Canadian Crossing

2024 Paris Olympics Canadian wrapup: 27 medals, 9 of them gold

Out of all the conversations over the years.

This one means the most.

🇨🇦 Summer McIntosh is an Olympic champion.

And she’s absolutely beaming. 17 years old. And just getting started. pic.twitter.com/vZU4RUTH3e

— Devin Heroux (@Devin_Heroux) July 29, 2024

Canada showed in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris that the country isn't just for "winter sports." Canada won 27 medals in these Olympics, 9 of them gold, 7 silver, and 11 bronze. The country finished 12th in gold medals and 11th in overall medals. This is the most medals for Canada in a non-boycotted Olympics Games ever.

Summer McIntosh and Ethan Katzberg were the flag bearers during the closing ceremonies yesterday in Paris.

McIntosh, 17, won gold in the 200m butterfly, 200m individual medley, and 400m individual medley with a silver in 400m freestyle·in swimming events. McIntosh set 2 Olympic records. Katzberg, 22, won Canada's first-ever gold medal in hammer throw.

Gold for Canada in the men's 4x100m relay in an upset win.
The team of Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney and Andre DeGrasse got the baton around the track the fastest. https://t.co/SkhGpL6xk2 .

— CBC News (@CBCNews) August 9, 2024

You shouldn't pick a favorite gold medal for Canada yet some would definitely pick the gold medal for the 4x100m relay. Andre De Grasse, Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, and Brendon Rodney made Canada proud with their efforts in that race.

Sorry. 👀🥇 https://t.co/yhkVrMKKTA

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) August 9, 2024

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a tongue in cheek response to talk about Canada not being taken seriously in that race. The response was brief, funny, and non offensive. Trudeau got some press for his response. He did what Canadians should want in a prime minister: someone to take up for Canada and be proud of the performances on behalf of the Maple Leaf. 

For the record, I would want the same from Stephen Harper, Jagmeet Singh, and Pierre Poilievre. Then again, Poilievre was more interested in defending Jordan Peterson than praising Canada's Olympic efforts.

South Park fans might remember Scott, whom was supposed to represent Canadians who aren't nice. Scott is the Glenda, the Good Witch of the North, as compared to Peterson.

With 25 medals (and counting), #Paris2024 is Canada's MOST SUCCESSFUL Olympic Summer Games 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/YJ1eLuqleq

— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) August 10, 2024

Canadians spread out the medals love in 15 different sports, which tied the previous high in 1984, though that was the boycotted Olympics in Los Angeles. Swimming (8) and track and field (5) led the way on the medal count for Canada.

Camryn Rogers won gold in the women's hammer throw. Phil (Wizard) Kim took the gold medal in men's breaking.

Andre De Grasse won his 7th career medal, putting him in a tie with swimmer Penny Oleksiak for the most Olympic medals among Canadians.

Christa Deguchi captured Canada's first ever gold in judo. Katie Vincent won gold in women's sprint canoe.

The women's soccer drone spying scandal is a reality for Canada and these 2024 Paris Olympics. FIFA docked the team 6 points yet the women went 3-0 in the group stage. Women's head coach Bev Priestman and 2 team staff members were sent home.

2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Canadian wrapup

2021 Tokyo Olympics Canadian wrapup

It's not shameful that Olympian Alysha Newman is an Only Fans model. It's shameful that our support for athletes is so poor that Olympians need to have side hustles.https://t.co/QF2brDMBwJ

— Julie S. Lalonde (@JulieSLalonde) August 12, 2024

We admire the bodies of Olympians in a majestic way. We know Olympic athletes struggle financially. Yet some are judgmental about cases such as Alysha Newman. We aren't generally judgmental and have no interest in body shaming anyone.

CanadianCrossing.com Olympics coverage

Some of Mark Lee’s most iconic calls from Stade de France, paired with the song “All Day” by his daughter Blair Lee ❤️ pic.twitter.com/xgOCWf73nl

— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) August 11, 2024

Regular readers know I am a Mark Lee fan from Hockey Night in Canada, the CFL on CBC, and of course, the Olympics. I have a Canadian friend who wanted to make sure I got this. I will save this for the next time I am on Canadian soil to watch this. 

What do you get beloved ⁦@cbcsports⁩ anchor ⁦@CBCScottRussell⁩ as a retirement present, at the conclusion of his last show? A Canadian flag w the names of all of ⁦@TeamCanada⁩ athletes who went on ⁦@CBCOlympics⁩ during ⁦@Paris2024⁩ Incredible!! pic.twitter.com/w5fdJ0kqs0

— Marie Morrissey (@CBCMarie) August 11, 2024

The Paris Olympics marks the final one for Scott Russell after a few decades of calling Olympic sports for CBC. In fact, Russell is retiring after 40 years of coverage and 17 Olympics.

We have some clips below. The audio is available everywhere; the video just to Canada.

Long-time broadcaster Scott Russell to retire after Paris Paralympics (The Current from CBC Radio)

CBC's Scott Russell's top Olympic moments after 40 years of coverage (The National from CBC News)

The Paralympic Games in Paris start August 28 and run through September 8. The 2028 Summer Olympics will be in Los Angeles.

