The new Columbus Blue Jackets Head Coach took part in a candid one-on-one during TCS Live, revealing the key coaching moments that led to victory.

Was Team Canada’s thrilling 3-2 overtime win over Team USA in the gold medal game at the 2010 Winter Olympics the greatest game in Canadian hockey history?

It certainly won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

Sure it’s been 13 years since Sidney Crosby scored the golden goal 7:40 into OT on February 28, 2010, but it feels like just yesterday. Considering the game was watched on TV by 26.5 million Canadians, 80% of the entire population from our home on native land witnessed it and remembers exactly where they were.

Mike Babcock is no different, although his vantage point was quite unique. He stood behind Team Canada’s bench coaching the star-studded Canadian squad and for as much as it was a dream come true for the NHLers to play for their country, it was just as big of a thrill for Babcock, a “prairie boy from Saskatchewan,” to represent Canada.

At TCS Live 2023 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, the 60-year-old coach, who returned to the NHL July 1st signing a two-year contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets, took part in a candid, live one-on-one interview with legendary Canadian hockey journalist and reporter Elliotte Friedman, where the two broke down Team Canada’s entire Olympic journey in 2010 and the key coaching moments that led to the victory.

It was a must-see presentation, to say the least!

“After Stevie called me into his office, I remember getting into my truck, sitting outside, and thinking ‘oh my god, what did I just get myself into’? We had to win.”

Babcock, aka the only coach in hockey history to have won the Stanley Cup, Olympic gold, the World Cup, the World Hockey Championship and the World Junior Championship, coached Canada to that gold medal and another four years later, but there was something special about that 2010 team and the entire 2010 Olympic experience that still brings a smile to his face.

That smile, however, occurs looking back at the event. During the games, Babcock was nervous – a feeling he had never experienced in his life and hasn’t experienced since.

“When I got off that plane in Vancouver, when you walked around that city, you knew this was a big deal. Then when you got there and saw the US team playing as well as it was, I got nervous. And that had never happened to me before in my life.”

During this 48-minute video, Babcock reveals facts he’s never shared about Team Canada, discusses how he formed his coaching staff, how the lines were made up and roles selected for players, the ups and downs of round robin play, how defeating Team Russia was a highlight of his coaching career and the gold medal game, with a golden finish.