Feb. 28 Olympics Preview

Today is all about what every final day of any Olympics is about: the marquee events. The Summer Olympics have the marathon, the winter version is the men's cross-country 50k mass start classic. But, no one in North America is looking forward to the cross-country race, today is all about the men's hockey gold medal game between the U.S. and Canada. With a win in hockey, Canada set the record for most gold medals at a Winter Olympics and regardless of the result of the hockey game, Team USA will have the record for most total medals at a single Winter Olympics with 37.

Cross-Country: Men's 50k Mass Start Classic
The marathon of the Winter Olympics takes place at Whistler today with Petter Northug of Norway looking to win the elusive individual gold he has yet to win in five races (Northug did win the gold in the team sprint). The same contenders from the first five cross-country events are the favorites to win today. The Swedish team would love to win this event over the Norwegians since the two are bitter rivals and Sweden has an impressive streak of golds in two Norwegian sports, cross-country and biathlon.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Giorgio Di Centa (Italy)
Top American Hopeful: Kris Freeman
Top Canadian Hopeful: Ivan Babikov
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Petter Northug (Norway)
Silver: Lukas Bauer (Czech Republic)
Bronze: Marcus Hellner (Sweden)

Men's Hockey Gold Medal Game: USA vs. Canada
The gold medal that Canada wants the most is within reach today at Canada Hockey Place but will face stiff competition from the young Americans. After a dominant six goal first period against Finland in the semis, Team USA took the foot off the gas winning 6-1. Canada faced a scare from Slovakia in the third period of their semi but won 3-2.
The key to today's matchup will be the same for both teams from last Sunday's prelim matchup which the USA won 5-3. The Americans need to use their speed and forecheck early and often. This was very successful against an experienced Finnish team. Speedsters like Phil Kessel need to cause pressure and open up space for the other forwards to score. The top line of Paul Stastny, captain Jamie Langenbrunner and Zach Parise has been the best for the Americans all tournament and will need to get on the board early like the prelim game. Patrick Kane also needs to have the performance he had against Finland to help the other lines gain momentum. In goal, Ryan Miller has been stellar for the whole tournament ans expect nothing less today. Miller had 42 saves in the prelim game last Sunday against the Canadians and only let up three goals.
Team Canada has defied all odds after having to play an extra game in the playoff round after their loss to the Americans. They handled Germany easily and put a beatdown on Russia 7-3 in the quarterfinals and were able to stave off giantkillers Slovakia in the semifinals. Today means everything to the team and their fans, a silver medal will be seen as failure, especially if they lose to the Americans for the second time in a week. The scoring outburst like the one against Russia would be welcomed but that will most likely not be the case. Like their opponents, Canada needs to use their speed and forecheck to create chances for players like Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, and Sidney Crosby. In goal, Roberto Luongo, playing in front of his hometown fans, will be counted on to not let up an early goal like Marty Brodeur did on Sunday. Luongo also needs to match and better Miller's performance in the American goal to win gold.
Prediction:
USA 3-2

Olympics Day 16 Wrapup

The final Saturday of the Winter Olympics was a celebration of Canadian gold. Not one, not two, but three gold medals were won by the Canadians tying the all-time Olympic best with 13. Outside of the Canadian winners, other winners included a sprint finish won by Justyna Kowalcyzk in the cross-country 30k race, a surprise win by Guiliano Razzoli of Italy in the slalom and Steve Holcomb driving USA I to the four-man bobsled gold.
The women's cross-country sprint started the excitement of the day with a 30k classic race coming down to a sprint finish between Justyna Kowalcyzk and Marit Bjoergen. Kowalcyzk barely beat Bjoergen and by doing so gave Poland its first ever cross-country gold medal. For Bjoergen, she earned her fifth medal in five events becoming the most decorated Olympian in Vancouver. Aino-Kaisa Saarinen of Finland won the bronze medal.
The men's parallel giant slalom in snowboarding started the winning spree for Canada. Jasey Jay Anderson overcame a seven tenth deficit in the second run by a whole second to win the gold medal from Benjamin Karl of Austria, who unwilling took the silver. In the bronze medal race, Mathieu Bozzetto of France beat Russia's Stanislav Detkov.
At the Richmond Olympic Oval, two dramatic finishes were needed for the German women to take gold. In the semifinal race against Team USA, Anni Freisinger hit the wall and slid across the line right before the third American to send the Germans to the final, where they defeated Japan by two hundreths of a second. In the bronze medal race, the Americans ran out of gas and lost to Poland.
The men's team pursuit had the same fate for the American team like the women's bronze medal race, they just ran out of gas in the gold medal race. After a monumental upset of the favored Dutch team, Chad Hedrick and Team USA could not keep up with Team Canada. The Dutch did redeem themselves slightly by winning the bronze medal race.
The Italian ski team pulled a shock win at the men's slalom event when Giuliano Razzoli took the gold medal. Razzoli held off challenges from Croatia's Ivica Kostelic and second run best Andre Myhrer of Sweden.
Andre Lange had never lost an Olympic bobsled race until Saturday night when Steve Holcomb and USA I's sled named The Night Train beat Lange's Germany I. Holcomb's sled set two track records in four heats and gave the Americans their first bobsled gold since St. Moritz in 1948. Lange's sled did take the silver by beating Lyndon Rush's Canada I in the fourth and final heat. Rush was able to claim bronze for the host nation.
Canada's national sport had the most attention from the home fans Saturday night and for good reason, the men's curling team was fighting for a gold medal with Norway. With two points in the seventh end, going ahead 5-2, the medal was all but theirs and unlike the women's team, the men's team held on to win gold by a score of 6-3. Switzerland beat Sweden with two points in the tenth end to win 5-4.
In the bronze medal men's hockey game, Finland came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat Slovakia. Sami Salo opened the scoring for the Finns in the first period. Then, in the second period Slovakia found the net three times thanks to Marian Gaborik, Marian Hossa and Pavol Demitra. The third period was all Finland, starting with a power play goal from Niklas Hagman then the equalizer from Olli Jokinen making it 3-3. Jokinen scored the go ahead and game-winning goal on the power play with eight minutes left. Valtteri Filppula added an empty-net goal to make the final 5-3.
Today Gold Medalists:
Justyna Kowalcyzk (Cross-Country- Poland)
Jasey Jay Anderson (Snowboarding- Canada)
Giuliano Razzoli (Alpine Skiing- Italy)
Canada (Speed Skating)
Germany (Speed Skating)
USA I (Bobsled)
Canada (Curling)
Medal Count after Saturday:
USA- 36
Germany- 29
Canada- 25
Norway- 22
Austria- 16
Russia- 15
Korea- 14
China, France- 11
Sweden- 10
Switzerland- 9
Netherlands- 8
Czech Republic, Poland- 6
Italy, Japan, Finland- 5
Australia, Belarus, Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia- 3
Latvia- 2
Great Britain, Estonia, Kazakhstan- 1