Editor's note: Given the Olympics media rights, anything from the CBC from the Olympics can only be seen in Canada. Even if some of our American friends can get a CBC signal, that does not apply online. So if you can't see some of the content, you might not be in Canada. Canadians aren't getting this story in their Facebook or Instagram feeds thanks to their pettiness over the Online News Act.

Twitter captures: @Devin_Heroux; @CBCNews; @JustinTrudeau; @CBCOlympics; @JulieSLalonde; @CBCOlympics; @CBCMarie
photo credit: Olympics/CBC

2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Canadian wrapup

Viewing the 2022 Winter Olympics standings by gold medals, Canada is far down the list with 4 gold medals. Viewing the overall media standings from the games in Beijing, Canada finished 4th in the world with 26 medals.

Norway led the way with 37 medals, 16 gold. ROC only had 6 gold and 32 overall. Germany had 27 medals, 12 gold. Canada finished with 4 gold, 8 silver, and 14 bronze for a total of 26, 1 more than the United States.

The gold medal count was a sharp drop for Canada. The Canadians hadn't scored this low in gold since winning 3 gold medals in Lillehammer in 1994. Canada had been in double digits for the past 3 Winter Olympics.

Canada set a record total of 29 medals in Pyeongchang in 2018.

A complete Olympic collection for @MaxParrot 🥇🥈🥉 pic.twitter.com/NhF7lesnih

— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) February 15, 2022

Canadian snowboarder Max Parrot had a golden story. Parrot beat cancer and fewer than 3 years later, won gold in the men's slopestyle event. Parrot won a second medal in Beijing with a bronze in the men's Big Air snowboarding even.

Parrot won silver in Pyeongchang in 2018.

Charles Hamelin finished his Winter Olympics career with a gold medal (along with Steven Dubois, Pascal Dion, Jordan Pierre-Gilles and reserve Maxime Laoun) in the men's short-track speedskating 5,000-metre relay. Hamelin finishes with 6 overall medals, 4 of them gold.

You can read more about all the medal winners for Canada. CBC Sports shone a spotlight on cool stories from the Beijing Games.

At this point, Canada will not win a figure skating medal for the first time since 1980. Canada finished 4th in the team event but could take the bronze medal if the Russians lose their gold medal over Kamila Valieva's positive doping test.

Kaillie Humphries, who was a bobsled star for Team Canada and now represents the United States, won gold in the debut of women's monobob in Beijing.

CANADA FOR THE CURLING WIN 🇨🇦 🥌

Brad Gushue and his team from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador defeat the United States 8-5 to win Olympic curling bronze.

It keeps the streak of Canada winning a medal in curling at every Olympics since it returned in 1998. #cbccurl

— Devin Heroux (@Devin_Heroux) February 18, 2022

The Canadian women's curling team narrowly missed advancing to medal contention by losing the tiebreaker in the draw shot challenge system. Skipper Jennifer Jones, who won gold in 2014, was the skipper in 2022. The 2014 gold medal was the last medal Canada won in women's curling.

The men's team had much better fortune with a comeback win over the United States for the bronze medal.

Canada wins gold medal in women's hockey; 3-2 over the United States

We covered the adventures of the women's hockey gold medal run. Marie-Philip Poulin aka Captain Clutch scored the game-winning goal in 3 of the last 4 Olympics, dating back to 2010 in Vancouver.

The team scored 57 goals, easily the best mark in Canadian Olympics history. That would have been 58 but Natalie Spooner's 1st period goal was wiped out over an offsides call.

2021 Tokyo Olympics Canadian wrapup

CanadianCrossing.com Olympics coverage

Steve Armitage announced his retirement at the end of the 2022 Winter Olympics. Armitage has been a steady part of the CBC Olympics coverage. He also was known as a host for Hockey Night in Canada on West Coast games and a long career covering the CFL on CBC. Your humble narrator remembers well when Armitage called CFL games on CBC after the public broadcaster let Chris Cuthbert go in 2005.

First Nations in B.C. preparing bid for 2030 Olympics (The Current)

Calgary voters say no to 2026 Winter Olympics

The Winter Olympics might come back to Canada. The Calgary push was perfect for the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games until the Calgary voters had their non-binding plebiscite. The 56.4% "no" vote with a 40% turnout was a bit shocking given how the Olympics would have been a boost for a financially struggling region.

The 2026 Winter Olympics will be in Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. The 2030 Olympics don't have a home but could be back in Canada.

A group of First Nations in British Columbia want to put in a bid for the 2030 Olympics. The Olympics would be in Vancouver and Whistler, just like the 2010 Winter Olympics, but with an Indigenous leadership.

Matt Galloway talked with Squamish Nation councillor Wilson Williams and Musqueam Chief Wayne Sparrow about their bid on The Current on CBC Radio One.

You might recall that Calgary had outsourced Whistler for its 2026 bid.

Vancouver could always use more housing, first for the athletes and then for regular people.

If there are going to be a few places around the globe to host the Winter Olympics, Vancouver and Whistler should be high on that list.

Super Bowl LVI through the eyes of Canada

The 2022 Paralympics will be in Beijing from March 4-13. There are 49 Canadian athletes, including 19 first-time Paralympians. Brian McKeever, who we wrote about last Monday, will be in his 6th Paralympic Games. McKeever has 17 medals, including 13 gold.

