Vancouver Blogger Sriseth

Canadian fans had to go through some anxious moments and bear few disappointments before enjoying some of the brightest Canadian moments of this Olympics. It was a roller coaster ride that ended up with 2 golds, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals and securing the chance for gold in two other events.

During past couple of weeks I watched Cheryl Bernard and Canadian ladies curling team take down other teams one after the other. Their main weapon was Cheryl's final stone towards the end of the game. She was cool and calm during close matches and delivered perfect blows at the death. But when she needed that perfection at the peak of the tournament, she failed. Not once, but twice she had the gold medal on her hand. But she couldn't come up with accurate shots on both occasions handing the win to Swedes. It was agonizing to watch a gold medal slip away by a whisker.

Canada experienced mixed fortune in speed skating. In team pursuit, Canadian women lost to USA. It was a shocking defeat for the World no.1 Canadians. But Canadian men were able to get thorough to the finals where they will meet the Americans.
After semi-final matchup between Finland and USA in men's hockey ended up with an easy win for Americans, Slovakia proved to be a tough opponent for Canada. After scoring three unanswered goals in the first two periods, the match seemed to be heading into an easy Canada victory. But third period turned the game remarkably with resurgent Slovaks made it a one goal game in an astonishing display of offensive hockey. Goalie Roberto Luongo had to make a remarkable save with 10 seconds remaining against Pavol Demitra's shot from point blank range. Final minute of the match was the most anxious minute of the Olympics so far for Canadians.

While hockey was underway at Canada Hockey Place, there were more than one reason for celebration at nearby Pacific Colosseum, the home to Olympic Short Track. Canadian men's Short Track team was a disappointment until today with no medals. But they flourished in the last two events. In a dramatic finish, Charles Hamelin won gold in 500m event and Francois-Louis Tremblay the bronze. But the race of the day was men's 5000m relay. In a perfectly executed performance, Canada won beating favourites Korea to win the second gold of the day. That put Canada on top of the medal table with 10 golds compared to Germany's 9 and USA's 8. With 2 more days to go and 9 more gold medals up for grabs, Canada has a realistic chance of finishing at the top. That would be a perfect ending to this sporting event that brought all of Canada together as one nation.

"To have results like that, all the planets have to be aligned. There are often unplanned things that happen in short-track. But today it was our turn and we had good races." - Canadian Short Track Team Director Yves Hamelin