Feb. 27 Olympic Preview

With two days left of the 21st Winter Olympics in Vancouver, a slew of medals are still needed to be given out. Events today include the women's cross-country 30k, men's and women's team pursuit in speed skating, men's slalom, curling and bobsled. The Americans have a great chance of reaching forty medals. Needing only six more to reach forty, three or four medalists are expected today.

Cross-Country: Women's 30k Mass Start
Marit Bjoergen of Norway will look to win her fourth gold and fifth overall medal today. Bjoergen will face competition from Justyna Kowalcyzk and Petra Majdic, who have both won a mass start event this season in the World Cup. Look for Anna Haag and Charlotte Kalla of Sweden to also be a factor.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Katerina Neumannova (Russia)
Top American Hopeful: Kikkan Randall
Top Canadian Hopeful: Sara Renner
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Marit Bjoergen (Norway)
Silver: Justyna Kowalcyzk (Poland)
Bronze: Anna Haag (Sweden)

Speed Skating: Men's Team Pursuit
After shocking the team from the Netherlands in the semifinals yesterday, Team USA led by Chad Hedrick will face Team Canada in the final. For the Americans to have a chance at most gold medals in Vancouver, Hedrick and company will have to win this race. Norway races the Dutch in the bronze medal race.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Italy
USA vs. Canada in Final
Projected Medalists:
Gold: USA
Silver: Canada
Bronze: Netherlands

Speed Skating: Women's Team Pursuit
Four teams competing for three medals today in this event. The semifinals occur close to an hour before the final. The two semifinals feature Poland vs. Japan and Team USA vs. Germany. Germany is the clear favorite but Team USA will have something to say about that with a team that is desperate to medal.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Germany
USA in semifinals
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Germany
Silver: Japan
Bronze: USA

Snowboarding: Men's Parallel Giant Slalom
It is Canada vs. Austria in the men's PGS event today. The two countries boast the top four snowboarders in World Cup competition. In the women's competition yesterday, three of the four finalists were in the top five of the World Cup standings. Look for that trend to continue for Austria's Benjamin Karl and Andreas Prommegger and Canada's Jasey-Jay Anderson and Michael Lambert.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Philipp Schoch (Switzerland)
Top American Hopeful: Chris Klug
Top Canadian Hopefuls: Anderson and Lambert
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Benjamin Karl (Austria)
Silver: Michael Lambert (Canada)
Bronze: Andreas Prommegger (Austria)

Men's Curling
The gold medal match at Vancouver Olympic Center will be between the host nation and the team with the most unique uniform of the curling tournament. Canada will face Norway tonight for the gold. After a disappointment in the women's gold medal match yesterday, Canada is expecting their team to win today. Sweden and Switzerland play for the bronze.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Canada
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Canada
Silver: Norway
Bronze: Sweden

Alpine Skiing: Men's Slalom
The Bode Miller Redemption Tour ended in a DNF in th first run but that does not mean you should not keep watching. Giuliano Razzoli of Italy has a commanding .50 second lead over Mitja Valencic of Slovenia with defending gold medalist Benjamin Raich of Austria and Ivica Kostelic of Croatia waiting in the wings. The second run of most of the alpine events have resulted in drastic change in the standings and look for that to happen today.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Benjamin Raich (Austria)
Top American Hopeful: None
Top Canadian Hopeful: Michael Janyk (11th after 1st run)
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Benjamin Raich (Austria)
Silver: Ivica Kostelic (Croatia)
Bronze: Giuliano Razzoli (Italy)

4-Man Bobsled
After setting the track record last night in the first heat, Steve Holcomb and USA I look to give Germany I's Andre Lange his first non-gold finish. Lange has won all five medals he has competed for in bobsled olympic competition.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Germany I (Andre Lange)
Top American Hopeful: USA I (Steve Holcomb)
Top Canadian Hopeful: Canada I (Lyndon Rush)
Projected Medalists:
Gold: USA I
Silver: Germany I
Bronze: Canada I

Men's Hockey Bronze Medal Game
Finland and Slovakia have taken two different paths to the brozne medal game. The Finns were embarrased in the first period against the USA and could not recover while the Slovakian team almost took Canada to overtime. The edge goes to Slovakia, who beat Russia and Sweden in the tournament, because Finland is coming in such an emotional low.
Projected Medalist:
Bronze: Slovakia

Day 15 Olympic Wrapup (cont.)

