Let the acclaims begin.

And there was a time, however brief and early, when no one thought they would ever say that. Not with a straight face, at least.

But the entire fortnight of the 21st Winter Olympic Games took its cue from Opening Day, which began in horror and confusion and ended in celebration and praise.

Celebration like this country hasn't seen since Paul Henderson's goal against the Soviet Union in 1972, thank you very much, Mr. Crosby.

Way to go Vancouver. Like the men's hockey team you rallied from a sluggish start to finish in triumph.

And you embraced these Games like no host city has since the widely-mourned era of intimate small town Games died off after the 1994 Lillehammer love-in.

Pre-Olympics, the publicity was largely negative in this epicentre of Canadian activism, as many locals pledged to leave town and environmental and social-welfare groups justifiably shone a spotlight on the excessive expense.

And those concerns and protests continued through the first weekend, with the angst and pain multiplied exponentially by the horrible death of lugist Nodar Kumaritashvili on Day One.

Canada's stumble out of the competitive blocks, the malfunctioning whatchamacallit in the Opening Ceremonies, the transportation glitches, the idiotic uber-security keeping the Olympic cauldron from the people who had paid for it and will pay for it for a generation, all added to the sense that these were going to be The Games to Forget, The Games to Endure.

But things started inching toward change when the infamous gold-at-home drought was finally relieved by a humble mogulist, Alex Bilodeau. He struck the template for what became a Games of emotional backstories. His older brother has cerebral palsy and has been Bilodeau's lifelong hero. Now Bilodeau is the country's, too.

That provided Canada some steam on the field of play while off it, the fires were stoked by a galvanizing eruption of patriotism on the streets. Even local organizers were shocked by the mass influx of Vancouverites, admittedly mostly between 18 and 30, who transformed downtown into a giant mosh pit every night.

Canadian nationalism--and a raging, healthy, necessary, debate of what constitutes it -- was the undercurrent of the Vancouver Games.

The Canadian Olympic Committee had predicted that Own the Podium, which injected $110 million into athlete development over the past four years, would result in Canada leading the medals count. But five days in, with Canada's closest neighbour brilliantly stampeding to its best Olympics ever, it was clear that Canada could not top the overall medal count.

Own the Podium was soon harpooned domestically and mocked internationally: Blown the Podium; Rent the Podium; Go Fourth; Plead the Fifth. And, trying to protect its athletes, the COC publicly retreated when they should have immediately moved the goalposts. Canada could still win the gold medal count, which is actually the international standard of Olympic supremacy.

And Canada did exactly that, in resounding plus-brilliants-exploits fashion, with yesterday's 3-2 overtime hockey win giving the country 14 gold medals to break the old Winter Games' record of 13 (Norway, 2002, the former Soviet Union, 1976). Sure, there were more medals up for grabs than ever before, but the country's previous high had been seven golds.

This is creating a sea change in our national self-image as smiling, kindly near-missers. And Crosby's winner validated the trend.

"These Games have inspired an entire nation to believe in themselves," COC president Mike Chambers said in his closing address prior to the hockey win.

"I don't think we set the wrong target at all. Because of that target, we got 13 gold. You reach for the stars and you grab what you can get. We happened to grab 13 of their brightest stars."

A bit of celestial revisionist history, that, and the program itself should be revised slightly toward that of the non-official U.S. policy.

Stateside, winning is everything, and the byproduct can evolve into what has finally happened with the U.S. As one American said, "we picked up all the loose change": silvers and bronzes instead of the close-to-the-podium results Canadian officials were so proud of yesterday. Canada led all nations in fourths and fifths.

As always, hockey -- the women's and men's teams repeating their 2002 sweep of the U.S -- overwhelmingly captured the national interest, especially yesterday. But, paradoxically, hockey and its deep-rooted passion, wouldn't have transcended their sporting boundaries in Vancouver as thoroughly as a couple of other sports and emotions did ... if the winning goal hadn't been so legendary.

Crosby aside, the real sporting symbols of these Games were snowboarding and figure skating.

The former embodies the once-staid Olympics' rapid shift toward edgy, X-Games events and the latter produced three of the greatest nights in its history and, on the middle Sunday (the same night Canada lost to the U.S. in the men's preliminary hockey rounds), Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir's Original Dance launched Canada into its greatest Olympic week. Ever.

And the two most dominating performances, by far, in these Games came from a snowboarder, American Shaun White, and a figure skater, Korean Yu-Na Kim who was coached by Canadian icon Brian Orser.

The deaths of Kumaritashvili and Therese Rochette brutally punctured the aura of invincibility that always surrounds an event where thousands of human thoroughbreds gather in the peak condition of their careers.

But the manner in which Joannie Rochette soared far above her crushing sorrow was the most indelible impression of these Games.

She was a worthy choice, among many, to be the Closing Ceremonies flag-bearer, partly because she was part of the Canadian women's huge medal haul.

The athletes' parade ended one of the most glittering weekends in Canadian Olympic history.

By Saturday afternoon, Canada had won a stunning five gold medals in less than 30 hours, including a record three on Friday. And you may have heard about what happened yesterday.

Many of those late golds -- speed skater Denny Morrison, short-tracker Charles Hamelin and veterans Kevin Martin in curling and Jasey-Jay Anderson in snowboarding -- underscored another Canadian theme at these Games.

Redemption.

And through it all, one of the biggest stars was television and its descendants.

Wall-to-wall coverage on multiple platforms, all in HD, presented the Games and stories in unprecedented vividness. Some might say overkill, but they didn't turn their sets off.

With 26 medals, beating the 2006 count by only two, but still the highest ever for Canada, "it's going to cost us a lot of money," Chambers said, referring to the medal bonuses which will amount to as much as $1.7 million. That comes out of the private sector contributions to Own the Podium.

Incoming COC president Marcel Aubut proclaimed these "the best Games ever," which they definitely were not.

But in their slowly building, and eventually unstoppable, momentum there were times when it certainly felt like it.

More than half the Canadians polled over the weekend said Vancouver 2010 would inspire them to become more physically active.

Should that ever prove true, it would be an greater legacy than the record-winning gold medal count.

smilton@thespec.com

905-526-3268