My 5 Vancouver things #2.

With the first full weekend of the games in the book, we take a look at five important things from the second day of competition.

#1: Men's freestyle moguls gold snaps Canada's drought. It was an impressive run from Alexandre Bilodeau on the mogul hill that earned Canada its first gold medal as a host country, something that was three Olympics in the makings. It was a huge win for the nation, especially after favorite Jenn Heil failed to pull it off on the women's side the previous day. I wonder what Australian Dale Begg-Smith thinks about it. He earned the silver as an Aussie, but recently took citizenship in his new country after being born in Canada. Stoked that he didn't hold out for the win. Also stoked that American Bryon Wilson pulled off the #3 spot.

#2: US women beat China 12-1 on the hockey rink. GM place has seen some stellar blowouts thus far in the Olympic game (even if it has been renamed "Canada Place"), and the opening match for the American women was no different. We may not have pulled off the shutout, but a 12-1 victory is pretty impressive. Jenny Potter earned herself a hat trick in the game, and one of them was a thrilling between the legs pass to herself that completely baffled the Chinese. Props to Jin Fengling, who scored the lone goal for the Chinese. Happy New Year.

#3: Johnny Spillane wins medal for US Nordic team in first games. I severely underestimated Nordic Combined. The competition starts off with a ski jump. The distance you go in the ski jump determines when you get to start a 10 K cross country race. The American started 32 seconds after the ski jump leading Fin, and made it all up when the Finnish skier fell to the snow. Leading the way with just yards remaining, Johnny Spillane was passed by the French Nordic star, finishing with the silver. However, silver is a huge honor for the US since we have never been in this event in the Winter Olympics before. Toward the end of the Olympics, the US team will return for the large hill contest in Nordic Combined, and I strongly suggest you watch.

#4: Germany wins luge gold, but American had the best fan base. It was a little tense watching the luge competition as the sliding sports started, but in the end it was Felix Loch getting crowned with the gold medal. He won by 0.679 seconds, showing how close the competitors are in this competition. Speeds were 10 percent down after the modifications to the track following the pre-games death of Nodar Kumaritasvili, but it was still pretty exciting to see the lugers at the best. Despite Germany walking away with the gold, it was American Chris Mazdzer who finished 13th that thrilled the fans. There was a large contingent cheering Mazdzer on, who was in his first games, and despite finishing 13th, he made our country proud as a young luging stud.

#5: Olive Oyl Czech skater wins the 3000. The women's 3,000 meter speed skating competition was on yesterday, and the girl they call Olive Oyl (although her real name is Martina Sablikova, busted on the rest of the world. She weighs just 119 pounds, standing at an impressive 5'7, but it was her speed that shocked the speed skating world yesterday. With Stephanie Beckert of Germany getting the silver and Kristina Groves of Canada earning the bronze, the question is: How will these results set up the 5,000 race in a couple of days?

LSF's "What 2 watch 4 2night": At 1 pm on NBC you have the snowboard cross qualifying heats, which you may or may not like. But, at 2:30 on MSNBC, the Canadian women's hockey team goes against the Swiss to see how they can follow up on their 18-0 rout of Slovakia. Then, in primetime on the main network, we have the conclusion of the pairs figure skating free skate (which started off really well for the American, standing at #2 behind the Chinese, and awfully for the Russians, who fell in their skate), the 500m speed skate competition, and the conclusion of the snowboard cross competition. Don't forget, we are now less than 24 hours away from the start of curling and a little more than that away from the start of men's hockey. Can't wait.

Medal count: Despite only having 1 gold today, the US leads the overall medal count at 6, with Germany standing at #2 with 4, and France and Canada tied with 3.