The 2024 Summer Olympics will be in Paris.

photo credit: @CBCOlympics
Twitter captures: @TeamCanada; @Devin_Heroux

Canada wins gold medal in women's hockey; 3-2 over the United States

Most goals all-time, Olympic Women’s Hockey:
GP Goals
Hayley Wickenheiser 🇨🇦 26 18
Marie-Philip Poulin 🇨🇦 22* 17
Meghan Agosta 🇨🇦 20 17

*Through two periods of the 2022 Gold Medal Game. https://t.co/x4IQ6nTlng

— Gord Miller (@GMillerTSN) February 17, 2022

Captain Clutch. Marie-Philip Poulin. Difference maker.

Poulin has now scored 7 goals in gold medal games in the last 4 Winter Olympics, including 2 goals in the gold medal game, giving Canada a 3-2 win in Beijing over the United States.

Sarah Nurse started out the scoring for Team Canada with an assist from Poulin. Canadian goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens made 38 saves for the win. The Americans outshot Canada 40-21 with most of their shots in the 3rd period.

The women's team outscored opponents 57-10, setting a Team Canada record for most goals at an Olympics, breaking the previous mark of 44 goals in 2010 in Vancouver.

Nurse had 18 points in the tournament — with a goal and assist in the gold medal game — breaking the team record for most points at an Olympics. Hayley Wickenheiser (2010) had 17 points.

Brianne Jenner was named most valuable player of the tournament; Jenner scored a team-high and tournament-high 9 goals. Claire Thompson led defenders with 3 goals and 10 assists in her Olympic debut.

Poulin has scored the game-winner in Canada's last 3 wins in gold medal games.

Canada won gold for 4 straight Olympics from 2002-2014. The United States won gold in 1998 and 2018.

Another reason to cross into Canada if you don't already live there. Tim Hortons has action figures of Marie-Philip Poulin and Sarah Nurse as Barbies.

You might recall the slight kerfuffle in 2010 when an 18-year-old Poulin celebrated the gold medal on ice with a beer. Now at 30 years old, Poulin has 3 gold medals and a doll in her likeness.

This is the first gold medal for Nurse, the first Black woman to ever win the gold medal in Olympics hockey. Her cousins are defenseman Darnell Nurse of the Edmonton Oilers and WNBA star Kia Nurse of the Phoenix Mercury. Her uncle Richard Nurse, was a wide receiver for the CFL Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Her uncle (by marriage) Donovan McNabb was a star NFL quarterback.

Girls and dolls go together well. The idea of a young girl pretending to score a goal in a gold medal game is really tremendous. Nurse, Poulin, and the others on Team Canada were once young girls with big dreams.

The NBC coverage mentioned the dolls during the Group A game, which Canada won 4-2, and during the gold medal game.

You can be a girl into sports and dolls; Boys and non-gendered people too.

Why @cbcsports knows how to do the #2022Olympics and @NBCSports lags behind. Don't lie to your audience and claim you will carry the #womenshockey medal ceremony. Show it on @peacockTV or somewhere. How embarrassing. https://t.co/uD9qqpvSKm

— Chad Rubel (@canadian_xing) February 17, 2022

The United States did win a silver medal in the 2022 Olympics. NBC promised its audience they would show the medal ceremony. Their coverage was the Canadian women singing O Canada. While that was nice, that wasn't the medal ceremony.

CBC carried the ceremony live in Canada. NBC has the video available online.

A reminder that video is geo-linked so you can watch CBC videos in Canada and NBC videos in the United States.

CanadianCrossing.com Olympics coverage

The Canadians and Americans men's hockey teams were eliminated from Olympics competition yesterday. Canada lost to Sweden 2-0 and the United States lost 3-2 to Slovakia in a shootout.

Canada lost to the U.S. 4-2 in Group A competition. The Canadians finished 5th overall and had to play an extra game, beating China 7-2.

The final 4 in men's hockey are Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, and the ROC (Russian Olympic Committee).

The countries were playing without active NHL players due to COVID-19 setbacks.

Twitter captures: @GMillerTSN; @canadian_xing
photo credit: Tim Hortons

2021 Tokyo Olympics Canadian wrapup

They changed the colour of the medal. The Canadian women's soccer (football) team did change that colour from a potential silver to gold in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. They changed the color of the medal, having won bronze in 2012 and 2016.

Christine Sinclair finally got a gold medal after 304 games (caps) for the national team and 187 goals, more goals in international play than any other human being on this planet.

Jessie Fleming converted penalty kicks against the United States in a 1-0 semifinal win and the only Canadian goal against Sweden in the gold medal game.

Julia Grosso goes down as the answer to the trivia question of who scored the winning goal in penalty kicks (3-2). Stephanie Labbé was outstanding in goal for Team Canada.

How did the U.S. take losing to Canada in the semifinal? "That's football. They got, I think, one shot on goal, a PK, and from what it sounds like it was a PK. So yeah, it's a bitter one to swallow. Obviously we never want to lose to Canada. I don't think I've ever lost to Canada." — veteran U.S. forward Megan Rapinoe.

