Chris O'meara / AP

Canada's Sidney Crosby (87) is mobbed by teammates after making the game-winning goal in overtime against the United States.

Miller, the tournament MVP, was exceptional, and Parise scored a goal that — if the U.S. had won — would rank among the storied moments in American Olympic history.

With less than a half minute remaining and Miller out of the net and off the ice for an extra attacker, Patrick Kane took a shot from the high slot that deflected off Jamie Langenbrunner to Parise, who shot it off Luongo’s blocker and into the net.

Parise is the son of J.P. Parise, who scored two goals for that 1972 Canada Summit Series team.

Three minutes before Parise scored, Kane — who also set up Ryan Kesler’s goal in the second period — knocked the puck off Crosby’s stick on a breakaway that would have sealed it for Canada.

“It’s just a shame that both teams couldn’t have received a gold medal,” U.S. coach Ron Wilson said. “A great player made a great play and found a way to finish us off. This was a classic hockey game. In Canada now, it’s the greatest game ever.”

Luongo didn’t outplay Miller, but still proved he is a big-game goalie — something he has never been previously — by making 34 saves in his own NHL arena. Luongo went 5-0 in the tournament and 4-0 after replacing Martin Brodeur following America’s 5-3 win the previous Sunday.

OK, you can exhale now, Canada. The quivers of fear created by the loss to the U.S. and the shootout over Switzerland are gone, replaced by the good-as-gold feeling that was a necessity for Canada to truly proclaim these Olympics a success.

Canada won its eighth hockey gold medal and only its second since 1952 — it beat the U.S. 5-3 in Salt Lake City in 2002. For the United States, considered on a tier slightly below the Canadians, Russians and Swedes when the games began, it was an immense letdown, especially since it was the best team from nearly start to finish. Nearly.

“It stings right now,” said Miller, who made 33 saves after giving up only a goal per game in the first five games.

“It’s devastating. It was the biggest game any of us have played in,” U.S. defenseman Jack Johnson said.

Requiring the United States to beat favored Canada two times in eight days was a monumental task; under Olympic formats used until the 1990s, when there wasn’t a true gold-medal game, the earlier victory and the Americans’ unbeaten record would have been enough for gold. The U.S. has never won an Olympics outside the U.S., with its two golds coming in 1960 at Squaw Valley, Calif., and 1980 at Lake Placid, N.Y.

Unlike those games, it wouldn’t have been a miracle if America had won — but, given the opponent and the circumstances, it would have been one of the nation’s proudest moments in international sports.