Today's Gold Medalists:
Norway (Biathlon)
Canada (Short Track)
Sweden (Curling)
Maria Riesch (Germany- Alpine Skiing)
Nicolien Sauerbreij (Netherlands- Snowboarding)
Wang Meng (China- Short Track)
Charles Hamelin (Canada- Short Track)
Medal Count after Friday:
USA- 34
Germany- 27
Canada- 21
Norway- 20
Austria, Russia- 15
Korea- 14
China- 11
France- 10
Sweden- 9
Switzerland- 8
Netherlands- 7
Czech Republic- 6
Poland, Japan, Italy- 4
Australia, Belarus, Slovakia, Slovenia, Finland - 3
Latvia, Croatia- 2
Great Britain, Estonia, Kazakhstan- 1

Olympics Day 15 Wrapup

The streets of Vancouver will be lined with partiers and the scene can be matched all over Canada after a magical night at Pacific Coliseum where the Canadian men took home two gold medals in short track. The Canadians are also celebrating a win by the men's hockey team that was a 3-2 nailbiter. There is nothing but joy throughout the Great White North tonight. Other headlines from Friday included Apolo Anton Ohno winning his 8th medal in Winter Olympic competition in the relay. Also, a controversial decision in the 500m race disqualified Ohno. The excitement at Pacific Coliseum for the Canadian men was matched by the Chinese women who with a gold from Wang Meng in 1000m swept all of the women's short track gold medals.
The day began up at Whistler with the Norwegian men finally getting a breakthrough in biathlon by winning the team relay gold. After a disappointing first four events, Ole Einar Bjoernadalen was able to win his sixth overall Winter Olympic gold. Along with teammates Tarjei Boe, Halvard Hanevold and Emil Hegle Svendsen, Bjoerndalen and company were able to win easily over the teams from Austria, who took silver, and Russia who took bronze.
The women's parallel giant slalom snowboard event was taken by World Cup leader Nicolien Sauerbreij of the Netherlands. Sauerbreij beat Russia's Ekaterina Ilyukhina by 23 seconds in the second run of the gold medal race to win. Marion Kreiner of Austria won the bronze medal race handily over Germany's Selina Joerg.
Lindsey Vonn was yet again celebrating at the finish line of a women's alpine skiing event but it was not for her personal acheivement. Vonn crashed in the first run of the slalom and was cheering on good friend Maria Riesch of Germany at the finish line. Riesch took the gold medal by 0.43 seconds of Marlies Schild of Austria, who had the best second run, and Sarka Zahrobska of the Czech Republic by 1.01 seconds. Riesch was hoping to step on the podium with sister Susanne, who was fourth after the first run, but she crashed in the second run.

The crazy night for the Canadians was supposed to begin with a win in the women's curling gold medal match. But that was not to happen thanks to Sweden. Up 6-4 going into the the tenth and final end, Canada had all but locked up the gold but it was not to happen. With two points in the tenth end and then a dramatic one point in the extra eleventh end, the Swedish women pulled out an upset, winning 7-6. In the bronze medal match, China scored twelve points beating the Swiss women 12-6.

After the disappointing curling result, the Canadian fans rallied around the men's short track night in a typical, dramatic night at Pacific Coliseum. The 500m race was the first to give away medals and saw a controversial ending with Apolo Anton Ohno being disqualified for an illegal pass that cause Francois-Louis Tremblay of Canada to fall. Not disqualified was gold medalist Charles Hamelin of Canada, who on replay appeared to push Sung Si-Bak of Korea causing Sung to fall. With Ohno the only one disqualified, Hamelin won Canada's ninth overall gold in Vancouver with Tremblay getting the bronze by default for the host nation as well. Sung took the silver after the controversy calmed down.

The women's 1000m race saw another dominant race by the Chinese team. Wang Meng won her third gold in Vancouver and fourth gold in four women's short track events for China, the other gold went to Yang Zhou in the 1500m. Overshadowed by the Chinese gold was American Katherine Reutter who won America's first female short track medal since Lillehammer in 1994. Park Seung-Hi of Korea took bronze.

The marquee event of tonight in short track was also full of excitement for the host nation. About halfway through the 5000m men's relay, Hamelin broke out in front to set the pace and his team did not turn back. Along with his brother Francois, Olivier Jean and Tremblay, Charles Hamelin gave Canada its tenth gold in Vancouver. Korea's experienced team took silver and the young squad of Americans anchored by Ohno won the bronze.

In other non-medal events, Team USA and Team Canada did their part in setting up a rematch in the gold medal game in men's hockey. Team USA enjoyed a six goal first period against Finland to win 6-1. Team Canada survived a third period surge from Slovakia and won 3-2.

Feb. 26 Olympic Preview

No more figure skating!!!! Everyone that has been frustrated that figure skating has been the focus of NBC's coverage, it has, but it is now over and the last three days are all about some the most exciting events in the Winter Olympics. Apolo Ohno returns to the stage tonight and will look for medals number eight and nine. With three short track races at night, four more medals are being given away including women's curling where if Canada wins "O, Canada" will be sung by every fan in the building like last night's women's hockey gold medal ceremony.
Biathlon: Men's 4x7.5k Relay
What's a day at the Olympics without biathlon? The nineteen team relay will have all the focus on Team Norway. Disappointment can not even describe how bad the men's biathlon team for Norway has been compared to expectations. With only three medals in the Olympics and only one being a gold from Emil Hegle Svendsen in 20k individual start race. Biathlon legend Ole Einar Bjoerndalen would like to end his hard luck in Vancouver with a team gold for Norway.
2006 Torino Gold Medalists: Germany
American and Canadian Team Entered
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Norway
Silver: France
Bronze: Sweden

Alpine Skiing: Women's Slalom
This is the last shot at Whistler Creekside for the women and it will be a showdown between the European skiers and Lindsey Vonn. Vonn has had two events end in crash and two end in medals, she is hoping to not crash and earn a medal today. Her competition comes from Maria and Susanne Riesch of Germany, Kathrin Zettel and Marlies Schlid of Austria along with a boatload more of top skiers looking to claim a medal in the final Olympic event.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Anja Paerson (Sweden)
Top American Hopeful: Lindsey Vonn
Top Canadian Hopeful: Anna Goodman
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Maria Riesch (Germany)
Silver: Kathrin Zettel (Austria)
Bronze: Tina Maze (Slovenia)

Snowboarding: Women's Parallel Giant Slalom
The snowboarding event most people are not familiar with includes a head-to-head race in a type of slalom course. This disclipine is dominated more by Europeans than the Americans. The top contenders for a medal in this event are Nicolien Sauerbreij of Netherlands and Amelie Kober of Germany along with many other competitiors from the European Alpine countries.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Daniela Meuli (Switzerland)
Top American Hopeful: Michelle Gorgone
Top Canadian Hopeful: Alexa Loo
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Nicolien Sauerbreij (Netherlands)
Silver: Marion Kriener (Austria)
Bronze: Amelie Kober (Germany)

