How many times did you check on the Internet yesterday to see if Canada won any more Olympic medals? Did you think your computer was broken because the medal pages wasn't updating for Canada?
Well, many events are going on, not ready to give out medals. And some Canadian athletes came close to getting medals, but fell short. Canada just missed bronze in the luge team relay by 0.1 seconds.
Don't worry. We have plenty of hockey news and fun, extra Olympic coverage in our Valentine's Day Olympic notebook. Love a Canadian today.
Canada Women's Hockey schedule
Date | Game | Time (ET) | Live TV |
February 15 | Sweden vs. Finland | 3 am | TBD/MSNBC |
February 15 | Russia vs. Switzerland | 7:30 am | Rogers/MSNBC |
February 17 | SWE-FIN vs. U.S. | 7:30 am | CBC/NBCSN |
February 17 | RUS-SUI vs. Canada | Noon | CBC/MSNBC |
If you do have Monday off in either country, you can watch the semifinal games in women's hockey. Note that in the States, the U.S. game airs on NBCSN while Canada's game airs on MSNBC.
In Canada, the schedule doesn't give an outlet for the Russia-Switzerland quarterfinal. CBC, TSN, and Rogers Sportsnet have conflicts at 3 am Eastern. TSN2 and Rogers Sportsnet One don't have programming at that hour, so we'll see. If we find that information, we will pass it along.
We'll have updates on Twitter on Saturday as to Canada's opponent for Monday.
---
The men got off to a slow start in the hockey round robin. Canada was held scoreless in the 1st period, but handled Norway 3-1.
Defenseman Shea Weber blistered a shot for Canada's first goal 6 minutes into the 2nd period. Jamie Benn added the game winner later in the period. Canada outshot Norway 14-2 in that period.
After Norway tallied a 3rd period goal, Drew Doughty added an insurance goal with a nifty backhand play.
Canada outshot Norway 38-20.
Canada has drawn a weaker pool, so the slim margin and lack of scoring chances are concerns. But Canada is still trying to figure out lineups and positioning. They may have a Dream Team, but the players need to figure out their roles.
Slow starts are common for the men. In the gold medal year of 2002, Canada went 1-1-1 early. And the team lost to the United States in round-robin play in 2010.
---
After Weber's goal, the NBC Group reminisced about Weber's goal against Germany in 2010 that went right through the net. As the announcers pointed out, Ed Olczyk called it right away that Weber had scored.
The refs ultimately made the right call. If nothing else, Weber prove how fast his lightning fast slap shot can be.
---
In Canada, who gets scratched becomes a big deal, even though the round-robin has just got started. Matt Duchene and P.K. Subban were scratched along with third goalie Mike Smith. Carey Price started in goal, stopping 19/20 shots.
Roberto Luongo starts this morning in goal for Team Canada with Smith as the backup. The games are back-to-back and Babcock already announced that each primary goalie would have a start. In 2002, Curtis Joseph started off, but Martin Brodeur finished up. In 2010, Brodeur started but Luongo was there at the end.
Dan Hamhuis is the defenseman scratch, joining Price and forward Patrick Sharp.
---
With a temporary lull, Canada is not on top of the Winter Olympics medal race. But Buzzfeed gave us 10 good reasons why Canada has already won the Winter Olympics.
We covered some of the stories already: the Dufour-Lapointe sisters being cheered on by their oldest sister, Maxime; the coach who helped the Russian skier with his ski; the Molson beer fridge. There are a few others that we haven't covered, but we'll let you read them on your one.
The Canadian spirit has been celebrated during these Sochi Olympics, and that has been wonderful to see.
---
Now that the CBC is again covering the Olympics, this has brought back one of my favorite Olympic sports: Americans whining about how their coverage is lame, superficial, and let's say, extremely patriotic.
The Twitter hashtag #NBCfail sums up 2014 frustrations about NBC's coverage.
This story from The Canadian Press showcases a modern solution to this long-standing problem:
L.A.-based Olympics fan Morgan Linton said Monday that he and his Canadian-born wife were so disappointed in NBC's delayed coverage they turned to a foreign IP provider for live CBC and BBC feeds.
"It's terrible," Linton said of NBC's Internet stream in particular.
"They pretty much show two athletes and then 10 minutes of commercials and then another two athletes and then 10 minutes of commercials and they are still not covering all the athletes around the world. … I'd say 90 per cent of what we're watching is CBC streaming."
Let's have a way for Americans to get CBC coverage year-round. Perhaps the Olympics coverage would have to be limited on an U.S. outlet. But maybe Americans would learn more about the world's athletes if they were able to watch CBC Sports coverage all the time.
And news and documentaries and Canadian comedies and dramas and award shows and … .
---
Olympic medal winners Chloé and Justine Dufour-Lapointe donned the Canada Olympic Red Mittens in a photoshoot. Unbeknownst to them, someone Photoshopped them and the mittens magically changed to Quebec blue with the fleur-de-lis.
Click here for a better look at the two photos.
Pierre Duchesne, the Parti Québécois minister responsible for higher education, research, science and technology, retweeted the photo, adding "Superbe!! :).
The young ladies are from Montréal, and there were a number of early Olympic medal winners from La Belle Province.
Comments