Golden Moments, All Fourteen Of Them

When Alexandre Bilodeau won gold in the men's moguls, you could almost feel the collective relief expressed by every Canadian - finally the curse of Canada never having won gold on home soil had been lifted.

And indeed it would have been soil had the Organizing Committee not been forced to truck in snow from Manning Park to keep winter on Cypress Mountain, fighting nature and one of the warmest winters on record. But they did it.

And the gold medals kept on coming.

But perhaps the sweetest golden moment of all was on the final afternoon of the Games.

The gold medal hockey game was the one we desperately wanted to win and if Canada had only managed to win one gold throughout the entire Games, this had to be it.

Canada's progress to the final game had been a nail-biting experience and this did not let up. As we watched Canada battle the USA in the winner take all final, stress levels mounted. And when the TV ratings were revealed it appears that practically everyone in the country had been compelled to stop what they were doing to watch and will the right outcome.

During a break in the coverage a panoramic view of Vancouver flashed across the screen and the announcer remarked on the eerie quietness of the city that sunny Sunday afternoon - where were all the people he pondered - where do you think .....

Thank you to the hockey gods for putting us out of our misery, even though the game went to sudden death overtime!

It was a fitting end to what had been a wonderful Winter Games on so many levels.

The zip trek lines that started before six in the morning, three hours before opening time at Robson Square.

Hudson's Bay Fever, as people lined three and four deep around the store to purchase their Olympic merchandise - who could leave town without a pair of those iconic red mittens.

Three to eight hour long waits, depending upon your line-up strategy, to get into the Mint's medal room to see and touch the Olympic and Paralympic medals.

The medals, worth about $1.8 million, based on current metal prices, depict contemporary First Nations artwork of an orca and a raven. Each medal is one of a kind, displaying a section from the artwork. Picking the medals up with special cotton gloves, we were surprised to find them heavy, wavy and spectacular.

In our easy going city, where walking along the seawall near Science World - or Sochi House during the Games - two familiar faces passed us in Team Sweden uniforms - Messrs Sedin and Ohlund were deep in conversation. But no one paid attention to these beloved hockey stars, how very Canadian.

The friendliness of the horses and the riders in Canada's fabled RCMP musical ride - one of the highlights of Surrey's Olympic Celebration Site at Holland Park.

And the sea of red and white everywhere, impromptu renditions of our National anthem and street hockey games that seemed to break out in exuberant moments of pure joy as another medal was nailed down by Team Canada (in addition to 14 gold, we managed 7 silver and 5 bronze medals).

Even our financial institutions jumped on the bandwagon with this amusing banner - and yes - RRSP deadline is looming fast.

Neil Young's "Long May You Run" was a fitting refrain as the Olympic flame was extinguished during the Closing Ceremony at BC Place. The flame in the cauldron on the waterfront expired at the same time - people remarked that if you had blinked you would have missed the moment.

And then the spectacle was over and it was time to draw breath on this escape from our collective realities.

To our Canadian Olympic athletes, you did us proud. Thank you. Now it's time for our Paralympians to take centre stage and compete for their own golden moments. I can hardly wait.