Women's Curling
The national sport of Canada will be supported in full force at the Vancouver Olympic Center tonight. Canada faces defending gold medalist Sweden in the gold medal game. The gold medal match will serve as an appetizer in Canada tonight for the men's hockey semi against Slovakia. No matter the circumstances, the Canadians know how to support their athletes and tonight will be a great example. China plays Switzerland for the bronze medal.
2006 Torino Gold Medalists: Sweden
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Canada
Silver: Sweden
Bronze: China

Short Track: Men's 500 m
The rivalry between Apolo Anton Ohno and the Koreans is renewed tonight. Ohno has not won a gold in short track in Vancouver but has won silver and bronze and is the defending gold medalist in this event. The Korean team hates Ohno with a passion and have won both short track golds for the men so far. This is like the 100m in track and field, the short track 500m is a quick, intense race and this is a precursor to the relay final later in the night.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Apolo Anton Ohno (USA)
Top American Hopeful: Ohno
Top Canadian Hopeful: Charles Hamelin
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Apolo Anton Ohno (USA)
Silver: Sung Si-Bak (Korea)
Bronze: Lee Ho-Suk (Korea)

Short Track: Women's 1000m
The break in between the men's 500m and the men's relay is this event which will not have the plotline like the men's race but does have an American medal hopeful in Katherine Reutter, who is second in the World Cup standings. China's Wang Meng is the woman to beat tonight.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Sun Yu-Jin (Korea)
Top American Hopeful: Katherine Reutter
Top Canadian Hopeful: Kalyna Roberge
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Wang Meng (China)
Silver: Zhou Yang (China)
Bronze: Lee Eun-Byul (Korea)

Short Track: Men's 5000m Relay
This is tonight's marquee event. Depending on how intense the 500m race is will determine how intense the relay will be. The Ohno vs. Koreans plot will be in out in full force along with the chance for Canada to finally get a short track medal out of the Hamelin brothers. Also involved in the race will be China and France.
2006 Torino Gold Medalists: Korea
American and Canadian Team in Final
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Korea
Silver: USA
Bronze: Canada

The main focus of Canada will not be on short track, but on Canada Hockey Place as Team Canada takes on Slovakia in the men's hockey semifinals. Canadian fans are on a high right now after the women's hockey gold and a possible women's curling gold today. Slovakia has already beaten Russia and Sweden in the tournament so Canada will have been focused for all sixty minutes.
The other semifinal features the USA and Finland in what will be a hard fought battle between goalie Ryan Miller and the high-scoring Finnish forwards. After a scare against Switzerland, the Americans want to make the final and take on Canada for a second time.

Olympics Day 14 Wrapup

After two whole weeks of competition in Vancouver, we have watched many spectacular performances in every sport and it continued today. The Canadian women's hockey team won the medal that the home country means the second most behind the men's hockey gold. In the other medal events, Norway's Marit Bjoergen won her third gold and fourth overall medal in the cross-country relay today. The big story for the Americans was getting a their first ever gold in nordic combined from Bill DeMong. Today tied Day 2 with the most American medals in a day with four.
The women's cross-country relay went the way it was expected with Norway winning the gold medal. Led by Bjoergen, the Norwegians were able to edge out Germany and Finland.
The women's giant slalom finished today after being postponed because of weather conditions. The gold was taken by Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany who climbed up the standings from sixth after the first run to claim gold for the Germans. Slovenia's Tina Maze won her second silver medal of the Olympics moving up from seventh. Elisabeth Goergl, who was first after the first run dropped down to third and took the bronze after finishing fifteenth in the second run.
Depending on who you ask the nordic combined long hill event was a great competiton or an event ruined by weather. For the three medalists it was a great race, especially for the Americans. Bill DeMong won the first American gold in the sport and Johnny Spillane won his third silver of the Olympics. The weather was a factor during the ski jump portion of the event where many top contenders like France's Jason Lamy-Chappuis lost too much time to contend for a medal. Bernhard Gruber of Austria kept with the two Americans for all 10k of the cross-country and took bronze.
The women's hockey gold medal game was all about Canada. Canada won 2-0 over the USA behind two goals from Marie-Philip Poulin, who was referred to as the 18-year old female version of Sidney Crosby, and 28 saves from goalie Shannon Szabados. In one of the best moments of the games, the whole crowd at Canada Hockey Place singing "O, Canada" along with the team during the medal ceremony. In the bronze medal game, Finland took down Sweden in overtime, 3-2.
The men's aerials, just like the women's competition, did not see the predicted Chinese domination. Belarus' Alexei Grishin took home the gold medal topping Jeret "Speedy" Petersen of the USA. Petersen's trademark jump "the hurricane" was enough to win him the silver and add the growing American medal count. China's lone medalist was Liu Zhongqing who took bronze.
The women's free skate in figure skating would not determine much that had not been decided already in the short program. The podium places stayed the same as they were entering tonight. Kim Yu-Na was nothing but dominant. After leading by 5 points going into the free skate, Kim scored a 150.06, 19 points ahead of any other competitor. Her total score was more than 25 points ahead of silver medalist Mao Asada from Japan. Canada's Joannie Rochette won the bronze in another emotional skate less than a week after losing her mother.
Today's Gold Medalists:
Norway (Cross-Country)
Canada (Women's Hockey)
Viktoria Rebensburg (Alpine Skiing-Germany)
Bill DeMong (Nordic Combined- USA)
Alexei Grishin (Freestyle Skiing- Belarus)
Kim Yu-Na (Figure Skating-Korea)
Medal Count after Thursday:
USA- 32
Germany- 26
Norway- 19
Canada- 17
Russia- 13
Austria- 12
Korea- 11
France- 10
China- 9
Switzerland, Sweden- 8
Netherlands- 6
Czech Republic- 5
Poland, Japan, Italy- 4
Australia, Belarus, Slovakia, Slovenia, Finland- 3
Latvia, Croatia- 2
Great Britain, Estonia, Kazakhstan- 1

Feb. 25 Olympic Preview

Today is a big day in Canada with the women's hockey team going for gold against Team USA. The big focus for the Americans will be the nordic combined event. Already with two silvers in both events so far, the team from the USA has a chance to win the first ever American gold in the sport.
The day starts, as it has for most of the Olympics, with cross-country and ends with figure skating.