Labbé and Sinclair make a strong argument that the next step is professional women's soccer teams in Canada.

Canada finished in the 11 position with 24 medals: 7 gold, 6 silver, and 11 bronze. This was the highest total for Canada in a Summer Games outside of the 44 medals collected in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, a boycotted Summer Games.

Decathlon champion Damian Warner was Canada's closing ceremony flag-bearer. Warner became the first Olympian to break 9,000 points in the event.

🇨🇦 HISTORY MADE 🇨🇦@OleksiakPenny becomes the MOST DECORATED Canadian Summer Olympian of ALL-TIME after capturing her 6th Olympic medal. 🇨🇦👏#TeamCanada | #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/TfPsZlbOIK

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) July 28, 2021

Women won 14 of the first 15 medals that Canada won in Tokyo.

Penny Oleksiak has more Olympics medals than any other Canadian summer Olympian. Oleksiak won silver and bronze in the swimming pool in 2021. She won gold, 2 silvers, and a bronze in 2016.

"Margaret Mac Neil. Kylie Masse. The women's softball team. Maude Charron. The women's 4x100-meter freestyle swimming team. Jennifer Abel and Mélissa Citrini-Beaulieu. Jessica Klimkait. Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard. Caileigh Filmer and Hillary Janssens. Penny Oleksiak. The women's eight rowing crew." — Jane Thornton/The Conversation.

Sportsnet has a nice breakdown of each of the 24 Olympic medals won by Canada in Tokyo in 2021.

CBC spread out the coverage on TSN and Rogers Sportsnet. Those in the U.S. with CBC access definitely had great viewing options.

CanadianCrossing.com Olympics coverage

Eddy Alvarez became the 3rd American athlete to win a medal in both the Winter and Summer Olympics. Alvarez won the silver medal for baseball (2020) and 4 man short track team (2014).

Clara Hughes is one of 6 Olympians who has done this. Hughes had participated in 6 Olympic Games: 1996/2000/2012 in cycling and 2002/2006/2010 in speed skating. She won 2 bronze medals in 1996 and 4 medals (1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze) in the Winter Olympics.

photo credit: @CBCOlympics
Twitter capture: @Sportsnet

Canadian film case study: Race

Americans think they know the story of Jesse Owens. 4 gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. They may know that but they don't really know the story. Race sets out to tell that story but also the context of what Owens did and when he did it.

Stephan James captures the awkwardness and politeness of Jesse Owens as a freshman at The Ohio State University. Owens, from nearby Cleveland, is shown taking the bus and having to sit in the back of the bus.

Owens runs into prejudice: while he is able to run track, he wouldn't be able to play on the football team. Jason Sudeikis plays his coach Larry Snyder. Snyder is clearly not prejudiced but really wants to win. Sudeikis seems a bit odd for a casting choice but is a pleasant surprise in the role. Then again, Wikipedia tells us James was the second choice to play Owens.

The banter between Owens and Snyder feels a bit setup, even for a sports film, with plenty of callbacks.

Race also shows us the German side of the Olympics and how the Americans almost boycotted the 1936 Olympics. Jeremy Irons and William Hurt play real-life people on the U.S. committee.

Dutch actress Carice van Houten plays Leni Riefenstahl, the German filmmaker who produces propaganda pieces for Joseph Goebbels (Barnaby Metschurat). The casting of these real-life people could not have been better. The film allows Germans to speak in German with subtitles.

Owens just wants to run and run fast, trying not to think about the context of where he is running. Others worry about that from the NAACP to the Olympics coaches to the Germans.

Stephan James was named a TIFF Rising Star in 2015, just before the release of the 2016 film. James is the reason to watch Race, even if you are not a sports fan. James' older brother, Shamier Anderson (TIFF Rising Star 2019), plays Eulace Peacock, a fellow runner. Real-life siblings don't always have chemistry on-screen but these two do.

Race tells the story of sports through racism in the U.S. and Germany and a bit of history as well. Owens is a great American who didn't really receive the treatment he deserved for his accomplishments.

CanadianCrossing.com film reviews

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

Race is classified as a Canada-France-Germany co-production. As we've learned, actors don't count toward points to establish a country within a film. Still, the production is filled with Canadian actors, such as Shanice Banton, Amanda Crew, Jeremy Ferdman, Chantel Riley, Giacomo Gianniotti, Eli Goree, Anthony Sherwood, Jon McLaren, and Vlasta Vrána. Some of the film was shot in Montréal.

The film isn't visibly Canadian in any respect outside of actors.

Race doesn't look like a Canadian film with the multi-country production. The storytelling isn't so Hollywood even with recognisable actors.

Once you get past some of the sports material, the story is rather enticing. Owens really wasn't treated well in the United States. Americans should know that story.

Race received eight nominations, including Best Motion Picture, at the Canadian Screen Awards. The film won 4 awards, including Best Actor for James.

photo credit: Race film
video credit: YouTube/Focus Features

Calgary voters say no to 2026 Winter Olympics

Calgary voters had their chances to register their thoughts on their city hosting the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games. They said "no" with 56.4% of the vote, according to unofficial vote totals for the non-binding plebiscite.

