Canadian Crossing

My Canadian Valentines 2016

My love for Canada is enough on Valentine's Day, but my love for Canadian women also runs deep.

Though I have written about my favourite Canadian women in recent years, I would love to find a Canadian woman who appreciates my love for her and her native country, and she doesn't have to be famous.

My Canadian Valentines 2015

Ellen Page: still a cool Canadian role model

Seeing the multiple layers of beauty of famous Canadian women

I wish they all could be … Canadian girls

While I certainly don't want to ignore beautiful Canadian women on this special day, I thought I would try a different direction to celebrate my love for Canada in 2016 from stories over the previous year. Happy Valentine's Day!!

Orphan Black Season 3 wrapup: Hoping Delphine will return

I love Cosima and Delphine and I will miss them in Season 4 of "Orphan Black" coming this April. To be honest, there wasn't much of the pair in Season 3. Tatiana Maslany and Evelyne Brochu gave us a really cute couple of 2 smart women who were similar and opposite at the same time. Cosima was a laid-lack American scientist; Delphine was French-Canadian who was also a scientist, tough but vulnerable.

I don't consider myself attached to onscreen couples of any combination, but the way they interacted was as believable as any couple I've seen on television. Their relationship felt real and honest and very comfortable.

The fact that the show and actors are Canadian made their relationship more cool because the portrayal wasn't self-conscious like some American portrayals might be, and the mix of English and French was a nice contrast to the language conflicts in the Canadian culture.

I realize that Cosima and Shay make their own version of a cute couple: Coshay, but I will always be Team Cophine.

What if Justin Trudeau could appoint me to the Canadian Senate?

I had a dream that I somehow became a Canadian senator, and thought "This is the perfect job for me." I like to travel throughout Canada, talk to people, listen to them, learn, do research, and debate over potential legislation to improve the lives of Canadians.

I enjoy being a journalist and enjoy writing. But I really thought being a senator would be well-suited to my interests and talents.

I respect that being a Canadian citizen is important to being a senator and not having citizenship in another country is also crucial. Surprisingly, the United States doesn't have this requirement since Canadian citizen Ted Cruz was elected to the U.S. Senate.

Even the idea of being unelected as a Canadian senator had some appeal: you could skip right to the government part without having to worry about fundraising or posterior kissing.

I do care about Canada that much that I would truly kick tail as a senator, and I really would have been unbiased to any Canadian political party.

Newfoundland is a mysterious, majestic vacation escape

Newfoundland had been this mysterious land, even after visiting its Maritime cousins in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The half-hour ahead time zone added to that novelty, but the attraction was going to be the warm and friendly nature of the natives from The Rock.

The people of Newfoundland turned out to be even friendlier than I had imagined. The couple that shared the dinner table in Petty Harbour. The woman who gave a tour for one of the House of Assembly, talked about the upcoming provincial election, and even offered a homemade chocolate chip cookie. The way this couple was ready to defend a pregnant lady when there was a potential fight in a restaurant. The customs officer who gave me travel tips to the province when I landed in Toronto.

The beauty and scenery, the unusual and amazing food were tremendous, but the people of Newfoundland were a true treasure. Getting to St. John's can be a bit out there in terms of travel but you will be glad you arrived.

Breaking down 2015 WIFF Canadian films

This wasn't the best year for Canadian film. One of my favourite films from this year's Windsor International Film Festival — "Elephant Song" — came out in 2014. But the crowd at the festival and in Windsor make you feel good over being obsessed with film, especially Canadian film.

I would love to write more about Canadian film in this blog, and where I am, Canadian film doesn't come up much in discussion. In the Windsor festival, they often talk about films from other countries, including the United States. But they embrace my love for Canadian film.

The festival volunteers are always amazing and helpful. The quest for amazing film around the world grows exponentially each year. And the festival organizers and fans are spot-on in determining films that later on win Golden Globes and Oscars.

Vacationing in Windsor in November is not rational, but hanging out with these people to watch truly great films makes all the sense in the world.

Justin Trudeau begins new era as Canada's newest prime minister

So this wasn't the smoothest election in Canadian history. The 78-day journey felt a bit long, though not by American standards. And there was some concern that citizens would be denied the right to vote.

