The Canada-U.S. Olympic gold medal showdown in men’s ice hockey had all the ingredients for a game people will be talking about for ages: nail-biting intensity, a come-from-behind push that saw the States force overtime with only seconds remaining, and a photo finish care of Canadian poster boy Sidney Crosby.

The gold-medal game was a perfect representation of Olympic hockey: fast-paced, hard-hitting and skilled, but without the dirty hits and roughhousing that are commonplace in the NHL.

Yet exactly one week after Crosby’s golden moment, his NHL teammate made headlines for injuring Boston Bruins centre Marc Savard. Matt Cooke delivered a blindside hit to Savard’s face. Savard was knocked momentarily unconscious and removed from the ice on a stretcher.

Savard is back practicing with his team, but the incident has left NHL brass with a major headache.