"This is what we forget about pressure.

We forget the diamonds.

We forget that when everyone is engaged to the max, including 35 million from Labrador to Yellowknife, the best and the brightest will by definition become better and brighter.

We forget that when the world called upon Michael Johnson and Usain Bolt to win, they ran beyond their dreams.

We forget Scott Niedermayer.

But we'll remember Sunday, and Canada's 3-2 overtime gold medal hockey victory that was decided, officially, by Sidney Crosby, the guy who was supposed to.

"It's about doing your jobs and not worrying about anything else," Niedermayer said later, after his second Olympic victory to go with his four Stanley Cups and his World Junior Championship and his World Cup and his Memorial Cup.

"You don't sit there and worry about what if this, what if that. You figure if you do your job, it will take care of itself."

Not everyone's flesh and blood is as solid as Niedermayer's.

When Zach Parise tied it for the U.S. with 24.4 seconds to play and threw himself against the glass like Alex Ovechkin, Canada defenseman Drew Doughty said it felt like "somebody ripped the heart right out of my body.""