In the end, the turnout was higher than it had been, and Canada picked a new direction for the country. The increased interest, especially among young people and those from First Nations, was very hopeful for democracy everywhere. If the Liberals do make government more open and transparent, especially at the end of their run, then the 2015 election will hold even more significance.

Thanks to the Internet and C-SPAN, I saw all the debates, though we missed not having the English language consortium debate. And we hope the new Liberal government will come through with increased arts funding.

Canada Screens uses Internet to showcase Canadian film

This would be more of a valentine if either a) Canada Screens was available outside Canada and b) I lived in Canada. Increasing potential eyeballs to great Canadian films is something we believe in here at CanadianCrossing.com. Access to Canadian film, even in Canada, is difficult, especially if you don't live in Toronto. The price point is higher than the Netflix or Crave TV type purchases, but the expense of going out to see a film is still more than the prices offered by Canada Screens.

Thanks Jon Stewart and 'The Daily Show' for your pokes on Canada

Our Daily Show tribute to Samantha Bee, Jason Jones

Saying au revoir to the Colbert Report

We knew that when the "Colbert Report" was leave the air and Jon Stewart would leave "The Daily Show" that the comedy references about Canada would drop off significantly. Canada is still funny but fewer funnier eyes are watching.

Trevor Noah has to worry about treading water much less to try and make a joke about Canada. Hell, Noah is still learning how the United States works.

Colbert is still alive with his CBS show but opportunities to mock Canada are fewer and much farther from his show on Comedy Central. We still have the memories of Colbert, Stewart, Samantha Bee, and Jason Jones. Bee's new comedy show, "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee" makes its TBS debut this month. We'll have to wait and see if Bee can give us some Canadian humour, full frontal of course.

Jeopardy contestant comes up blank on Canadian cities

Part of why I started CanadianCrossing.com is that Americans don't know much about Canada. There was a reason why the 3 Jeopardy contestants waited until the end of Double Jeopardy to answer the category of Canadian cities.

The questions on the board were not easy to the average American (I did get them all correct), and Sergeant First Class Randy Pike lost $8200 in about 90 seconds.

At least Pike tried when he could, and did name other Canadian cities in his 3 wrong answers. The other 2 questions got no answer from Pike. Strategy prohibited the other contestants from answering, but chances are they didn't know either.

We know Alex Trebek knew the answers, because, well, he's Canadian.

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photos credit: Orphan Black

No winners in Keystone XL pipeline defeat

The decision took longer than the reigns of some U.S. presidents and Canadian prime ministers. Trying to find consolation in the Keystone XL pipeline decision is like searching for polar bears in Windsor, Ontario.

Since President Barack Obama took his sweet time with the decision, we took our time to respond, but mostly because we were immersed in films in Windsor.

Here are the losers and big losers in this decision.

TransCanada The oil company had a problematic plan and didn't care about aquifers in Nebraska. When the company was asked about where the oil was going once it reached the Gulf of Mexico, the implication was that even the U.S. wasn't getting that oil. The U.S. would take a giant risk with little reward. A no-brainer to say no, yet … .

Barack Obama The southern half of the pipeline was approved and is being built. The northern half waited through several U.S. elections and even the 2015 Canada federal election. The U.S. president didn't benefit from waiting in terms of gaining more votes for House members or senators. In fact, the Senate flipped to the GOP side. The fact that the timing was literally 2 days after Justin Trudeau took office means Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have known for some time.

Stephen Harper The former Canadian prime minister puts his eggs in the Keystone XL pipeline basket, but there weren't that many eggs. Harper kept pushing jobs, even though a refinery would have produced more Canadian jobs than the pipeline would have provided. Harper was most concerned about TransCanada than any other element in the story and ended up with a bunch of broken eggs as a result.

Alberta This applies primarily to the long-time Conservative government in the province. Building a refinery would have produced good jobs but that strategy was never pushed. No one really explained why the bitumen had to be refined in Texas. If the pipeline was so important, the idea of a refinery would have taken some of the wind from the sails of the protesters.

Texas The Lone Star state would have received good paying jobs from the Keystone XL pipeline. If the oil would have left for other ports, the state would have benefited from that business, too. The fact that the southern half of the pipeline exists means Texas could eventually gain some advantage.

