. The reaction from fans was excellent..........here is a clip of the four corners in Whitby, near the end you might notice my friends and I playing a little road hockey on the sidewalk. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4USThWknAI8
The win is more important for Canadian hockey than it seemed.The general age range of people at the street celebration was probably from 16-50. I only saw two or three kids under the age of 15. Many of the people there had a chance to see the Toronto Maple Leafs win (a series or two.....I know it's not the cup), aswell as the Gold medal in 2002.
When Canada won gold in Salt Lake I was 13 years old, still young enough to have my love for the sport developed further. I was one of the kids at the four corners celebrating, the horn in our car never honked properly afterwards, it just made a lame fart like sound. I remember it like it was yesterday, I am certian that win is one of the reasons I still play and follow hockey as much as I do.
When teams win people become inspired to win. With the losing ways of the Toronto Maple Leafs I was fearing that young athletes would chose to take up different sports. Registration levels for minor hockey have been declining in recent years. There is no denying the current economic situation correlates with the decline. Combining an economic downturn with a losing local team, why would a kid want to play hockey and more importantly why would a parent want to pay?
The recent gold medal was the shot in the arm that will rebuild the interest in the younger generation here in Southern Ontario along with the rest of Canada. Now kids have heroes, they might not be Maple Leafs but I'd bet you will not find a road hockey game in the next four years where a kid doesn't scream "CROSBY SCORES!!!!"
And just incase you forgot what it sounded like... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSfl8vFNZdE&feature=related
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