CANADA'S MEDAL COUNT
SILVER – Jenn Heil (Day 2: Women's Moguls)
BRONZE –
GOLD – Alexandre Bilodeau (Day 3: Men's Moguls)
SILVER – Mike Robertson (Day 4: Men's Snowboard Cross)
GOLD – Maëlle Ricker (Day 5: Women's Snowboard Cross)
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Maëlle Ricker is Canada's Golden Girl!Thank You for being the best.
Travel down the hill right to the end.
Your heart is true, you are great and a Champion.
And if you threw a party
Invited everyone you knew
You would see the biggest gift would be from us
And the card at the end would say
Thank You for being the Best.
Ok… I promise that was the first and last time I'll ever use the "Golden Girls" lyrics on this blog (slightly changed to fit Ricker's Gold).
In all seriousness, Ricker's performance was legendary. She was quick out of the gates and didn't look back. She dominated the competition and her dream became reality as Maëlle Ricker won Gold.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, there are reports a "lucky loonie" was buried somewhere on that course. If that's the case – the legend of the loonie has grown even bigger. Canada was solid in the snowboard cross and certainly made everyone proud from coast to coast.
I reccomend you read Cory Wolfe's article on Ricker's Gold Medal winning performance. He's been rocking it on the West Coast and has done a great job covering the events for both the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix and Canwest News Service. Great job bud.
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Here's how our Saskatchewan athletes did on Day Five of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics…
Corinne Bartel (Humboldt, SK): Women's Curling — Canada beat Switzerland 5-4
Ben Hebert (Regina, SK): Men's Curling — Canada beat Norway 7-6 (11 Ends), Canada beat Germany 9-4 (9 Ends)
Regan Lauscher (Saskatoon, SK): Women's Luge – Singles — 15th Place – +2.497
Meaghan Simister (Regina, SK): Women's Luge – Singles — 25th Place – +3.946
Ryan Getzlaf (Regina, SK): Men's Hockey — 1 Goal, +2 as Canada beat Norway 8-0
Patrick Marleau (Aneroid, SK): Men's Hockey — 1 Assist, +1 as Canada beat Norway 8-0
Brenden Morrow (Carlyle, SK): Men's Hockey — 7:50 of Ice Time as Canada beat Norway 8-0
Vaughn Chipeur (Lloydminster, SK): Figure Skating – Men's Short Program — 24th Place – 57.22
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So it was a Golden Day in Vancouver as Canada added to its medal total on Day Five of the 2010 Winter Olympics…
WOMEN'S SNOWBOARD CROSS
Maëlle Ricker – GOLD
Dominique Maltais – 20th Place
WOMEN'S LONG TRACK SPEED SKATING – 500m
Christine Nesbitt – 10th Place – +1.48
Shannon Rempel – 27th Place – +2.73
Anastasia Bucsis – 34th Place – +3.66
WOMEN'S LUGE – Singles
Regan Lauscher – 15th Place – +2.497
Alex Gough – 18th Place – +2.867
Meaghan Simister – 25th Place – +3.946
BIATHLON – Women's 10K Pursuit
Megan Tandy – 36th – +3:46.2
WOMEN'S CURLING
Canada beat Switzerland 5-4
MEN'S CURLING
Canada beat Norway 7-6 (11 Ends)
Canada beat Germany 9-4 (9 Ends)
BIATHLON: Men's 12.5K Pursuit
Jean Philippe Le Guellec – 11th Place – +1:13.5
MEN'S FIGURE SKATING – Short Program
Patrick Chan – 7th Place – 81.12
Vaughn Chipeur – 24th Place – 57.22
MEN'S HOCKEY
Canada beat Norway 8-0
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Canada's quest for Gold in Men's Hockey is off to a great start. Jarome Iginla with the hat-trick as he helped lead our team to an 8-0 victory over Norway.
Now you talk about taking advantage of every shift out on the ice – Iginla was on the ice for just 9min 48sec in that entire game. In that time he managed to score three goals, five shots on net, and was a plus 2. I'm sure fans of the Calgary Flames are wondering why he doesn't do that in Cowtown… but let's face it, it's easier to succeed with Rick Nash and Sidney Crosby on your line. A wicked line combo put together by Canada's Head Coach and Saskatoon's own Mike Babcock.
What the heck was Norway's Men's Curling team wearing this morning? They looked like clowns who got lost on the way to a party and wound up on a sheet of curling ice. I'm sorry – that was mean. It's quite the fashion statement I guess… I mean who doesn't want to wear pants made out of envelopes?
While on the topic of the mail, why not talk about Male Figure Skating and how the Gold Medal will be flying air mail to Russia. Ok, that was bad… did you at least chuckle? …. no huh? Just rolled your eyes… haha it's all good!
Seriously though, Evgeni Plushenko absolutely dominated the field tonight at the Pacific Coliseum. He set a new Olympic Record with a short program score of 90.85. Unless he screws up in the Free Skate, he's a lock for Gold – and why not? He's a master at the quad and makes it look so easy.
Vaughn Chipeur made his Olympic debut in the short program. He has one of, if not, the best verticals in the sport and looked nervous at the start of his program. A sign of things to come as he was unable to shake the nerves, falling on his triple axle attempt right off the bat. Throw in some other mishaps and he scored a disappointing 57.22. He's in 24th place which means he grabbed the final spot in the men's free skate on Thursday.
Patrick Chan was Canada's best hope for Gold but without the quad, there's really no way he can beat Plushenko. Chan was almost flawless – he hit a triple axle but a small slip up on the landing cost him some points. He almost fell at one point as well and had a point deducted after slight movement at the end of his performance. His strong point was, by far, his footwork. Patrick Chan has intricate footwork – it's breath taking and truly is poetry on ice. But with a score of 81.12, Chan sits 7th going into the Free Skate and needs the performance of his life and a little help if he hopes to find the podium.
And what about Vic Rauter. There is no one on this planet that can call a better curling game than the man, the myth, the legend himself! It's an absolute pleasure listening to him at the Olympics and I hope to hear a famous call if / when Canada wins Gold.
Quick Vic Rauter story… back in 2006 when I was preparing to host our live coverage of the SaskTel Tankard in Humboldt, I was a little nervous to say the least. It was my first time hosting a live broadcast of a sporting event and I didn't want to disappoint the great curling fans of this province. So I decided that if anyone was going to give me advice, it would be Vic Rauter. I fired him off an email and to my great surprise, he called me within a few hours to talk and give me some pointers. Needless to say it was a big help!
Thanks Vic!
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Finally… some key events to look out for on Day Six of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics (all times SK)
11am: Women's Curling – Canada vs. Japan
4:30pm: Women's Hockey – Canada vs. Sweden
6pm: Men's Long Track Speed Skating – 1000m
9:07pm: Women's Short Track Speed Skating – 500m
9:15pm: Men's Snowboard Halfpipe
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