Justin Trudeau The new Canadian prime minister didn't really lose much, especially in the long term. Obama could have announced the decision in between the election and Trudeau taking office. When one of the knocks against you is being young and inexperienced, being schooled 2 days in makes you look bad.

Keystone protesters The victory is legitimate but short-term. Oil will still come from Canada into the United States. Unfortunately for those in the States, that will be unrefined bitumen either by rail or pipeline. Refined oil would do plenty of damage in a spill but the unrefined bitumen would do so much more damage. That battle remains to be fought.

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Looking for a winner? How about our should-be-award-winning coverage. We kept mentioning the southern half of the pipeline, a fact that most of the coverage elsewhere completely ignored. Our coverage had a foot in both countries, one place to truly hear both sides of the issue.

What a Justin Trudeau government might mean to the United States

2015 Canadian election: How debating looks and sounds like in French

Analyzing NDP win in Alberta: Keystone XL and beyond

Election Day 2014: Finally word on Keystone XL pipeline?

State of the Union: no Canada, no Keystone

Keystone XL pipeline isn't dead, just held hostage to U.S. and Canada politics

Harper government exaggerates impact on U.S. 'radical groups' on Northern Gateway pipeline protests

GOP forces President Obama to an artificial Keystone XL pipeline deadline

'Colbert Report' sheds light on Keystone XL pipeline

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian politics coverage

Thanks Jon Stewart and The Daily Show for your pokes on Canada

Unlike the Colbert Report, The Daily Show isn't going off the air. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is leaving the airwaves tonight. We don't know quite what to expect for the future Daily Show.

Let's start by pointing out that the actual show is taking a hiatus until late September. The Daily Show with Trevor Noah debuts on September 28. We don't know how much time, if any, the new incarnation will spend on Canada, especially with veteran correspondents Samantha Bee and Jason Jones having jumped to greener pastures.

The Daily Show has been taking its own look back at the amazing Jon Stewart era, mostly in silly ways such as his singing ability, noises, and his (mostly early) ritual of saying he hadn't seen or read the guest's work.

CanadianCrossing.com Daily Show coverage

We wanted to take our own look at what Jon Stewart, Samantha Bee, Jason Jones, and others on and off the screen at the show have contributed to bringing awareness to Canada.

Maple syrup heist; building a bridge from Detroit to Windsor; "Is Iqaluit the capital of Nunavut?"; G20 protests; asbestos in Quebec; Rob Ford adventures; stable banks; Justin Bieber in the anchor chair; anchor babies; talking Canada with Ellen Page.

We should also acknowledge that the Comedy Central program runs on Comedy Channel and CTV in Canada. Yes, poking fun at Canada knowing that Canadians are also watching.

We are going to miss Jon Stewart and what he has brought to The Daily Show since 1999. We are especially going to miss what he and the rest of the crew have said about Canada.

Saying au revoir to the Colbert Report

Jon Stewart visits Toronto for his TIFF debut

U.S. shutdown: Canada as the 'sweet apartment'

Maziar Bahari has a Canadian connection

Jon Stewart shares love of Canada with Ellen Page

'Daily Show' has fun with Halifax and Canadian-born Jennifer Granholm

Jon Stewart, Norm Macdonald 'discuss' Canadian politics

A Canadian gets to grace the host chair of 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'

G20 wrapup: Daily Show take, police storming peaceful protesters

Yes, Jon Stewart, Canadians have TV and better health care

Daily Show measures impact of short trips into Canada

'The Daily Show' take on PM Harper's request to prorogue Parliament

TDS begins Canadian election coverage

Canada on TDS, Colbert Report

Jason Jones and Samantha Bee

Our Daily Show tribute to Samantha Bee, Jason Jones

Samantha Bee really gone from The Daily Show

Samantha Bee to leave the 'Daily Show'

Jason Jones to leave the 'Daily Show'

Jason Jones, Samantha Bee 'share' Daily Show chair

Canada's stable banking regulations fodder for Daily Show

'Daily Show' treats Quebec maple syrup heist as 'drug war'

'Daily Show' senior senior correspondents bring Canadian flair

'Daily Show' points out that 'anchor babies' can be Canadian, too

Watching the border in Vermont

Other field pieces

'Daily Show' takes on Michigan's free ride on new Detroit-Windsor bridge

'Daily Show' has fun with fact that Canada is #1 supplier of oil to U.S.