The plebiscite attracted 304,774 ballots from 767,734 eligible voters for a 40% turnout.

If the vote had gone to the "yes" side, Calgary's chances of getting the 2026 Winter Olympics would have been very good. The other bids were from Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy and Stockholm, Sweden. After 3 straight Winter Olympics in Asia (the 2022 Winter Olympics will be in Beijing, China) or near-Asia (the debate over whether Sochi, Russia is in Europe or Asia), the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would have welcomed a North American Olympics.

The voters had concerns about the current economy, potential cost overruns, money going away from projects that would help everyday activities, and a bit of confusion over what was and wasn't in the Olympics bid.

The Olympics bid didn't include a new arena or stadium but that is more about the nuances of pleasing the IOC, which discourages new buildings as part of the bidding process. The Calgary bid called for ski jumping to be held in Whistler. This was a money-saving point and that the Calgary’s ski jumps aren't up to IOC standards.

The Yes, Calgary side of the debate came out with a FAQ to try to clear confusion over what is covered and not covered in the Olympics bid.

CFL in Alberta: Great stadiums and friendly people

Going to Alberta? Some cool tips for your journey

How Rob Ford spent (part of) my summer vacation

For many, the 2026 Winter Olympics bid was a motivation for Calgary to build a new arena and stadium that would primarily be used by the NHL Flames and CFL Stampeders. McMahon Stadium has been in use since 1960 and the Scotiabank Saddledome has been in use since 1983.

Those pushing for a new arena will find themselves in the same company as Gary Bettman, no matter how icky that must be. Bettman has been a lot less subtle than most on the topic, noting that every other NHL team is in a new arena or heavily remodeled (Madison Square Garden).

CalgaryNEXT was the only major proposal that included a replacement for McMahon Stadium. The proposal was an arena and stadium side-by-side in the West Village along the Bow River. The CalgaryNEXT proposal didn't get much consideration.

By contrast, the Saddledome is in Victoria Park just north of the Calgary Stampede grounds. McMahon Stadium is in the northwest part of the city. Both facilities have easy access to the C-Train.

With a no vote, the money that could have been used on the 2026 Winter Olympics could go to a new arena and stadium that would primarily be used by the NHL Flames and CFL Stampeders.

CanadianCrossing.com Olympics coverage

Calgary voters who voted "no" should know the arenas discussion will only start up once again. If the vote had been "yes" and the IOC had picked Calgary for 2026, there would have been discussion about new facilities.

For the CFL, new stadiums in Winnipeg and Regina serve as reminders for what Calgary could have for the Stampeders. The NHL with new arenas in Detroit and Edmonton offer inspiration for what Calgary could have for the Flames.

The Saddledome, first named the Olympic Saddledome, was built for the NHL Flames, who moved from Atlanta to Calgary in 1980. The Flames played from 1980-1983 at the Stampede Corral, a facility with a capacity well under 10,000. The Saddledome was built as part of the bid for the 1988 Winter Olympics.

The idea of Calgary hosting the 2026 Winter Olympics was that the 1988 Winter Olympics went so well. Hosting again would have cemented the idea of Calgary being an Olympics city. On the strength of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the 2026 Winter Olympics would have been a great showcase for western Canada around the world.

Calgary will have to visit the idea of updated arenas and stadiums. The Winter Olympics could have justified the building of new infrastructure, including a transit line from the Calgary airport to downtown, such as the one in Vancouver.

photo credit: Ed Middleton/CBC

2018 Olympics wrapup: Canada sets new record for Winter Olympics medals

Favourite Olympic moment so far: Canadian curler Rachel Homan's husband double-fisting his third and fourth beers while watching his wife compete against Japan. It's 9am in Korea. Not all heroes wear capes. #PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/jzrVsu06Vi

— Ben Johnson (@Ben_T_Johnson) February 19, 2018

The Olympics have always some lighter moments but thanks to social media, capturing those moments is easier and more fun.

Shawn Germain, husband of Canadian women's curling skip Rachel Homan, got some unexpected publicity. And the match against Japan was a Canadian win.

#CAN #PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/QWS0qdsimJ

— Andy (@_rallycap) February 22, 2018

Most Americans may not get the significance of Heritage Moments, but they are a thing in Canada. Scott Moir did what most Canadians were doing during the women's hockey gold medal game: yelling at the referees who went out of their way not to call penalties on the U.S. squad.

The officiating was rather awful but the idea that Canada kept getting called for good or bad penalties while the U.S. went past the halfway mark in regulation without a single penalty.

Moir was also seen passing out beers during the game so fans didn't have to wait in line. The NBCSN coverage of the game missed out on great moments in the crowd, whether that be for the United States or Canada.

The fun of the Olympics is watching their fellow country members cheering in another sport that isn't their own. Moir, like his skating on the ice, elevated that experience.

2018 Olympics notebook: No medals for men's curling, women's curling

2018 Olympics notebook: Canada women's hockey loses gold medal game in shootout

2018 Olympics notebook: Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir set new short dance world record

2018 Olympics notebook: Team gold medal win in Figure Skating

Kim Boutin was named the flagbearer for the Closing Ceremonies. A silver medal and 2 bronze medals made Boutin a fairly easy pick.

