Sidney Crosby celebrates his gold-medal winning game, scored against the U.S. in the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. Chris Cuthbert had the iconic call of that game. He hopes for another historic moment in Milan, as NHL players return to the Olympics in 2026.CHANG W. LEE/The New York Times
Chris Cuthbert called his first gold-medal hockey game at the Winter Olympics on Feb. 28, 2010.
As Canadians across the country perched on the edge of their seats, Sidney Crosby, then just 22 years old, carved a place in history when he scored the winning goal a little more than seven minutes into sudden-death overtime to beat Team USA 3-2.
From the Pacific northwest to the Arctic and then to Iceberg Alley, folks leaped and screamed and danced around their living rooms, the way that those dopes in pizza and wings commercials pretend to. This time it was real, however, a magical moment and genuine celebration of national pride.
“Sidney Crosby!” Cuthbert shouted as the puck found its way into the back of the net off a pass from Jarome Iginla. “And Canada has a once-in-a-lifetime Olympic gold!”
Canada’s men’s team had last mined gold in Salt Lake City in 2002 – which ended a half-century’s dry spell. They have won just once since, in 2014 over Sweden in Sochi, Russia.
Many of Crosby’s Canadian teammates were kids when he scored the golden goal
“I’d say that 2010 was the top of the mountain for me and I was not sure there will ever be one any bigger,” Cuthbert said recently as he prepared to travel to Italy, where beginning on Thursday he will call Canada’s men’s contests at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. “I still get emotional because it was so big. To call goals for Canada that are so big, that’s pretty special.”
Cuthbert is 68 and shares the same birthdate (but not year!) with the late Hockey Hall of Famer Guy Lafleur and Toronto Maple Leaf John Tavares. He grew up in Brampton, Ont., but lives now in Georgetown, Ont.
Cuthbert has hopped between networks for much of his career and covered more than 800 Canadian Football League games for TSN, including 25 Grey Cups. He is considered Sportsnet’s lead play-by-play hockey commentator and calls most regional and national games for the Maple Leafs.
He will be behind the microphone for each of Canada’s matches in Italy, beginning on Feb. 12 when they take on Czechia at 10:40 a.m. ET. Its following games before the playoffs – the presumption is that Canada will qualify – will be against Switzerland on Feb 13 at 3:10 p.m. ET; and, against France at 10:40 a.m. ET on Feb. 15. If Canada reaches the gold-medal game, it will be held at 8:10 a.m. ET on Feb. 22.
Connor McDavid (middle) celebrates his game-winning goal at the 4 Nations Face-Off final last year against the U.S. McDavid heads to his first Olympics this year, leading Canada into its quest for gold.Charles Krupa/The Associated Press
Last spring Cuthbert provided play-by-play during The Four Nations Face-Off in Montreal and Boston. The four-team tournament, which was arranged to take place instead of the NHL All-Star Game, was a gambit staged by the league, its players’ association and the International Ice Hockey Federation.
He is also one of the many voices behind an exceptional CBC documentary called Rivals: The Four Nations Face-Off that aired for the first time on Feb. 6.
The hope was that the event would serve as a prelude to a return by NHL players to the 2026 Olympics. They had last skated in the Winter Olympics in 2014.
NHL players had been withheld from the Olympics since then. A dispute over issues such as travel costs, insurance costs and marketing rights for the NHL players led to the decision to not to send them to South Korea in 2018. In 2022 an agreement for the players to return fell apart at the last minute amidst the COVID-19 outbreak.
There were doubts that it would ever happen until The Four Nations Face-off was established and provided the best-on-best hockey that fans had yearned for now for many years.
Canadian to the core, Sidney Crosby’s legacy is already untouchable
It took on a whole larger significance when, shortly after his election, U.S. President Donald Trump increased tariffs on Canadian goods and began calling Canada the 51st state. He also took jabs at former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, calling him Canada’s governor.
A fire was lit under Canadians, who mostly think of themselves as a friendly neighbour, America’s greatest trading partner, and a partner that has long fought beside the U.S. during military conflicts.
Canada won its first game in the preliminary round against Sweden at Bell Centre and then took on the U.S. That night Auston Matthews, the Maple Leafs’ captain, was booed during introductions, as was The Star-Spangled Banner.
“Even from the broadcast booth, you could not only feel the tension, but there was an undercurrent of hostility,” Cuthbert said in Rivals.
“Too many players had been waiting for this. But we had no idea the next nine seconds would be unforgettable.”
The contest started with three fights in the game’s first nine seconds. It was a total powder keg on ice. The U.S. won that night, 3-1, but something bigger had been ignited in the audience watching.
In a less fight-happy final at TD Garden, Canada got its revenge on the scoreboard and gave Cuthbert another monumental Canadian hockey moment to put his voice to.
Canada won in overtime, on a goal by its captain, Connor McDavid.
That whetted the appetite for these Winter Games.
“I was excited about the Four Nations,” Cuthbert said. “A lot of people believed it would become a glorified All-Star Game. And I never bought that and it never became anything like it.
“I think it brought us something I‘m not sure any of us expected.”
In all, Canada has won Olympic gold six times in men’s hockey from 1920 through 1952, and then three times since 2002.
They are back, as is Cuthbert, who loves another golden opportunity.
“My anticipation for the Four Nations was that it could be a preview for the Olympics,” Cuthbert said. “This could exceed the crescendo that we saw last February.
“Since 2010 I have told myself that if I had another chance to call another gold-medal game, I know what I’d say.”