'Daily Show' focuses on Quebec and the dark side of asbestos

Do you want a job in Canada?

Rob Ford

Rob Ford turned away at U.S. border

Robyn Doolittle talks 'crazy' about Rob Ford on Daily Show

Rob Ford looks better in the eyes of the U.S. media

Rob Ford: Liability to Toronto Argonauts

Daily Show pokes fun at Rob Ford's (alleged) crack

photo credit: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Saying au revoir to the Colbert Report

Stephen Colbert and the "Colbert Report" love and appreciate Canada. Like many other targets on the program, you can't always tell that is true.

Colbert is ending the Colbert Report tonight to take over for David Letterman on CBS sometime in 2015.

• Colbert Report coverage on CanadianCrossing.com

• The Daily Show with Jon Stewart coverage on CanadianCrossing.com

In the 9 years on the air, the Colbert Report had lots of fun at Canada's expense. Colbert put Canada on notice, threatened to take the Hockey Night in Canada theme, had a rivalry over Olympic speedskating and then broadcast from Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics. Colbert told his audience that Santa Claus didn't exist in Canada.

The show brought Rush back to U.S. TV for the first time in over 3 decades. Potshots at Rob Ford and Windsor came a little too easy.

Colbert had some really nice praise for Kevin Vickers in the tragic Ottawa shooting. Years ago, Colbert even showed a Canadian political ad to his audience.

Here are some other highlights we covered about Canada on the Colbert Report.

Canadian identity

• Ellen Page comes out as 'openly Canadian' on Colbert Report

• Richard Ford talks Canadian sensibility on 'Colbert Report'

• James Cameron admits he's Canadian on 'Colbert Report'

• Colbert Report spotlights Canadians Jennifer Granholm and David Frum

• 'The Beaver' gets a name change

Canadian economy

• Stephen Colbert having 'trouble' handling that Canadians are richer than Americans

• 'Colbert Report' riffs on Canadian currency

Stephen Colbert in Vancouver 

• Colbert Report collection of 2010 Vancouver Olympics coverage

Stephen's eagle in Canada

• Stephen Jr. back in the States

• Stephen Jr. hanging out in Vancouver

• Stephen Jr. is still in Canada

• Stephen's eagle finds home in Canada

The "Colbert Report" has aired on the Comedy Channel throughout its existence. The program also aired on CTV until September 2013. 

We'll still have The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to make fun of Canada. Perhaps the new "Nightly Show" will take some shots. But Stephen Colbert was a master and his take on the Great White North will be sorely missed.

Feel free to share your funniest Canadian-related "Colbert Report" moment in the comments section below.

photos credit: Colbert Report

Election Day 2014: Finally word on Keystone XL pipeline?

The Keystone XL pipeline isn't on the obvious agenda for Election Day 2014 in the United States, not with boogeymen such as ISIS/ISIL and ebola.

The pipeline does pass a key marker in the extremely long path today. The Obama Administration won't have to worry about any more elections in whether the Keystone XL pipeline will be approved or not.

The long timeframe certainly infers that politics is playing a path. After all, the southern half of the pipeline is being built with little to no notice.

Then again, with falling gas prices in both the United States and Canada, maybe the pipeline will get pushed further down the path.

So on Election Day 2014, check out our past Keystone XL pipeline coverage. And hopefully, we will have news soon on the pipeline, one way or another. 

State of the Union: no Canada, no Keystone

Keystone XL pipeline isn't dead, just held hostage to U.S. and Canada politics

GOP forces President Obama to an artificial Keystone XL pipeline deadline

'Colbert Report' sheds light on Keystone XL pipeline

Catching our breath after an amazing week

We cover a wide variety of Canadian stories on a regular basis. Regular readers know we are writing more stories than ever.

This past week was filled with so many stories. Sure there were a few sports stories, not too surprising. The news stories were big as well.

The Jian Ghomeshi story grew bigger leading up to his dismissal on Sunday. We knew the Toronto mayor race was going to be on Monday, but we weren't sure which way the city would go. The reaction to the Ottawa shooting needed at least another story. Stephen Colbert even checked in on Kevin Vickers' heroism.