Virtue and Moir did a beautiful job in the gala skate with a tribute to Gord Downie, skating to the Tragically Hip's Long Time Running.

2018 Winter Olympics PyeongChang preview

CanadianCrossing.com Olympics coverage

Canada set a new record for most medals in a Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea at 29. The record was set at Vancouver with 26. Canada has performed well of late with 25 in Sochi in 2014 and 24 in Turin in 2006.

Canada finished 3rd overall behind Norway and Germany. The medal count was 11 gold, 8 silver, and 10 bronze.

Vancouver still has the most gold medals at any Olympics with 14. If the pattern had held in 2018 with the gold medals in hockey and curling, that mark would have been broken.

The overall mark for Canada in the Olympics is 44 in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The total was higher due to the absence of the Soviet Union.

CBC provided a comprehensive analysis of the performance of Canadian athletes.

Twitter captures: @Ben_T_Johnson; @_rallycap

2018 Olympics notebook: No medals for men's curling, women's curling

Canada jumped into 2nd place overall in the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea medal count with 29 medals: 11 gold, 8 silver, and 10 bronze.

Kim Boutin has 3 of the 29 medals for Canada in the 2018 Winter Olympics. The newest medal is silver to go with 2 bronze medals. Boutin had a time of 1:29.956, just .178 behind Suzanne Schulting (Netherlands) in the Short Track Ladies' 1000m race.

Samuel Girard added a bronze to his earlier gold medal. Girard along with Charles Hamelin, Charle Cournoyer, and Pascal Dion had a time of 6:32.282, just .247 behind China for Silver in the Short Track Men's 5000m relay.

Kaetlyn Osmond added an individual bronze medal to her earlier team gold medal in Women's Figure Skating with a 231.02 overall score with a 152.15 in the free skate and 78.87 in the short program.

The Ladies Ski Cross gave Canada a pair of medals as Kelsey Serwa (left) won gold and Brittany Phelan (right) took silver.

Sébastien Toutant won the first gold medal ever in big air with a score of 174.25.

Canada took the bronze medal in men's hockey with a wild 6-4 win over the Czech Republic. Andrew Ebbett and Chris Kelly each had 2 goals in the bronze medal game.

At 29 medals, Canada now has the most medals ever from the Winter Olympics. The previous mark was 26 in Vancouver in 2010.

2018 Olympics notebook: Canada women's hockey loses gold medal game in shootout

2018 Olympics notebook: Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir set new short dance world record

2018 Olympics notebook: Team gold medal win in Figure Skating

2018 Winter Olympics PyeongChang preview

Germany has the Olympics story in men's hockey. Canada did little to change that dynamic with bad penalties and a puzzling face-off violation in the 1st period. Canada played better in the 3rd period but the effort wasn't enough as Germany got its first regulation win in the Olympics tournament with a 4-3 win.

The Gilbert Brule hit on German forward David Wolf in the 2nd period was horrible as a hit and momentum maker for the Germans.

If Ben Scrivens had been healthy, Canada could have been in the gold medal game. Not to take anything away from Kevin Poulin but Germany proved to be far tougher than Finland.

CanadianCrossing.com Olympics coverage

Keep saying to yourselves that Canada won gold in curling in 2018. Except that the only gold, the only medal in curling came in mixed doubles curling.

The Canadian women's team finished 4-5 not even making the medal round.

The Canadian men's team did make the medal round. Kevin Koe and his Calgary-based squad lost 5-3 to the Americans so bronze was the only hope. Switzerland dashed that hope with a 7-5 win over Canada to take the bronze medal.

Canada had not failed to medal in curling since the return of the sport to the Olympics in 1998. The men won silver in 1998 and 2002 and had a 3-Olympics streak of gold in 2006, 2010, and 2014. The women won gold in 1998, followed by bronze in 2002 and 2006. The colour changed to silver in 2010 and gold in 2014.

2018 was a very different story.

24 straight wins in Olympic competition. Marie-Philip Poulin scoring the game-winning goal in 2 straight Olympics gold medal games.

4 gold medals in a row. Salt Lake City. Torino. Vancouver. Sochi.

The Canada women's hockey team might find a silver medal a bitter taste. This is a squad that should be highly proud of their efforts.

Jocelyne Larocque got some grief on social media for not wearing her silver medal, choosing instead to hold her medal by her side.

"I want to apologize," Larocque said in a statement. "In the moment, I was disappointed with the outcome of the game, and my emotions got the better of me. I meant no disrespect. It has been an honor to represent my country and win a medal for Canada."

In the 2018 World Juniors, Swedish captain Lias Andersson threw his silver medal into the crowd. Larocque made a statement without making an embarrassment.

The 2018 gold medal game was ugly in so many ways. They can't all be like the majesty of the 2014 comeback. Let the United States savour this one. See them back in 2022.

photos credit: CBC Sports

2018 Olympics notebook: Canada women's hockey loses gold medal game in shootout

The Canadian women's hockey team had a bad change in the 3rd period to allow the tying goal. The team struggled to put together any decent offence setup in the 3rd period and overtime. While the shootout might have been Canada's best hope, their effort wasn't enough.

