In case you haven't heard, it was a golden day for the USA yesterday. We captured 6 total medals yesterday, making all the citizen's of the greatest country in the world fully proud. I covered the Lindsey Vonn win in the downhill yesterday, thanks to the NBC tape delay, but let's look at the other exciting action.
#1: Shani Davis sparkles in "his" event. After starting the game's with a couple of poor runs, Shani Davis hit the ice in the 1000 meter skate, which has long been considered his strongest event. He really showed it off yesterday. Davis won his second straight gold medal in the event, edging out the surprising Mo Tae-bum from South Korea with a sweet time of 1:08.94. Can you even imagine? His turns are clearly some of the best in the business. As an added bonus, Chad Hedrick earned the bronze in the race, helping the US to surpass all expectations.
#2: Shaun White takes the gold in the snowboard halfpipe. After creating five new tricks, Shaun White thrilled the judges with his amazing McTwist-type moves, and earned his second gold medal in the sport at just the age of 23. He pulled off an inside flip and 3.5 turns, which he renamed "The Tomahawk," and easily helped the Americans push more medals into the giant heavy sack of medals we're taking back to the States with us. The gold medal occurred with Guns N' Roses' "Paradise City" blaring in the background, clearing putting an American stamp on the event.
#3: Sweden busts Germany 2-0 in their opening Men's hockey match. This was a true battle of my Canuck loyalties, but come on, you knew I was rooting for the Swedes. With Henrik, Daniel, and former 'Nuck Ohlund sporting the three crowns, I easily chose to root for them over Ehrhoff and the Germans. I'm putting the fact that I love Swedish hockey squarely as the reason for their win. Of course, a stellar slapper from Mattias Ohlund at 22:49 of the game, and a nice netter by Loui Eriksson at 34:13 of the game helped. How about the clean sheet, despite 21 German shots, by Henrik Lundqvist? It was an all around solid win for the Swedes. Don't buy into the hype that they're upset with only winning by 2 with the huge wins by the US and Canada earlier in the tournament. It's BS. A win is a win. Belarus is up next on 2/19.
#4: US Men's curling painfully falls to 0-3. Can it get any worse for John Shuster and the boys? They played so well, eventually, against the Swiss that I think we all were calling the win. After falling down 0-4 after 3 ends, the US fought back, scoring in the next 5 ends to take the lead 6-4. We were stealing points like crazy, as the Swiss had the hammer most of the time. Then, after allowing the Swiss to get one in the 9th, the US had the hammer going into the tenth, up by one. 90% of curling teams in this situation come away with the win. But this is no ordinary team. John Shuster stepped up to the hogline needing just a draw to win the game and get back to 1-2 in Olympic play. He, of course, flubbed this chance against Norway the previous day. And guess what? He totally bricked the shot again, sending the game to an extra end. In the extra end, he stepped up with an identical chance. Three chances to throw a shot that could win the game for the US. He blew it again. Three straight blown chances. Pathetic. The US fell to 0-3 in Vancouver, which is the amount of losses that most people believe would keep you out of moving on. Today, they are going head to head with a winless Denmark team (in a battle much like the Rams vs. the Lions from last year's NFL season). Well, the Rams won that game in 2009, and I'm pulling for the US to win this game against Denmark and kind of pull back into having a chance at the game. I'm watching it right now, and in the middle of the fourth end we're up 3-2. Can we please beat this even worse Dane squad?
#5: Curling women, follow male counterparts, drop to 0-2. At least we have another curling team to put our hope in, right? Wrong. The American women dropped a 5-6 match to Germany last night that was not nearly as close as the score would make you think. The US got a gimmie point in the final end because Germany knew that they would win. Missed shots. Worse than the US Men's team, by far. Karen and I were left completely questioning the plans of the team, the placement of their rocks, etc. Again, Debbie McCormick took second fiddle despite being the skip to Allison Pottinger (who even got the interview after the loss). But it was the aging Andrea Schopp and her Germany girlies that ruled the day. At 2 pm, the American ladies go against the Danes, in another USA must win.
LSF's "What 2 Watch 4 2night": Of course the women's curling match is worth checking out (CNBC at 2pm), but the best bet of the evening is the second ice hockey battle for the US men against Norway at noon on USA network. Canada also carries on in Men's hockey, preparing for their huge battle Sunday with the US, against the Swiss (who the US beat 3-1). Tonight on the big network in primetime you have the men's figure skating finals (free skate), women's snowboarding (pipe), alpine skiing, and the women's 1,000 m speed skating competition. Enjoy Day 7!
Medal count: With the big day yesterday, the US busted to the lead with 14 total medals (5-3-6), holding down more golds and more bronzes than any other country. Germany fell to second with 10, France holds third with 7, and Canada is sitting pretty with 6.
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