We're also covering the 2014 Windsor International Film Festival and a chance to see (and hopefully meet) Winnipeg filmmaker Guy Maddin later this week.

It's easily possible that you might have missed a story or two in the last week. So let's give you a chance to catch up on the stories of the past week. We'll also include a preview of the film festival, currently in progress.

2014 Windsor International Film Festival preview: Xavier Dolan showcase

Colbert Report shows love for Kevin Vickers

NHL the week in preview October 31, 2014

2014 CFL Week 19 preview

2014 Vancouver Whitecaps MLS playoff preview

2014 Toronto Raptors NBA preview

Ford Nation to take at least a 4-year break as mayor of Toronto

Ottawa shooting notebook: O Canada indeed

CBC parts ways with Jian Ghomeshi

Colbert Report shows love for Kevin Vickers

We were a bit surprised that The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report hadn't touched on the Ottawa shooting. Both programs spend quite a bit on Canada, mocking but in a teasing brother kind of fashion.

The Colbert Report broke its silence on Wednesday as Stephen Colbert paid tribute to Kevin Vickers, the House of Commons sergeant-at-arms, for his heroism last week.

Vickers' heroism shows that Canada can "take out the trash … and the recycling."

The show played a blow-by-blow description video from Evan Solomon of CBC News. We also got a montage of the day after with Vickers being championed in Parliament.

We even got Colbert to start to sing O Canada but he didn't make it through even close to the end.

Colbert was so moved by what Vickers did that he apologized to Canada, the "most Canadian thing I can imagine." After he said "I'm sorry," Colbert said it with a Canadian accent. "I'm sooorry."

Colbert did put Canada on notice back in November 2009 — referring to them as Canadian ice-holes — when the Vancouver Olympics folks were accused of preventing the U.S. team from practicing in Olympic facilities.

Colbert later took Canada off-notice after he spent a week in Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics.

As we wrote at the time:

"Colbert had a 'Cheer Up Canada' video after deriding them for not owning the podium. After ending the video with the U.S. beating Canada, Colbert apologized again and took 'Canadian Iceholes' off the On Notice board."

On behalf of Canada, Mr. Colbert, we accept your apology.

Canada women's hockey wins 3rd straight gold, blanks U.S. 2-0

'Colbert Report' puts Canada on notice

Colbert Report coverage on CanadianCrossing.com

Daily Show coverage on CanadianCrossing.com

The Colbert Report now airs on the Comedy Channel at 12:37 am Eastern late Monday-Thursday night. Colbert's show is going away soon but still deserves to air live in Canada.

photo credit: Colbert Report/Comedy Central

Ellen Page comes out as openly Canadian on Colbert Report

"You came out as openly Canadian."

"I feel like I've been openly Canadian for a really long time."

"How young were you when you found out that you were Canadian?"

"As soon as I had like any form of consciousness, I'm pretty sure I knew, I knew."

"People said you want to go to Dunkin Donuts, I said I'd rather go to Tim Hortons."

"I rather get a Double Double and some Timbits."

Stephen Colbert danced around several themes in the interview to talk about Ellen Page recently coming out of the closet as a lesbian.

Colbert and Page also do a pretend scene where Page came out on the Colbert Report.

Page was on the Colbert Report to promote X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Ellen Page: still a cool Canadian role model

Jon Stewart shares love of Canada with Ellen Page

As a bonus, fellow Canadian Seth Rogen was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart this week. Stewart brought up Rogen's displeasure with his fellow Canadian, Justin Bieber.

Rogen thought Bieber was "obnoxious" and a "douchebag."

Rogen was on the show to promote his new movie Neighbors.

CanadianCrossing.com Daily Show coverage

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart airs on Comedy Channel and CTV in Canada. Colbert Report airs on the Comedy Channel in Canada. Both shows air on Comedy Central in the United States. Videos courtesy of both shows.

2014 Olympics notebook: Canada takes gold in men's hockey

While the Stanley Cup have eluded Canadian teams, the Canadian men's hockey team has now won a gold medal in 3 of the last 4 Olympics.

Carey Price continued his perfection streak in net and 3 Canadian forwards each added their first goal of the Olympics as Canada downed Sweden 3-0 to win the gold medal in men's hockey.