For the first time since 1998, Canada wins silver in women's hockey, not gold. The U.S. win was 3-2 in the shootout.

That brings the Canada medal count to 22 medals: 9 gold, 6 silver, and 7 bronze.

Cassie Sharpe won gold in the Freestyle Skiing Ladies' Halfpipe with a best score of 95.80. Brady Leman took gold in the Freestyle Skiing Men's Ski Cross.

Kaillie Humphries and Phylicia George won bronze in the Women's Bobsleigh with a time of 3:22.89. The difference between 1st and 4th place was .52 seconds.

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir gave their fans and Olympic watchers something to behold in the free skate portion of the ice dance as the Canadian duo won the gold medal with an overall score of 206.07.

The 122.40 point total in the free skate set to Moulin Rouge topped their previous best of 118.33 set at December's Grand Prix final.

Virtue and Moir needed to do as well as they did because the French duo of Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron scored 123.35 in the free skate to Moonlight Sonata.

Virtue and Moir scored 83.67 in the short dance. Papadakis and Cizeron scored 81.93 in the short dance, which was affected by Papadakis experiencing a wardrobe malfunction. The overall French score of 205.28 temporarily set a world record.

Virtue and Moir are now the most decorated Olympic figure skaters. They took gold in this category in 2010 in Vancouver and now in 2018. They have 3 gold medals in total, with the team gold medal in figure skating earlier in this Olympics. The duo won silver medals in the ice dance and team event in 2014 in Sochi.

Sweden's Gillis Grafstrom, Soviet skater Irina Rodnina, and Norway's Sonja Henie each won 3 gold medals.

Virtue and Moir will pay tribute to Gord Downie, skating to the Tragically Hip's Long Time Running at the gala skate airing in North America on Saturday night at 7:30 pm Eastern.

2018 Olympics notebook: Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir set new short dance world record

2018 Olympics notebook: Team gold medal win in Figure Skating

2018 Winter Olympics PyeongChang preview

Defenseman Maxim Noreau fired an intense shot off a clean face-off for Canada's lone goal against Finland in the quarterfinals in men's hockey. Ben Scrivens and later Kevin Poulin combined for the shutout in the 1-0 win over Finland.

Germany will be the semifinal opponent after knocking off #1 seed Sweden 4-3 in overtime. The Germans were up 2-0 and 3-1 before the Swedes tied the game forcing the extra period. Germany needed 90 seconds of extra time for the 4-3 winner.

Finland had advanced to the quarterfinals getting past South Korea with a 5-2 win.

The Olympic Athletes from Russia and Czech Republic are in the other semifinal. The Czechs only scored 1 goal in the shootout with the United States in the quarterfinals, but 1 was enough.

Ben Scrivens is the top Canadian goalie but suffered an injury as Veli-Matti Savinainen of Finland was propelled into the crease by Canadian Eric O'Dell. Scrivens tried to stay in the game but gave way to Poulin at 4:17 of the 2nd period. Scrivens had 6 saves while Poulin had 15 saves. Poulin did shutout South Korea in his only Olympics start.

Germany has won 3 straight games in extra time since going 0-2 to start the preliminary round. The Canada-Germany game will be Friday morning at 7 am Eastern.

CanadianCrossing.com Olympics coverage

The 2018 Winter Olympics Canada women's curling team became the first Canadian curling team to not reach the semifinals. The comeback after the 0-3 start looked strong, but the women's team needed to win the last 2 matches and hope for help. Rachel Homan and her squad were up 5-4 after the 9th end. But Great Britain picked off 2 in the 10th end for the 6-5 win.

The Canadian women's team finished 4-5.

In men's curling, Canada faces the United States in a semifinal match this morning. Switzerland and Sweden play in the other semifinal. Canada will play for gold with a win.

photo credit: CBC Sports

2018 Olympics notebook: Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir set new short dance world record

How about this?

When 🇨🇦Canada won two-man bobsled gold in 1998 it was a tie.

20 years later, 🇨🇦wins gold in a tie in two-man bobsled again. @CBCAlerts @CBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/o4CjntTOwm

— Devin Heroux (@Devin_Heroux) February 19, 2018

Canada is in a comfortable spot in the overall 2018 Winter Olympics medal standings sitting in 3rd place with 17 medals: 6 gold, 5 silver, and 6 bronze.

Ted-Jan Bloemen won his second medal in the Olympics at PyeongChang, South Korea with an Olympic record 12:39.77 time in the Men's 10000 Speed Skating. Bloemen won silver earlier in the Men's 5000 Metres in Speed Skating.

Kim Boutin won her second bronze of the Olympics with a 1:24.650 time in Women's Short Track 1000 metres skating. Boutin also won bronze in the Women's Short Track 500-metre event with a time of 43.881 seconds.

Canada won the silver medal team relay luge with a time of 2:24.872. The team lost gold to Germany. Alex Gough, Sam Edney, Tristan Walker, and Justin Snith were the team. This is the second medal for Gough, winning bronze in Women's Luge with a score of 46.574.

Samuel Girard won the gold medal in Men's 1000 Metres Short Track skating with a time of 1:24.650.

Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford won bronze in the Pairs Free Skate with a 230.15 score.

