking affair. Finally the Americans
broke through and scored just over halfway through the second period, then went up 2-0 in the third. Hope was lost as time ticked down.
Five minutes, four minutes…
Then with 3:26 remaining Brianne Jenner ploughed through the American defence and made it
2-1. Canada pulled their goalie for an extra attacker. The Canadians tried to
keep the puck in the American zone, but the linesman got in the way, and the US
shot it down the office.
Commentator Cassie Campbell called it a travesty if the puck went into
the empty net. It hit the post.
Canada would gain control and Dineen called time. He knew exactly what
he wanted – three centres on the ice. It worked as Marie-Philip Poulin scored with 55 seconds
left. Canada had improbably erased
a two-goal deficit to send the game into overtime.
They had gotten inside the heads of the Americans. Early in overtime,
both teams had their chances, but again it was Poulin who won Canada gold for the
fourth straight Olympics, with a goal 11:50 into overtime.
The women all poured on the ice, while Coach Dineen stood behind the
bench. It was their moment to celebrate, not his.
When the camera focused on him, all I could think of was how he had
waited 30 years for his gold medal.
Some day I would like to ask him if the wait was worth it. I would
like to think it was.
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