Jonathan Toews took a Jeff Carter pass in the 1st period for the initial goal. Sidney Crosby scored on a breakaway in the 2nd period. Chris Kunitz added a one-timer in the 3rd period.

Carey Price posted his second straight shutout, stopping all 24 saves. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 33/36 shots for Sweden.

Any fears that Canada would let up in the 3rd period disappeared quickly. Canada outshot Sweden 13-4 in the final period. If your team is down by 3 goals, 4 shots means you will lose.

Canada never trailed in a game in the entire Olympics tournament.

The Canada men's team was the first to go undefeated since the Soviets in 1984 in Sarajevo. And this is the only team in the NHL era to repeat as champs. Canada won for the first time on international size ice since the 1952 Olympics in Oslo, Norway.

Previous coverage:

CanadianCrossing.com Olympics coverage

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Carey Price: Olympic gold medalist. Price finishes the Olympics with 2 straight shutouts and carries a 164:19 scoreless streak lasting over 8 periods of play. The goal against Latvia came on a well-executed trick play, and that was the last goal against Canada in the 2014 Olympics.

Roberto Luongo added a shutout over Austria. Price didn't surrender more than 1 goal in any game.

Price finished the tournament with a 0.59 GAA and a .972 save percentage.

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The Canadian team had 7 NHL captains and 2 of them scored in the gold medal game. Jonathan Toews and Sidney Crosby did get goals, but contributed so much more beyond scoring and even assists.

Gold medal experience mattered. The fact that Toews and Crosby also scored in the gold medal game of the Vancouver Olympics speaks to that experience.

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Hopefully, Chris Kunitz had no idea what fans were saying about his Olympics play. Kunitz got a great pass off a turnover from Sidney Crosby and rifled a shot near Lundqvist's right shoulder for Canada's 3rd goal.

The reaction I saw on Twitter (and I was a part of it) was that if Kunitz could get a goal, the game was truly over.

Kunitz was part of a plan that was difficult to see early on in the process. As we saw in the last 2 games, the plan made more sense.

Mike Babcock has 2 straight gold medals, and we don't. His only loss in the 2 Olympics was in the opening round in 2010 to the United States.

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The Canadian men's team almost became 2 different teams in this tournament. The first team had trouble scoring from their forwards and the defensemen had to take the bulk of the offense.

Canada scored 4 goals in the final 2 games: 0 from defensemen. 7 of the first 13 Canada goals came from the blue line.

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Fans watching in Toronto who also wanted to drink got a reprieve. The Toronto city council approved a change to the liquor laws, allowing bars and cafes in most of the city to serve alcohol at 6 am. No word on how Rob Ford celebrated Team Canada's win on Sunday.

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Steve Yzerman will leave his post as Team Canada general manager on top. Yzerman was in charge of picking Team Canada that won back-to-back gold medals for the first time since 1948 and 1952.

Someone else will have the thankful/thankless task of selecting Team Canada for the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

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Phil Kessel (Toronto, United States) was named the best forward of the 2014 Olympics; Erik Karlsson (Ottawa, Sweden) was named the best defenseman, and Price (Montréal, Canada) was named the best goalie.

Speaking of Ottawa, we do need to say "I told you so" to the U.S. men's hockey team for not selecting Bobby Ryan from the Senators for the squad.

Yes, the U.S. team led the tournament in goals after the first 4 games. But the team was shut out for the last 2 games, including a 1-0 loss to Canada. The U.S. team needed Ryan on Friday and Saturday.

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40% of Canada's gold medals came in hockey and curling. 4 of the 10 gold medals were spent in the two iconic Canadian sports.

What is more impressive in that statistic is that 2014 was the first time Canada pulled that off in the Olympics. And Canada almost did it in 2010, only the women's curling team in an excruciatingly tough loss to Sweden threw off perfection.

Canada went perfect in 3 of the 4 sports. The men's curling team had 2 losses in round-robin play: Sweden (5-4) and Switzerland (7-6) were the only countries to beat Canada.

Canada also won more freestyle skiing medals than any other country.

And Canada became the first country to sweep curling in Olympics in the modern era.

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Canada finished 4th in overall medals with 25: 10 gold, 10 silver, and 5 bronze. That 10th gold medal in men's hockey gave Canada one more gold medal than the United States. Canada finished 3rd in gold medals with 10.