Alex Beaulieu-Marchand took the bronze medal in Men's Ski Slopestyle with a 92.40 score.

The newest gold medal winners this morning were pilot Justin Kripps and brakeman Alexander Kopacz in the Bobsleigh. Germany's Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis tied the mark of 3:16.86 for the gold.

Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir haven't won a new medal but broke their own world record in the short dance with a score of 83.67 points. The presentation was to the music of Sympathy For The Devil by The Rolling Stones, an acoustic version of Hotel California by The Eagles, and Oye Como Va by Santana.

This was the same category where France's Gabriella Papadakis had a wardrobe malfunction where her left breast was exposed on international television. CBC did air the footage live in Canada.

The free dance version runs Monday night in North America.

2018 Olympics notebook: Team gold medal win in Figure Skating

2018 Winter Olympics PyeongChang preview

CanadianCrossing.com Olympics coverage

Canada will play in its 6th straight gold medal game in women's hockey. Canada and the United States handed 5-0 defeats to Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) and Finland, respectively.

Jennifer Wakefield scored 2 goals in the semifinal game. Marie-Philip Poulin, Emily Clark, and Rebecca Johnston. 3 of Canada's 5 goals came in the 3rd period. Shannon Szabados was in goal in the semifinal game for Canada, going 14/14 against OAR.

Both play-in games were upsets. Switzerland dominated Group B yet lost 6-2 to OAR, a team outscored 15-1 in the preliminary round. Sweden's only loss in the opening round was to Switzerland but lost to Finland 7-2. Both Canada and the United States defeated Finland and OAR in the opening round in Group A.

If Switzerland had won, Canada would have played the higher seed despite winning Group A.

The gold medal game will be a rematch featured in 1998, 2002, 2010, and 2014. In the Canada-U.S. preliminary game, Meghan Agosta took a blind pass from Natalie Spooner on a power play and scored the first goal for Canada against the United States. Sarah Nurse drove down on the left side and placed a perfectly played shot above U.S. goalie Maddie Rooney's right shoulder to give Canada a 2-0 lead.

Here is hoping that Canada doesn't get a call against the team such as losing a potential 3rd goal by Haley Irwin where the referees ruled that she kicked the puck into the net. Irwin did turn her skate but there was no kicking motion.

Canada played all 3 goalies in the 3 preliminary games.

• Ann-Renée Desbiens 18/18 against OAR
• Shannon Szabados 22/23 against Finland
• Geneviève Lacasse 44/45 against U.S.

Sarah Nurse of Canada and Amanda Kessel have NHL family connections. Nurse's cousin is Edmonton defenseman Darnell Nurse. Kessel's brother is Pittsburgh's Phil Kessel, formerly of Toronto.

You may have noticed Brigette Lacquette on defence for Team Canada. Lacquette is the first indigenous woman ever on Canada's Olympic women's hockey team.

The CBC Olympics app has a nice segment on getting to know the women's hockey team in case you haven't tuned in until now.

The gold medal game will be Wednesday night in North America 11:10 pm Eastern/8:10 pm Pacific on CBC in Canada and NBCSN in the United States.

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Canada already won gold at mixed doubles curling but the women's curling team got off to a horrible start. Being down 0-3 was bad enough, but the team also suffered the karma of a burned rock.

Denmark has a rock in the 5th end when one of their sweeper's broom hit the top of the rock. This made the rock a burned rock. In curling, the other team can choose to remove the rock. Curling etiquette would lean toward leaving the rock. Canadian skip Rachel Homan had the rock taken out of play.

Canada ended up losing 9-8 as the Danes won the final point when in Homan's last throw, her stone clipped a guard in front of the house.

The loss brought them to 0-3. A win over the United States produced the team's first win in the 2018 Olympics. Toronto Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock called the women's curling team to offer encouragement after the win over the Americans. Babcock knows a few things about the Olympics having won gold medals in men's hockey in 2010 and 2014.

Homan scored a triple in the ninth end, and then stole a single in the tenth end to beat Switzerland 10-8. With the win, Homan's rink improves to 2-3.

The Canada women's curling team is now 3-3. The men's Olympic team got off to a great start but now rests at 4-3 with a 3-match losing streak. The latest loss was to the United States, the first Canada has ever lost to the Americans in Olympics curling.

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Canada earned a bye into the men's hockey quarterfinals with a little help from Sweden. Canada finished the preliminary round with a shutout win over the host team South Korea and the Sweden-Finland game ended in regulation.

Canada is the #4 seed and gets to rest before the quarterfinals. The team will play either Finland (#5) or South Korea (#12) in the quarterfinals. If the top quarterfinal seeds advance, Canada would draw Sweden in the semifinals.

Canada started the tournament by defeating Switzerland 5-1, then suffered a 3-2 shootout loss to the Czech Republic, and finally beat the host team South Korea 4-0. The team finished with seven points in Group A.

If Sweden-Finland had gone to OT, the loser of that game would also have 7 points. Since the first tiebreaker (head-to-head) was not relevant, the second tiebreaker was goal differential. Canada finished with a plus-7 mark, compared to Finland's plus-5 and Sweden's plus-9.

Twitter capture: @Devin_Heroux