Cross-Country: Women's 4x5 Relay
After Norway failed to medal in the sprint relay, look for them to enlist Marit Bjoergen to win her fourth medal in Vancouver. Norway's cross-country party has been crashed by Sweden for the whole games and look for the Norwegians to face stiff competition from the Swedes yet again.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Russia
American and Canadian Team in Final
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Norway
Silver: Sweden
Bronze: Russia

Nordic Combined: LH/10km
The combination of ski jumping and cross-country skiing starts with the long hill jump and a 10k cross-country race. The Americans are looking to win their first ever gold in the sport after a silver from Johnny Spillane and then a silver in the team relay. The main competition is Jason Lamy-Chappuis of France along with Felix Gottwald of Austria.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Georg Hettich (Germany)
Top American Hopefuls: Johnny Spillane, Bill DeMong, Todd Lodwick
Top Canadian Hopeful: None
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Johnny Spillane (USA)
Silver: Todd Lodwick (USA)
Bronze: Jason Lamy-Chappuis (France)

Freestyle Skiing: Men's Aerials
Just like the women's event, the men's aerials favorites come from China. The group of former gymnasts that came to the sport have been dominant in the World Cup season and will look to take the gold that eluded the women yesterday.Alexei Grishin and Timofei Slivets of Belarus will be looking to crash the Chinese party.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Xiaopeng Han (China)
Top American Hopefuls: Ryan St. Onge and Jeret "Speedy" Peterson
Top Canadian Hopeful: Kyle Nissen
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Jia Zongyang (China)
Silver: Ryan St. Onge (USA)
Bronze: Alexei Grishin (Belarus)

Figure Skating: Ladies' Free Skate
The premiere event of the figure skating competitions is coming to an end tonight with a group of skaters looking to take down Korea's Kim Yu-Na. That group includes Mao Asada of Japan, Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu of the USA and Canada's Joannie Rochette.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Shizuka Arakawa (Japan)
Top American Hopefuls: Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu
Top Canadian Hopeful: Joannie Rochette
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Kim Yu-Na (Korea)
Silver: Joannie Rochette (Canada)
Bronze: Mao Asada (Japan)

Women's Hockey Medal Games
Continental rivalries are ready for their next editions in today's medal games. Sweden and Finland will fight for bronze and the USA-Canada game is for gold. Canada's team has not been disappointing like their men's team and will look to take gold yet again. Team USA is a clear underdog but has been scoring at will just like the Canadians. The gold medal game will come down to, like most expected shootouts, to defense and goaltending.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Canada
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Canada
Silver: USA
Bronze: Sweden

Olympics Day 13 Wrapup

Today's medal events were all about the ladies but men's hockey dominated the attention in Vancouver and all around the world on Wednesday. Some luck helped the USA gain a medal over Germany and gave them a four medal lead after an unexpected crash by Germany's top women's bobsled team in the final run and the failure of the men's cross- country team to win a medal. The women's giant slalom second run was postponed until Thursday to due weather conditions.
The men's cross-country relay was won by Sweden. The hatred towards Sweden from Norway hightened after the Swedish team won gold because this is Norway's sport, they invented it and have had a very disappointing Olympics. Led by medalists Johan Olsson and Marcus Hellner on the last two legs, the Swedes broke away from Norway and the Czech Republic. Norway took silver and the Czechs took bronze.
In the women's 5000m speed skating race, the Czech Republic took their second gold in their history in speed skating from Martina Sablikova. The other gold came from Sablikova in this year's 3000 meter race. The Canadian contingent that was hoping to win a few medals was only able to take bronze, which was won by Clara Hughes. Stephanie Beckert won silver for Germany, their only medal of the day.
The short track 3000m women's relay was supposed to have China and Korea fighting for gold but that was not the case. The Korean team was disqualified and they became the odd team out in the four team final. Canada and the USA benefitted by taking silver and bronze respectively.
The bobsled event gave Canada not one but two medals. The top German sled driven by Cathleen Martini crashed in the final heat and opened the door for the other competitors after the other German sled driven by defending gold medalist Sandra Kiriasis had a slow time and finished out of reach of the podium. USA II driven by Erin Pac was able to clinch a medal, winning bronze, behind Canada I, driven by Kaillie Humphries and Helen Upperton's Canada II sled. The gold tied Canada with the USA and Germany for most gold medals with seven.
The women's aerials competition just like so many events from the day saw a surprise winner in Lydia Lassila from Australia. The Chinese team was expected to sweep the medal podium but a crash by Xu Mengtao and a stellar performance by Lassila gave the Flying Kangaroo a gold and left the other two Chinese women, Li Nina and Guo Xinxin to get silver and bronze.
In the men's hockey quarterfinals Team USA survived a scare against Switzerland thanks to two third period goals from Zach Parise. The Americans will face Finland in the semis after they beat the Czech Republic by the same score.
The marquee matchup of the day was Canada-Russia, and it was far from a duel between two superpowers. The Russians came out flat and suffered a 7-3 defeat. After the game in an interview, Alex Ovechkin was disgusted and speechless at how poorly his team played. The host nation will play Slovakia who upset defending gold medalist Sweden 4-3 in the nightcap.
Today's Gold Medalists:
Sweden (Cross-Country Relay)
China (Short Track Relay)
Martina Sablikova (Speed Skating- Czech Republic)
Canada I, Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse (Bobsled)
Lydia Lassila (Freestyle Skiing- Australia)
Medal Count after Wednesday:
USA- 28
Germany- 24
Norway- 18
Canada- 15
Russia- 13
Korea, Austria, France- 10
Switzerland, China, Sweden- 8
Netherlands- 6
Czech Republic- 5
Poland, Italy- 4
Australia, Slovakia, Japan- 3
Latvia, Belarus, Croatia, Slovenia- 2
Great Britain, Estonia, Finland, Kazakhstan- 1

Feb. 24 Olympic Preview

Today is all about the ladies in medal events. With the big focus again turning to Canada Hockey Place with the USA-Switzerland and Canada-Russia games, six medals will be given out today. Only one men's medal will be given out in cross-country, the other five are going to women. In the medal race, the USA will have to win a medal in the giant slalom and get a surprise medal in bobsled to hold on to the lead with Germany only three back now.