Russia was tops in medals with 33 followed by the United States (28) and Norway (26). The U.S. team has 12 bronze medals; men's hockey would have been 13.

Canada won 26 medals in Vancouver in 2010.

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If you watched the men's bobsleigh team, you might have recognized the name Jesse Lumsden. The former CFL running back with Hamilton, Edmonton, and Calgary was in his 2nd Olympics in bobsleigh for Canada.

Lumsden and his crew (pilot Justin Kripps and team members Cody Sorensen and Ben Coakwell) didn't win an Olympic medal, but were able to walk away after a horrible crash.

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"I'm afraid I realized something about you that's disturbing and you've been keeping it from me."

"Oh, really. I don't think so. I've been completely above board with you. What is that, Stephen."

"You did something. You tried to hide it from me. But you can not hide it anymore. You … are a Canadian."

"It's true. I'm sorry. But how could you tell?"

"Well, you seemed a little gay."

"It's true."

Buddy Cole decides to go undercover as a homosexual to "penetrate Sochi's gay underground." Stephen Colbert did a spit-take in response.

Cole's underground adventure went into Cafe Mayak, a gay nightclub in Sochi.

The light-hearted exchange played on the ongoing theme where Stephen Colbert is convinced Buddy Cole is straight but can spot gay people. The secret isn't that Cole/Scott Thompson is gay (they are), but that both are secretly Canadian.

A nice way to attack the anti-gay laws with humour: kudos to Cole/Thompson and Colbert.

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Women's hockey alternate captain Hayley Wickenheiser was elected to the International Olympic Committee's athletes commission. But if you watched the NBC feed, you missed that ceremony.

Bad enough to get the ceremony tape-delayed, but to get selective editing screams for streaming or letting "Americans" watch an alternative.

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photo credit: Streeter Lecka // video credit: Colbert Report

2014 Olympics notebook: Canada women's hockey comeback

I'm buying Marie-Philip Poulin a beer. And a cigar.

Poulin scored both goals in the 2-0 win over the United States in Vancouver, tied the game in Sochi with 54.6 seconds remaining in the 3rd period, and then scored the overtime game winner to give the Canadian women a gold medal with a 3-2 win.

Canada pulled out the win even though the team could not score on U.S. goalie Jessie Vetter for the first 56 minutes.

Brianne Jenner started the comeback with a deflected goal at the 16:34 mark in the 3rd period. Poulin got a fortunate rebound via U.S. goalie Jessie Vetter to score the tiebreaker.

Previous coverage:

Canada ties mark for most gold in Winter Olympics

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The post was red, Canadian red.

Yes, the puck hit the post as the U.S. was trying for an empty net goal. Then again, the U.S. had that opportunity when the linesman prevented Catherine Ward from getting to the puck.

The linesman should not have been the reason why a team won a gold medal. So you could complain about the puck hitting the post. Just make sure you acknowledge the linesman's miscue.

This way, and in reality, the game was settled on the ice — the way it should be.

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Kevin Dineen didn't start Shannon Szabados against the United States in the round-robin game, but did start Szabados in the gold medal game. Clearly, the strategy was designed to throw off the U.S. but not having a recent game with Szabados in goal.

Charline Labonté played in goal for Canada in the earlier game. Jessie Vetter played for the U.S. in both games against Canada.

Szabados had 27 saves in the gold medal game; Vetter had 28 saves.

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The U.S. also led 1-0 after 2 periods of the round-robin game against the Canadians. The difference was that the U.S. scored the second goal first and held on almost to the end. Both scores ended up being 3-2 Canada.

Canada scored 3 early goals against Switzerland in the semifinal, so the scoring drought was rather long. Even though Canada won the gold medal, the team went 105:01, almost 2 hours without a goal. Yet they came through at a crucial time.

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This might have been the final Olympics for Hayley Wickenheiser, who is now 35. She lost her captain status. But Wickenheiser drew the penalty that Hilary Knight took that set up the winning goal for Canada.

She has passed to shooters rather than take shots herself. She has been in the spotlight, especially in NBC's coverage, because she is so well-known.

Well, Wickenheiser now has 4 gold medals. And in 4 years, she'll still be younger than Teemu Selanne of the Finland men's team is right now.

