Canada has tied the record for most gold medals in a Winter Olympics with 13. There is a chance at breaking the mark with men's hockey later this afternoon.
The men's curling team defeated Norway 6-3 to win gold. Norway had cut the Canadian lead to 3-2, but Canada scored 2 in the 7th end to pull away with the win.
Congratulations to Kevin Martin (Skip), John Morris, Marc Kennedy, Ben Hebert, and Adam Enright along with Coach Jules Owchar.
Jasey-Jay Anderson won gold in the men's parallel giant slalom. Anderson edged out Benjamin Karl of Austria in the Big Final.
Canada won gold in the Men's Team Pursuit with a time of 3:41.37, edging the U.S. team by .21 seconds. Congratulations to the team of Mathieu Giroux, Lucas Makowsky, Denny Morrison, and François-Olivier Roberge.
Team Canada won a bronze medal in Four-man Bobsleigh with a time of 3:24.85, .39 seconds from gold and .01 seconds from silver. Lyndon Rush, David Bissett, Lascelles Brown, and Chris Le Bihan comprised the bronze medal team.
Canada rests at 25 medals (13-7-5). Since there are only two more events — men's hockey and a 50-kilometer men's cross-country race — Canada clinches third place in overall medals. And Canada will have at least 26 medals. Consider that mark, given the U.S. — overall winners in the medal count — will set a record for most medals with at least 37 medals.
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Only two teams has the home country won gold in men's hockey: United States in 1960 (Squaw Valley, CA) and 1980 (Lake Placid, NY). The United States has not trailed in this Olympic tournament.
In 2002, Canada and the United States played for gold in men's and women's hockey at Salt Lake City. Canada won both gold medals.
As badly as Canada played in the preliminaries in 2010, Team Canada was worse in 2002, going 1-1-1 in the preliminaries. But Canada bounced back to win gold 5-2 over the United States.
Yes, the United States beat Canada 5-3 in the preliminaries, defeating Canada for the first time in 50 years. Can the U.S. do it twice? And doing so on Canadian home ice?
The funny part is that each team is trying to make themselves the underdog going into the game. The U.S. has a slight edge going into the game. But after Canada has run through Germany, Russia, and Slovakia to get here, the Canadians have the momentum.
And Team Canada has won without relying on Sidney Crosby. Going into the gold medal game, Crosby only has 6 points. Crosby is one six players with 6 points; two players have 7 points and four players with 5 points. Canada's balanced attack is a true threat to the U.S.
CTV and NBC carry the game live at 3:15 pm Eastern/12:15 pm in Vancouver.
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Kenny Albert did play-by-play for the Canada-Slovakia game Friday night. Apparently, this was a scheduled move, though there doesn't seem to be any reason why Doc Emrick couldn't do a second game on Friday. Once the U.S. won on Friday, Emrick wouldn't be expected (and didn't) to call the bronze medal game. But perhaps there is a reason we missed along the way.
Albert and Joe Micheletti called the bronze medal game, which Finland won 5-3 over Slovakia.
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For those who were wondering about the now infamous Marie-Philip Poulin picture of her holding a beer, here is the picture. Unlike the blog where I found this photo, I knew the drinking age in these provinces.
What I'm not sure about is what the law is in handling alcohol. To give you an example in the United States, where every state has the same drinking age of 21, in Michigan, you can handle alcohol at 18 but can't drink until 21. In Illinois, you can't handle alcohol until you're 21.
Maybe British Columbia law allows Poulin to hold the drink but not drink it.
In Canada, Alberta, Manitoba, and Quebec have a drinking age of 18. Elsewhere in Canada, the drinking age is 19. There are some family-noted exceptions for slightly younger ages.
For those in the United States who think it's outrageous that different areas have variations in ages, go back a generation or two. States had the discretion to set drinking ages. That all changed in the 1980s, when President Reagan threatened states with loss of highway funds if they didn't make their drinking age a standard 21.
Canada isn't likely to go down that same path.
And if you want to see the contrast between the United States and Canada in terms of drinking age, come hang out in downtown Windsor, Ontario on a Saturday night, preferably when it's warm. The streets are filled with 19 and 20 year old Americans drinking and going in between bars.
Someday, the U.S. might factor in some sensibility into drinking age policy.
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The men's hockey gold medal game will be followed shortly after by the Closing Ceremony. Once again, the Closing Ceremony will be at BC Place — indoors. Can't speak to the layout of other Olympic settings, but it should be noted that if you attend the men's hockey gold medal game, all you have to do is walk across the way to get to the Closing Ceremony.
Olympic champion Charles Hamelin reportedly will carry the Canadian flag into the Closing Ceremony for the Vancouver Olympics. Hamelin won two gold medals in the 2010 Olympics.
Hopefully, there won't be any hydraulic issues.
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