Alpine Skiing: Women's Giant Slalom
Things are not looking good for the American team after the first run of the giant slalom. Lindsey Vonn crashed and Julia Mancuso, the defending gold medalist is in 18th. Three Austrians, Elisabeth Goergl, Kathrin Zettel, and Eva-Maria Brem are in the top four. But, just like every other skiing event, it only takes one small turn to slip up and a good run to get back in contention.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Julia Mancuso (USA)
Top American Hopeful: Julia Mancuso (18th after 1st run)
Top Canadian Hopeful: Shona Rubens (22nd after 1st run)
Leader after 1st Run: Elisabeth Goergl (Austria)
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Tina Maze (Slovenia- 5th after 1st run)
Silver: Elisabeth Goergl (Austria- leader after 1st run)
Bronze: Taina Bairoz (France- 2nd after 1st run)

Cross-Country: Men's 4x10 Relay
Norway finally got their first gold in cross-country with a win in the sprint relay, now it is time for the relay with a mix of both classic and free skiing styles. Germany won the silver in the sprint relay and they could pull within two medals of the USA with a medal in this event.
2006 Torino Gold Medalists: Sweden
No American or Canadian Hopefuls
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Norway
Silver: Sweden
Bronze: France

Speed Skating: Women's 5000 meters
Martina Sablikova, the 3000 meter gold and 1500 meter bronze medalist, is the favorite to win this event. Canada's strong contingent is led by 1500 silver medalist Kristina Groves, who barely missed the gold in the 1500, and defending gold medalist Clara Hughes and would like to give Canada something to cheer about before the big hockey game.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Clara Hughes (Canada)
Top American Hopeful: Catherine Raney
Top Canadian Hopefuls: Kristina Groves, Clara Hughes
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Kristina Groves (Canada)
Silver: Martina Sablikova (Czech Republic)
Bronze: Clara Hughes (Canada)

Women's Bobsled
The usually dominant German sleds are in third and fifth behind Canada I and USA II after the first two heats. So far, all the sliding events have had the same three sledders on the medal podium. If that result stays, the American team will get an unexpected medal to match the medal that Germany would get.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Germany I(driver Sandra Kiriasis)
Top American Hopeful: USA II (driver Erin Pac, 2nd after two heats)
Top Canadian Hopeful: Canada I (driver Kaillie Humphries, 1st after two runs)
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Canada I
Silver: USA II
Bronze: Germany II

Short Track: Women's 3000m Relay
This event has been won by the South Koreans for the last four Olympics but have been second to China in all but one World Cup event this season. The final consists of both Asian countries as well as Canada and the USA, who will most likely be fighting for a bronze.
2006 Torino Gold Medalists: South Korea
American and Canadian Team in Final
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Korea
Silver: China
Bronze: Canada

Freestyle Skiing: Women's Aerials
In the highest flying event in the Olympics starts giving away medals tonight, China can possibly pull a medal sweep. There are twelve skiers remaining after qualification earlier in the week. The top four of five World Cup skiers are from China.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Evelyne Leu (Switzerland)
Top American Hopeful: Emily Cook, Lacy Schnoor
No Canadian Qualified for Final
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Li Nina (China)
Silver: Alla Tsuper (Belarus)
Bronze: Guo Xinxin (China)

Feb. 23 Olympics Preview

The Germans got right back into the medal race after medaling in three of the four team events yesterday and could get even close to the Americans today. The marathon of speed skating, the men's 10,000 meters is today along with the women's relay in biathlon, men's giant slalom, a nordic combined relay, and the women's edition of the newest olympic event, ski cross.

Speed Skating- Men's 10,000 meters
The Orange section of the Richmond Olympic Oval should be celebrating double than they usually have because they boast not one, but two top contenders in this race in 5000 meter gold medalist Sven Kramer and defending gold medalist Bob De Jong. Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick should be a factor in this race for the Americans but there are no top German contenders either so the medal race will be effected in this event.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Bob De Jong (Netherlands)
Top American Hopeful: Chad Hedrick
Top Canadian Hopeful: Lucas Makowsky
2009-10 World Cup Leader: Sven Kramer (Netherlands)
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Sven Kramer (Netherlands)
Silver: Bob De Jong (Netherlands)
Bronze: Havard Bokko (Norway)

Biathlon: Women's 4x6 Relay
After the cross-country events had their relays yesterday, the biathlon gets its one of its relay events in the spotlight. There are four countries essentially battling for three medal spots in Germany, Sweden, Russia and France. France has been the surprise of the Olympics in this event and it is quite possible that their good fortune will continue.
2006 Torino Gold Medalists: Russia
No American or Canadian Medal Hopeful
2009-10 World Cup Leaders: Russia
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Russia
Silver: France
Bronze: Sweden

Men's Giant Slalom
The fourth stop of the Bode Miller Redemption Tour might take a backseat to another American in Ted Ligety in today's event. Ligety is the World Cup leader in this event and it is his best shot at gold. Ligety will face stiff competition from skiers from Austria, Switzerland, and Italy as always.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Benjamin Raich (Austria)
Top American Hopeful: Ted Ligety
Top Canadian Hopeful: Jean-Philippe Roy
2009-10 World Cup Leader: Ted Ligety (USA)
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Ted Ligety (USA)
Silver: Benjamin Raich (Austria)
Bronze: Massimilano Blardone (Italy)