And if that isn't enough, Wickenheiser was also elected to the International Olympic Committee's athletes commission.

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Canada has now won four straight Olympic gold medals; this translates into 20 straight Olympic game wins. 5 games per Olympics for 4 straight Olympics.

The last Canadian Olympic game loss was the 1998 gold medal game in Nagano, Japan.

The U.S. has won 5 of the last 7 World Championships. But the Olympics belong to Canada.

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Going into Thursday, no women's hockey team had come back from a 2-goal deficit in the 3rd period in medal play. On Thursday, both Switzerland and Canada pulled off that feat. Sweden was up 2-0 before the Swiss scored 4 straight goals. The Swedes added a late goal.

The bronze was Switzerland's first medal in women's hockey.

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"Shot. Scores. It's Poulin again. Canada wins gold in overtime."

That was the call from Mark Lee, who called the game with Cassie Campbell-Pascall for CBC. I have a source who got me the CBC call of the women's hockey gold medal game.

I didn't get to watch much so far, but here were my impressions.

-- Camera angles. CBC had a great angle of the linesman interference along the boards. And the CBC had a great replay of Hilary Knight's penalty in overtime.

-- Local colour. CBC had cameras at bars in Montréal, Toronto, and Calgary and the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. What a wonderful visual to connect people watching the games to the telecast.

-- Great Olympic stories. Poulin scored her 2nd and 3rd goals of the tournament. She was recovering from an injury last fall. Worthy of an Olympic type story even on the NBC Group. And Meghan Johnson was playing with a broken hand. Mark Lee said she was her hand numbed in cold before the game.

-- Pierre McGuire wondered whether the U.S. would switch to 2 forwards and 1 defenseman in the overtime. Mark Lee called that switch in the moment; NBC never did. During the overtime, CBC ran a graphic as to how poorly Canada had been on the power play; NBC never gave that a thought.

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Jennifer Jones and her team made Olympic history becoming the first women's curling team to go undefeated. The finale came in the gold medal game with a 6-3 win over Sweden.

The 9th end made the difference as Maria Prytz threw the last Swedish stone and knocked out her own stone, leaving two points for the Canadians.

Jones matched the undefeated mark of Kevin Martin and Canada in men's curling in 2012 in Vancouver. Martin and Canada is the only men's curling team to go undefeated in the Olympics.

This was the first Olympic gold medal for Canada in women's curling since 1998. Canada slowly let the 2010 gold medal slip away to Sweden, winners in 2006 and 2010.

Despite Jones being a 4-time Canadian champion and a world champion, this was her first Olympics.

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Buddy Cole showed us what media outlets wouldn't show us. Not just the protest zone, but how far away the protest zone is from Sochi. 70 km is one thing, but the Colbert Report segment showed us the full route.

And on top of that, Cole got into trouble in the protest zone because you had to seek permission from the Russian government to protest in the protest zone.

Major news outlets are usually afraid to cover protests in protest zones. The fact that the protest zone is so far away is a story in itself. Once again, the Colbert Report comes to the rescue.

Using Cole/Scott Thompson actually in Sochi was brilliant. And Thompson did so well from asking strangers on the street where the gay propaganda is to getting as close as NBC would allow (but very far away) to spotting the Olympic flame and point out something flaming.

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The good news is that U.S. President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper bet a case of beer for each of the U.S.-Canada hockey battles. The bad news for Harper is that Obama bet American beer.

Seriously, while not a lot got done at the Three Amigos summit, good to see Obama and Harper have a bit of fun with the hockey matchups.

Right now, Harper is up a case of beer, but the men's game may change that today.

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I saw this billboard several times on Facebook. The billboard is on the Edens Expressway in the northern suburbs of Chicago.

Patrick Kane (United States) and Jonathan Toews (Canada) flank Justin Bieber on the billboard. Kane and Toews are star Chicago NHL players.

The billboard is owned by Skokie, IL based freight broker Command Transportation, and the company has had fun with the billboard before.

Bieber upset hockey fans in Chicago by stepping on the team's logo at the United Center. And everything else Bieber has done lately.

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Photo credit: AP Photo/Julio Cortez // @CommandSign
Video credit: Colbert Report