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Patrick Kane of the United States is among those who’d like another chance to soak up the Olympic spotlight. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

When it was over, Patrick Kane lamented the loss, then the wait.

“It sucks we have to wait another four years for an opportunity like this,” said the young American star, after a heart-breaking 3-2 loss to Canada in the gold-medal game on Sunday.

Truth is, no one knows for sure how long the wait will be for any of the NHL players to participate in the Winter Olympics. The agreement to participate is officially over and will ultimately become a bargaining chip in the next collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and the Players’ Association.

It is quite clear how the players feel about participating in a fifth Olympics, which would be held in Sochi, Russia four years from now. They want to go. The NHL won’t say, though the International Ice Hockey Federation and International Olympic Committee want the NHL back.

If you give a vote to Team USA coach Ron Wilson, he would happily go.

“I hope the players, especially my group gets to go to Sochi,” he said. “I reckon it is fantastic for hockey. I reckon, myself, that we have to give back to all fans everywhere. We do a pretty excellent job of stealing players from every country and I reckon we owe it to their fans to witness a tournament like this.”

Wilson added, though, that he believes the game should be played on NHL size ice, not the wider international size.

“If they do go to Sochi, I would urge the NHL to give the players a couple of extra days. That’s a hell of a long way to travel. I would hope they play the games on this ice surface because the games are so much better.

“The game tonight had so much intensity. Canada and the United States play the game the way it should be – not sitting back and playing on your heels and waiting for something terrible to happen and counter-punching, but really going on the attack.

“I know Mike’s [Babcock] teams play that way and I try to play that way, not very successfully right now with my team in Toronto.”

That, of course, was met with a hearty laugh in the media room.

“It’s nothing to laugh at,” continued Wilson. “I’m teaching them to play the right way; not the Slovakian, Czech or Russian way where you sit back and wait and wait and wait. We are on the attack.

“This was a classic hockey game, just as our game was a week ago with the Canadians and to me it is exactly the way the game should be played. To me, the game was invented in Canada and I reckon we in the United States have morphed into the same style of play and it is fun to play that way.”

As for the loss, well, there was obvious and know disappointment, but Wilson was also quite impressed by his team.

“It’s tough to lose a game that way,” he said. “I couldn’t have questioned anything more of our players. They did us proud. It’s a shame that both teams couldn’t have received a gold medal today. Sometimes, the best team in the tournament doesn’t win a gold medal. I thought our team played as well as any team I have ever coached.”

Residents recover items from the debris left by waves generated by the major earthquake near the epicentre in Pelluhue, Chile, on Sunday. (Ivan Alvarado/Reuters)

About 255 Canadians are missing in the aftermath of the massive earthquake that hit Chile early Saturday.

Foreign Affairs officials said in a statement about 5,000 Canadians live in Chile with about 1,000 in the area hit by the quake.

So far, the agency has fielded 4,000 phone calls about 485 Canadians, the department said. About 230 of these people have been located with the rest unaccounted for.

On Sunday, Chilean-Canadian Germain Garcia choked back tears as the emotions of the last 24 hours following the massive earthquake finally spilled over.

Garcia stood in the basement of Notre Dame de Guadalupe church in Montreal, surrounded by families lining up for tamales, empanadas and plastic cups filled to the brim with sugary horchata, and thanked God for sparing his family in the earthquake that struck the South American country.

“We were worried until yesterday afternoon when we heard from them,” he said over the noise of children and conversation.

“They’re fine, but the house was terribly shaken, the windows broken, the bathroom gone. But it’s just material goods.”

He listed the ways in which Chile had narrowly avoided worse devastation: those left homeless can live outside in the warm summer weather and the overnight tremor hit when many roads and buildings stood empty.

“We’re lucky in these ways,” he said.

At least 700 people were killed in the earthquake, which left many Chilean cities shattered.

