Hockey and curling continue to dominate my Olympic viewing, and thus continue to dominate my posts.
#1: Roberto Luongo backstops Canada to shutout win against Norway. With a new Johnny Canuck logo atop his goalie mask, Canada's backup goalie certainly made a case for himself to be the main man between the pipes last night against Norway. The Vancouver captain held strong, earning the clean sheet, and helping Canada along to a nice Olympic opening 8-0 win against a Norwegian team that will be facing off against the US tomorrow. Bobby Lu needed to make just 15 saves in the shutout, in a game where my most hated Canadian Jarome Iginla had a hat trick, and Sidney Crosby (almost equally hatable, and probably more so to East Coast fans) picked up three assists. Canada gets the Swiss tomorrow before the huge game against the US on Sunday.
#2: US Men's curling falls to 0-2. Speaking of Norway, the American men pushed their curling battle against the Norwegians all the way to extra ends, and skip John Shuster simply had to draw his final stone in the blue circle to steal a win away and get to 1-1 at the Games. Instead, he threw too mighty a weight, and his rock blew right through the house. It was a significantly more difficult to take loss that the earlier in the day battle with the Germans, and it has put the pressure on the American side. Most experts agree that three losses in round robin play will eliminate the Americans from curling play. And this after getting a bronze in Torino? Are we looking back on the changing of the squad and deciding that it was a bad decision? We'll find out, as the US tries to right the ship against the Swiss in about 4 hours.
#3: US Women's curling falls to 0-2. We are seriously looking at a non-medal year for the US in this wonderful sport. A couple of huge mistakes, including allowing a 3 points end for the Germans in the fifth, and then going for three points when they could have had an easy two (and only ending up with one in the sixth) all led to the US dropping their second curling match 5-6. The issue with the squad may be one of leadership, which was really apparent during one of our time outs. Skip Debbie McCormick kept silent during most of the time out, while #3 Allison Pottinger kept talking about what the team's plan would be. You really need to have someone in charge who speaks their mind and makes the tough calls, especially because it was McCormick's rock to throw. We are faced again, with a must win situation for our beloved curlers tomorrow against Denmark.
#4: Vonn leads US domination of the downhill race. Whistler was red, white, and blue today after the Olympic downhill race. It was a pretty anticipated race, with American superstar Lindsey Vonn injuring herself prior to the games, and reportedly using some kind of German cheese to help bring down the swelling. Well, it must have worked, you lousy skeptics, because Vonn captured downhill gold for the US today despite that bruised shin. If that wasn't solid enough, American Julia Mancuso took home. Vonn earned the gold with a run of 1:44.19, with Mancuso finishing 0.56 second behind. Austria earned the bronze.
#5: Jacobellis falls at snowboard cross. A comeback story that we actually rooted for was snowboard cross superstar Lindsey Jacobellis. She ate it in while trying to showboat at the end of the race in Torino (tried a fancy move on the last bump and fell, only to watch her competition pass her). After growing up a little bit, and getting herself an impressive Visa commercial, Jaco had the US ready to see her stream down the hill to regain that snowboard cross glory that she should have earned 4 years ago. Instead, she ate it while trying to do well around a turn, making the final race a 3 person battle. In an evening where snowboard cross became an interesting sport to enjoy, the headline became: "Redemption denied."
LSF's "What 2 Watch 4 2night": At 2 pm, CNBC features the US Men's third curling match against the Swiss, and hopefully the American team takes it as seriously as us fans. That match is followed, on the same network, by a hockey battle between Sweden (Go Twins!) and Germany (Go Ehrhoff!). Primetime on the big network features Shani Davis speed skating in the 1,000 (which is supposedly his to win), Ohno goes for another medal in short track, Shaun White can thrill little teenage boys in skinny jeans on the half pipe, and you can watch the tape delayed coverage of Lindsey Vonn's gold (whoops! I spoiled it!).
Medal count: Germany continues their lead with 9 over the US' 8. France has now crept to #3 with 7, watching Canada sit in the 4 hole with their 5.
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