Crosby provides dream ending to Canadian gold rush

After a final weekend of action in Vancouver and Whistler had brought gold in the men's curling, three in short track speed skating and another in snowboarding, Canada also got to salute the one victory that meant most to the hockey-mad hosts and fittingly the winner came from Crosby.

Just a few hours before the closing ceremony at nearby BC Place, Canada Hockey Place had erupted into noisy celebration as goals from Jonathan Toews in the first period and Corey Perry in the second put the home side in front in a tight encounter against the American underdogs.

Then came the fightback as USA's Ryan Kesler scored late in the second to bring the score to 2-1 and set up a nail-biting third and final period that saw Canada forced to defend for long spells as the Americans went in search of an equaliser.

They got it with 24 seconds left, through Zach Parise to send the game into sudden-death overtime, only for Crosby to grab the glory 7.40 in.

The USA had been chasing its first men's ice hockey gold medal since the 'Miracle' team of 1980 defeated the Soviet Union en route to a gold-medal victory over Finland at Lake Placid, while the Canadians were looking to repeat their victory over USA in the 2002 final in Salt Lake City.

The result took Canada's gold tally for the games to 14, leaving them top of the medal table and breaking the record for most golds at a Winter Games, surpassing the tallies of the Soviet Union in 1976 and Norway in 2002, although Team USA captured most medals overall, last night's men's hockey silver giving them a final tally of 37.

Norway's Petter Northug produced a stunning finish to win the penultimate gold medal of the games in cross country's 50km race.

Germany's Axel Teichmann led entering the final stages of the race but, in a thrilling battle for the line, pre-race favourite Northug overhauled him over the last 100 metres.

Northug's winning time was two hours, five minutes and 35.5 seconds, with Teichmann taking the silver 0.3 seconds back and the bronze going to Sweden's Johan Olsson one second adrift.

It was Norway's eighth gold of the Games.

Canada skip Martin led his side to a 6-3 win over Norway at the Vancouver Olympic Centre.

Martin only needed to remove a Norwegian stone out of the way with his hammer on the 10th and final end and when he did so he threw both arms into the air to celebrate.

After the medal ceremony Martin said: "It's an amazing feeling.

"I was saying to the guys as we were walking to the podium, it was like we are walking through a dream. Everything has become real."

Earlier Switzerland had claimed the bronze medal, beating Sweden 5-4.

Canada beat the USA in the men's team pursuit final at the Vancouver Olympics. Morrison, Makowsky and Giroux posted a winning time of three minutes 41.37 seconds for the eight-lap race.

"It is a weight off the shoulders," said Morrison. "It is representing Canada. It was amazing."