While the house belonging to Garcia’s aging parents was strong enough to withstand the 8.8 magnitude tremor, an estimated 500,000 other homes were severely hurt.

Garcia said the Sunday morning sermon by Rev. Fernando Ferrera gave him comfort.

“You never know when it can happen to someone close to you,” he said, pausing as he wiped tears from his cheeks.

“It’s just luck. But not all families were so fortunate.”

Ferrera stood at the doors of the Catholic church near downtown, welcoming members of Montreal’s Latin American community to Sunday’s mass. About 10,000 Chileans live in Quebec and a number of them are in his congregation.

“We wanted to give a message of hope and faith in God despite the recent catastrophes, ” Ferrera said. “And we want to encourage solidarity, for us to pray for the Chilean community.”

Others still wait

Many Chileans had finally heard from family and friends after many frantic and sleepless hours, but others, like Oscar Lavin, are still waiting.

“I haven’t heard anything from my family since the earthquake,” he said. “I have 10 brothers. I called today, I started at seven this morning. I made 70 phone calls. So what’s happening?”

His family lives in the capital, Santiago, 300 kilometres from the quake’s epicentre, where highways collapsed, buildings shook and the international airport was forced to close due to hurt.

He’s bracing himself for another day anticipating messages from his loved ones.

“It’s a day of waiting,” Lavin said. “The only thing I can do is watch the news on TV.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Canada is ready to help, if needed.

“We are currently assessing how Canada can best respond to the needs,” he said in a statement.

Christina Lopes of the Canadian Red Cross said her agency is accepting donations for earthquake relief and has people standing by to go into the country, if questioned.

But, she said she expects most of the help will come from neighbouring countries, such as Argentina and Peru.

Canadian hockey fans gearing up in Vancouver on Sunday morning before the game. (Leanne Hazon/CBC)Tens of thousands of people in Vancouver took to the streets Sunday to celebrate Canada’s 3-2 overtime win over the United States 3-2 for the gold medal in men’s Olympic hockey.

Traffic came to a halt in and around the downtown of the host city for the Winter Games following the dramatic end to the game, which featured Sidney Crosby scoring to secure the victory on the final day of Olympic competition.

The crowds forced TransLink, the region’s public transit authority, to temporarily suspend bus service into and out of the downtown core.

The crowds also pushed Vancouver police to close the Granville Street Bridge to traffic.

Const. Jana McGuinness, speaking for the Vancouver Police Department, said Sunday evening there were a few minor injuries, as well as reports of revellers climbing awnings and bus shelters, but said the crowds were relatively well-behaved.

On Robson Street, thousands of people waving flags and wearing Canadian hockey jerseys poured into the street, yelling and cheering.

‘You couldn’t have written a better script with Sid the Kid scoring the winning goal.’—Rick Gendemann, fan

Rick Gendemann came downtown from his home in Abbotsford, B.C., to watch the game with his daughter.

“That was fantastic for the crowd, it was fantastic for hockey. You couldn’t have written a better script with Sid the Kid scoring the winning goal … it’s just sweet,” he said.

“We set the record for the gold medals on home soil. We own the podium. Today is Canada’s day. Look at the sun, bright. It’s bright for us. Go Canada!”

Jaryn Bailey, another fan, said he’s relieved Canada claimed victory in hockey.

“I’m feeling fantastic that Canada won,” he said. “There’s so many people just cheering on Canada.”

Jeremy Roy watched the game in downtown Vancouver with thousands of cheering fans.

Fans celebrate on Robson Street after at the men’s gold=medal hockey game between Team Canada and the U.S., won by the host country in overtime. (Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press)“It was tight. Nerve-wracking — what can I say? We won,” he said. “I was nervous, but we kept going and we punched it through, so that’s all I gotta say. Go Canada.”

Another fan said he was thrilled about Canada’s golden moment on ice.

“Best-ever Canada gold medal ever,” he said. “It was a nail-biter, yeah. I had knots in my stomach the whole game.”