It was Sunday afternoon, February 24, 2002.

I was sitting around a small TV in the centre of the Sport Swap south location in Calgary, surround by my co-workers. Everyone's eyes glued to the screen, you could hear every pass, every call of a goal and every whistle ring throughout the store.

None of us were too pleased to be at work in the first place we couldn't imagine what a sports store of all places, which specialized in hockey equipment I should mention, was doing open on such a huge day in Canadian sports history.

Did they honestly expect to do good business, on a day when half the country and I'm sure the majority of our target market was gathered around their own television sets?

But we banded together, brought the TV down from the offices upstairs, gathered some benches and spent the afternoon yelling, cheering, smiling and shooting death glares at the (very) odd customer who walked through the door what, are you nuts? In other words, really earning those wages.

At the time, as a hockey nut, it seemed far from an ideal situation. But when it became clear the 50-year drought was about to end, suddenly it didn't matter where we were watching the game, or who we were watching it with.

The Canadian men's Olympic hockey team had just beaten the U.S. in the gold medal final!

It was like the entire building, the entire city, the entire country went into delirium. I had always known how crazy Canadians were about hockey I myself have been called obsessive but it was at that moment that I only really began to understand just how much holding the ultimate hockey title matters to this country.

Hockey fans seriously went into a light depression when the juniors failed to win gold for six years, even though they were still winning silver or bronze, and when the men returned from Nagano in 1998 without the top prize or any prize for that matter it created a dull panic.

What was wrong? Were we losing our grip on the hockey world? Would we be overpowered by the Europeans? In fact, it scared everyone so much that Hockey Canada actually held a summit to discuss what had happened to 'our game.'

So when the final seconds ticked off the clock in Salt Lake City, it was like a big weight had been lifted off of Canada's shoulders not to mention the amount of pressure lifted off the players. When the men's squad then picked up back-to-back world championships in 2003 and 2004, followed by the World Cup title in 2004, Canadians collectively breathed a sigh of relief.

When the juniors finally recaptured gold in 2005, then repeated as supposed underdogs last month, the roof was really blown off. You see, everyone was suddenly saying to the person beside them, There's nothing wrong with our game.'

If you take into account all of those things, if you really start to realize just how ingrained the sport is in Canadian culture, you start to understand things that might otherwise seem quite ridiculous.

Canada is the only country in the world where people complain about who was selected to the Olympic team and who wasn't. It's the only country where you lose a defenceman of Scott Niedermayer's stature and there's immediately four or five very worthy and capable candidates able to replace him.

It's the only country where the fans are less concerned with the fact we lost Niedermayer and more concerned with the fact rookie Dion Phaneuf is staying home.

I understand, really, I do. If it was up to me, Phaneuf would at least be on the taxi squad. But let's be honest here no matter who we send to Torino to fill Niedermayer's very large shoes, Canada looks pretty good. Nobody who isn't already on the roster can fully replace Niedermayer, who is regarded as perhaps the top defenceman in the league, but if you have to send somebody, how can you go wrong with Jay Bouwmeester?

Sure, he doesn't have the most points out of NHL defenceman but hey, one of our other defenceman does� and he doesn't have the best plus-minus either. In fact, Bouwmeester has yet to score a goal this season, with 27 assists, and is a -3.

I'm also sure I don't have to tell you he plays for the Florida Panthers, who can make Roberto Luongo look average.

At just 22 years of age, Bouwmeester has already accomplished a lot internationally, including titles at the 2004 World Cup and the 2005 world championship, where he scored the gold-medal winner. Make no mistake, Bouwmeester has the talent.

And when he surrounds himself with his Canadian teammates who are just as good or better, he'll prove it, just like Luongo has proved numerous times when playing for Canada that he's better than his stats in the league will dictate.

Rob Blake and Adam Foote are also having an off year in terms of statistics although Blake is among the top 11 defencemen in scoring. But they, like everyone else on the 2006 squad, bring intangibles.

With the changing of the guard already starting this year, it's important for Bouwmeester to learn all he can from the likes of Blake, Foote and Chris Pronger, in what will most likely be their last Olympics.

Bouwmeester will be counted upon to lead Canada in 2010, and he can pass his experience onto Phaneuf, who at 19 years of age has tons of time to prove his worth. The Team Canada brain trust also passed on Sidney Crosby this time around for the same reason� these guys are still our future.

Many people in Canada don't get a chance to watch much of Tampa Bay's Dan Boyle, who was named to the taxi squad Wednesday. But Boyle is quietly among the top 16 defenceman in scoring this season, with 11 goals and 24 assists. He also has a Stanley Cup under his belt and international experience, which is greatly underestimated.

Martin Brodeur pointed out that very fact in an interview earlier this week, talking about the importance of having guys who have been there before, who know how to win. When you're potentially playing eight games in 10 days, it makes everything more difficult.

Will Canada win gold again in Torino? They have the best chance on paper, but anything can happen, just look at the Belarus incident in 2002.

But the one thing that is certain, is Hockey Canada will ice a team next week that they believe is the best possible. And just about every other country would love to be in our shoes.

I'm sure U.S. general manager Don Waddell would love the chance to say, 'On man, we lost Ed Jovanovski to injury. Well, I guess if we have to, we can replace him with the top-scoring defenceman in the league in Bryan McCabe.'

On the flip side, I'm sure Wayne Gretzky would rather not be in Waddell's shoes.

'We lost Aaron Miller? Geez, I guess we'll have to replace him with ... hmmm ... I guess ... Brett Hedican???'

And don't tell me Gretzky would like to be in Sweden's shoes either. I understand losing Naslund and Forsberg would be like Canada losing Sakic and Iginla, but at least we could replace those two with guys like Eric Staal and Jason Spezza. Not too shabby, eh?

So as the 2006 Winter Olympics prepare to get underway, with opening ceremonies scheduled for Friday at 11 a.m. Pacific, let the excitement begin.

Here is the roster for the Canadian men's hockey team in Torino:

Goal

Martin Brodeur

Roberto Luongo

Marty Turco

Defence

Rob Blake

Chris Pronger

Adam Foote

Wade Redden

Robyn Regehr

Bryan McCabe

Jay Bouwmeester

Forwards

Joe Sakic

Jarome Iginla

Simon Gagne

Dany Heatley

Vincent Lecavalier

Martin St. Louis

Brad Richards

Joe Thornton

Rick Nash

Todd Bertuzzi

Ryan Smyth

Shane Doan

Kris Draper

Taxi Squad

Jason Spezza

Eric Staal

Dan Boyle

When the round-robin gets underway next Wednesday, I'm going to be like a kid in a sports store. Only this time, I'll be sitting on my couch at 2 a.m. instead of a hockey bench, yelling, cheering and smiling.

It doesn't get much better than this.