To some, the most important number on Wednesday night was 134.
Christine Sinclair, as she's done so many times before, scored a late (in his case, literally last-second) goal for Canada, this one propelling the home side to a 1-0 victory at Moncton Stadium.
The goal was, as you'd guessed, the 134th of her illustrious career, a career which will likely (eventually, years from now) end with her owning the crown as most prolific goal-scorer in the history of international soccer.
But that's a number to be celebrated later. On this night, the important number was one that can't actually be quantified, but is crucial nonetheless: The number of young players whose soccer dreams have shot into the stratosphere as a result of Sinclair's latest heroics.
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The game, on the whole, wasn't especially inspiring. Some sloppy play and failure to convert opportunities raised a bit of alarm for Canadian fans. But given the nature of the match, and the number of substitutes used, a bit of incongruity between players was to be expected. After all, the main function of the match -- in the grand scheme -- was as a tune-up for the all-important Olympics.
But a corollary function of the match was to open up the national-team game to a new part of the country, and a whole new set of fans. It's been mentioned several times that no current member of the women's national team hails from Atlantic Canada, with the closest connection being that American-born Lauren Sesselmann derives her Canadian-team eligibility from a long-ago familial tie in Newfoundland.
One game in Moncton -- the first trip by one of our senior national teams, and surely not the last -- isn't going to change that situation overnight. But while the shrill shouting and high-pitched "Let's go Canada" chants may not have impressed some cynical observers watching from afar, the reality is that the next generation of Canadian players needs to come from somewhere. They need to have that soccer-loving spark lit within them at some point.
And for the hundreds, if not thousands, of young athletes who came out to Moncton Stadium on Wednesday night -- well, what better way to be inspired than the thrill of a last-second victory, on a goal by Canada's heroic captain?
Are all of the fans who came out to the game worried about the tactical adjustments made by head coach John Herdman? Or the ones that still must be made? Are they biting their nails over the team's over-reliance on its main striker, or on how well Diana Matheson can reincorporate herself into the midfield? Will they be wringing their hands over what dire prospects the game against China may hold for Canada's Olympic chances?
Probably not. But they know they came away from a Canadian national-team game with a damn good feeling.
They know that one day, that could be their kid scoring a big goal for Canada. They know that the next time the Canadian team comes to town, they'll be there. And they'll tell their friends.
No, we can't precisely quantify what sort of impact this game may have had on the fans in attendance, or on the young kids who watched Canada get a win on home soil in Atlantic Canada.
But if Canada's biggest star at the 2031 Women's World Cup comes from a province east of Quebec, then we can probably put a number on where a big dose of her footballing inspiration came from:
05/30/2012.