Nordic Combined: Team 4x5 Relay
The event with four athletes per team combines one jump off the long hill in ski jumping and a 5k cross-country lap for each of the four competitors. After winning the first American medal in nordic combined last weekend, Johnny Spillane and the strong American team will look to win a medal. Traditional powers like Germany, Austria, and France will look to take away that opportunity from the Americans.
2006 Torino Gold Medalists: Austria
American Team has medal shot, not so for Canadian team
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Austria
Silver: USA
Bronze: Germany

Women's Ski Cross
The main storyline in this event is the battle between Ophelie David of France and the strong Canadian team. Canada has a great shot to win the gold in the first ever women's ski cross event in the Olympics. Kelsey Serwa, Ashleigh McIvor and Julia Murray sit 2-3-4 behind David in the World Cup rankings.
Not an event in Torino
Top American Hopeful: None
Top Canadian Hopefuls: Kelsey Serwa, Ashleigh McIvor, Julia Murray
2009-10 World Cup Leader: Ophelie David (France)
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Kelsey Serwa (Canada)
Silver: Ophelie David (France)
Bronze: Ashleigh McIvor (Canada)

As much as a gold medal in ski cross would please the Canadian fans, all the focus will be on Canada Hockey Place as Team Canada has to play a play-in game against Germany, with a win pitting them against Russia in the quarterfinals. Other play-in games include Slovakia vs. Norway, Czech Republic vs. Latvia and Switzerland vs. Belarus.

Olympics Day 11 Wrapup

The is no I in team and that was what today's medal events were all about. All four events, ski jumping, men's and women's sprint relays in cross country and ice dance required more than one person to win the medal.
As expected on the ski jumping long hill up at Whistler, the Austrian team dominated and the gold medal they needed to come home with. Back home in Austria, ski jumping means to them what hockey does to Canada and coming home without a gold would have been a major disappointment for Andreas Kofler, Wolfgang Loitzl, Thomas Morgenstern and Gregor Schlierenzauer. Finishing second was Germany and Norway took the bronze.
The women's sprint relay had some of its luster taken away when the Norwegian decided not to have three-time Vancouver medalist Marit Bjoergen race. This ended up being a crucial mistake as the Norwegian duo in the race finished fifth. Taking gold and adding to a very successful day for Germany were Claudia Nystad and Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle. The Swedes, who have medaled in two of the three events, took silver adding to the medal count for both Charlotte Kalla and Anna Haag, who now both have two medals. The Russian team of Irina Khazova and Natalia Korosteleva took the bronze.
The men's cross country team sprint ended with Norway winning their first gold medal in four events. Led by World Cup leader Petter Northug along with countryman, Oeystein Pettersen beat the Germans and Russians in a sprint that seperated the three teams by 1.5 seconds. Axel Teichmann and Tim Tscharnke took the silver for Germany while the Russian duo of Nikolay Morilov and Alexey Petukhov won bronze.
The marquee event of team day in Vancouver was the final part of the ice dancing competition: the free dance. The home crowd had alot to cheer for tonight with Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue taking first place with two pairs to go with a score of 111.15 in the free dance. No other pair came close to that score and the Canadians took the gold becoming the first North American pair to medal in ice dancing. Doubling that feat was Charlie White and Meryl Davis of the USA, who gave the Americans a medal on a day of sports dominanted by European countries. Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin won bronze for Russia.
Today's Gold Medalists:
Team Austria(Gregor Schlierenzauer, Wolfgang Loitzl, Thomas Morgenstern, Andreas Kofler) (Ski Jumping)
Team Germany (Claudia Nystad and Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle) (Cross-Country)
Team Norway (Petter Northug and Oeystein Pettersen) (Cross-Country)
Scott Moir/Tessa Virtue (Ice Dance- Canada)
Medal Count after Monday:
USA- 25
Germany- 21
Norway- 14
Russia- 11
Canada- 10
Korea, Austria- 9
France- 8
Switzerland, Sweden- 7
China, Netherlands- 5
Poland, Italy- 4
Slovakia, Czech Republic, Japan- 3
Australia, Latvia, Belarus, Croatia, Slovenia- 2
Great Britain, Estonia, Finland, Kazakhstan- 1

College Hoopla- Feb. 22

With the Olympics still overshadowing the final weeks of the college basketball season, there is one more week of the spectacle in Vancouver, just in time for the best part of the college season. As usual, the bubble watch is on for teams like UConn and Maryland. With mid-major conference tourneys starting in the next week and a half, it is almost time to start filling out your bracket. Here are this week's awards:
Player of the Week:
Ali Farokhmanesh, G, Northern Iowa
After fellow senior leader Jordan Eglseder was suspended for three games, Farokhmanesh had to step up and he did. Going 5-10 from 3 point range in a win against MVC rival Creighton on Tuesday and then showing the country what the Panthers are capable in the BracketBuster game against Old Dominion, going 5-9 from beyond the arc and scoring 23 points.
Team of the Week:
Purdue
The Boilermakers are yet again showing that they are the class of the Big 10. With wins over Ohio State and Illinois this week, Matt Painter's team remains in the top five in the nation and can possibly steal a number one seed if they beat Michigan State on Sunday and win the Big 10 tournament.
Game of the Week:
Maryland 76, Georgia Tech 74 (Saturday)
Both the Terps and Yellow Jackets needed this game to improve their tournament resumes and they played like it. Most games like this come down to the last possession and it did. Down one with 1.5 seconds left, Maryland guard Cliff Tucker led a three point shot go and it landed in the net giving bringing the Terps to 9-3 in the ACC and putting them in second behind Duke.
Upset of the Week:
Loyola Marymount over Gonzaga 74-66 (Thursday)
In the Lions' biggest win since the 1990 NCAA Tournament, they upset the Zags in impressive fashion. Down three at the half, the Lions went on a second half run to put them ahead eight at the end of the game. Led by Ashley Hamilton with 17 points and Drew Viney, who played the whole game, with 16 points and 10 boards. The loss puts Gonzaga only one game ahead of St. Mary's in the WCC and with another loss could lose the regular season title.
Injury that Hurts the Most:
Dogus Balbay, G, Texas, Torn ACL
The Longhorns' point guard and best defender got hurt on Saturday in the first half in Lubbock against Texas Tech. Balbay had been one of the most underrated players in college basketball this season and will force Texas to find someone to play point consistently quick.
Games to Watch this Week:
Monday: West Virginia @ UConn (7, ESPN)
Tuesday: Kansas State @ Texas Tech (8:00)
Wednesday: Xavier @ Saint Louis (8:00)
Thursday: Georgia @ Vanderbilt (7, ESPNU)
Friday: Princeton @ Cornell (7:00)
Weekend 6-Pack to Watch:
Kentucky @ Tennessee (Sat, 12:00, CBS)
Texas @ Texas A&M (Sat, 2:00, ESPN)
New Mexico @ BYU (Sat, 4:00)
Villanova @ Syracuse (Sat, 9:00, ESPN)
Richmond @ Xavier (Sun, 1:00, ESPN)
Michigan State @ Purdue (Sun, 4:00)
What the Top 10 Should Be:
(1) Kansas
(2) Kentucky
(3) Purdue
(4) Syracuse
(5) Duke
(6) Villanova
(7) Kansas State
(8) Ohio State
(9) West Virginia
(10) New Mexico

