Roberto Luongo, the starting goalie for Team Canada men's hockey through most of the tournament, holds up his gold medal as Canada defeated the United States 3-2 in an exciting overtime game at the Vancover 2010 Olympics. The victory won Canada a record 14 gold medals. The most for any nation in the history of the Winter Olympics.

Congratulations to all of Canada’s athletes for the most successful Olympics in Canadian history.

Our athletes were called upon to Own The Podium and that they did. Winning the most gold medals of any country at a Winter Olympics, Canada finished with 14 gold medals, and 26 overall.

I love the idea of owning the podium. Who said Canadians liked to share? Well, maybe we could be polite and say “sorry, you had to talk silver and bronze” upon winning gold but this “gold or nothing” mentality in our approach to sports this time around gave our nation something to be proud of.

As CTV said in its closing program, the actual medals themselves did not matter. What truly mattered was the excuse to see our flag being raised and to sing our national anthem.

All across the nation, every medal was cheered, every goal twittered. We threw our support behind Joannie Rochette, who won us a bronze medal despite the loss of her mother. We believed in the Canadian men’s hockey team, despite their nail biter of a semi-final game against Slovakia.

Well, I believe in the power that comes, from a nation brought together as one!

Today marks a new era of patriotism for Canada.

My name is Dan … and I AM CANADIAN!