Canadian hockey wins: Are they all steeped in lore?
As I'm sure most of my fellow Canadians know by now, Team Canada won gold in Sunday's World Hockey Championships, in a 3-2 victory over the dastardly Swedes. The win came in overtime, scored by Toronto native Anson Carter of the New York Rangers. "Words can't explain how I feel right now," Carter told TSN. "The character and the pride came through on the ice in the end."
Team Canada - First Medal at the World's since Gold in 1997
What's more interesting however, than returning to the podium after a six year absence, is the spooky subtext that surrounds the aforementioned return.
Lucky Loonie A fine talisman
It seems as though the "Lucky Loonie" legend, from Canada's Olympic gold medal win last year, is putting in a bid to replace "not changing your socks during playoff season" as the superstition of choice for our boys. Apparently, in reliving and reviving the pagan rite, Canadian team staff managed to plant a loonie in one of the nets. Initially disheartened that they were unable to get a loonie in both nets, it turns out that in the overtime period Carter indeed scored on the 'rigged' net. The loonie was allegedly tucked into the padding under the crossbar and above the netcam. Does this mean that as a Canadian consumer I carry luck with me at all times? Is the Canadian dollar really the harbinger of good fortune? Perhaps this charm only works on Canadian soil, because whenever I try to use my loonie anywhere else (i.e. the United States) they tell me it's worthless.
Only in Scarborough!!!
Representin' the T-Dot!!!
In addition to fortunate currency, a bit of matriarchal magic was also woven that fateful Sunday. You see, Anson Carter's mom had requested a very special gift this year. "I told him `I need that gold medal for my Mother's Day gift,'" she laughed. "I don't need money, I don't need anything, all I want is gold."
A Mother's Day Gift
Valma Carter: "I'm MUCH better than Vince's mom."
"I was praying, praying, praying," she said from her Scarborough home. "I'd been saying to myself, `If this game has to finish in overtime, let Anson score the winner.' God answered my prayers."
Valma said that her son called her right after the game. "He said `Happy Mother's day, Mom. You see I gave you a lovely gift.'" she said. "And I told him `I knew I could count on you. You've never failed me yet.'"
Fifty Mission Cup
Now all this reminds me of another tidbit of hockey lore, one which should be familiar to all Toronto hockey fans, and that is the strange story of Bill Barilko. For those that aren't in the know, I won't bore you with a summarizing re-hash of events from those many years ago, but rather I shall defer to another Canadian legend: The Tragically Hip. I leave you with an excerpt from "Fifty Mission Cap" off their 1992 release Fully Completely, a song which has helped to even further immortalize the tale.
Bill Barilko disappeared that summer
He was on a fishing trip
The last goal he ever scored won the Leafs the cup (...in 1951)
They didn't win another until 1962
The year he was discovered
I stole this from a hockey card
I keep tucked up under
My fifty mission cap
I worked it in to look like that,
- The Madd Monk
Source Material:
CTV.ca, "Canada wins world hockey championship", 05/12/03
Toronto Metro, "Gold is hockey hero's Mother's Day gift", 05/12/03
Toronto Metro, "Carter caps Canada comeback", 05/12/03