Check back every week up until the championship game for more College Hoopla.

Feb. 22 Olympics Preview

After an exciting day of hockey in Vancouver yesterday, today is also all about the team. With no individual medals being given away today with four team medals being awarded.

Ski Jumping: Team Event
With no Simon Ammann in this event because there are no other big Swiss ski jumpers, the Austrians finally have a chance at gold after settling for bronze with Gregor Schlierenzauer doing that twice in the normal hill and long hill events. Austria's big four of Schlierezauer, Wolfgana Loitzl, Thomas Morgenstern and Andreas Kofler are the team to beat.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Austria
No American or Canadian Team
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Austria
Silver: Germany
Bronze: Norway

Cross Country: Men's Team Sprint
With nine different medalists in the three medal events so far, this is a wide open field. Norway, Sweden, and Czech Republic boast the strongest teams with Norway trying desperately to win the gold behind World Cup leader Petter Northug, who has been disappointing in Vancouver.
2006 Torino Gold Medalists: Sweden
American and Canadian Teams Entered
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Norway
Silver: Sweden
Bronze: Czech Republic

Cross Country: Women's Team Sprint
The women's events so far have been all about Marit Bjoergen of Norway, who has won three medals, two gold and a silver. The rest of the Norwegian team will need to step up to help Bjoergen win her fourth medal. Like the men's event, Sweden is the defending gold medalist and has a chance to win gold again.
2006 Torino Gold Medalists: Sweden
American and Canadian Teams Qualified for Final
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Sweden
Silver: Norway
Bronze: Germany

Ice Dance- Free Dance
The final of three disclipines of Olympic ice dancing is tonight with the free dance. Americans Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto moved into second place overall last night in the original dance. Belbin and Agosto are behind Maxim Shabalin and Oksana Domnina of Russia by three points.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Tatyana Navka/Roman Kostomarov (Russia)
Top American Hopefuls: Tanith Belbin/Ben Agosto
Top Canadian Hopefuls: Tessa Virtue/Scott Muir
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Maxim Shabalin/Oksana Domnina (Russia)
Silver: Tanith Belbin/Ben Agosto (USA)
Bronze: Charlie White/Meryl Davis (USA)

Olympics Day 10 Wrapup

Sunday in Vancouver was highlighted by Super Sunday in men's hockey. The concentration of everyone except for NBC was on the USA-Canada game at night. For those who watched NBC instead of the hockey game, you saw the newest Olympic event, bobsled, and the Bode Miller Redemption Tour.
The medal events started off today as they usually do, up at Whistler with either a cross-country or biathlon doubleheader. Today it was biathlon, where Norway yet again failed to medal in both events. The men's 15k mass start was first and it went down to the final lap. With most of the favorites missing at least one shot at the range, Russia's Evgeny Ustyugov took advantage after shooting clean for the fourth time, he took the lead. Hot on everyone's heels was France's Martin Fourcade, who sprinted up from fifth after the last shooting round to the silver medal in an Olympics that has been good to France in biathlon. Slovenia's Pavol Hurajt had a chance to win his country's first gold in biathlon but Ustyugov and Fourcade both passed him in the final lap, leaving Hurajy with bronze.
In the women's 12.5k version of the mass start, Germany's Magdelena Neuner became Germany's best athlete at Vancouver with her second gold and third overall medal. In a race that was down to three, Neuner passed Olga Zaitseva of Russia after the last shooting round on the final lap. Germany's Simone Hauswald took the bronze behind Neuner and Zaitseva.
The men's super combined featured stop number three of the Bode Miller Redemption Tour. This stop of the tour was the most successful for the American. After finishing seventh in the downhill portion, Miller finished third in the slalom which was enough to take the top spot. Croatia's Ivica Kostelic won the silver, Kostelic's sister, Janica won six alpine skiing medals in her career, giving the family a seventh medal with Ivica's silver. Swiss skier Silvan Zurbriggen surprised some people and took the bronze. Zurbriggen is hidded behind the rest of the Swiss team and is usually not mentioned in discussions of medal contenders, but now he will.
The newest event of the Winter Olympics took place today. Men's ski cross was a huge disappointment for Americans Daron Rahlves and Casey Puckett who did not make the quarterfinal round. World Cup leader Michael Schmid of Switzerland did qualify for the quarterfinals and ended winning the final. Andreas Matt took silver and Norway's Audun Groenvold benefitted from a fall from Chris Del Bosco of Canada to take bronze.
The Canadian women were heavily favored in the 1500 meter race but like American Shani Davis yesterday in the same distance, the heavy favorite won silver instead of gold. Kristina Groves needed to beat Ireen Wust's time of 1:56:89 to take first but finished 0.25 behind Wust and gave Canada a silver instead of the gold they wanted. Wust gave the orange section of Richmond Olympic Oval something to cheer about giving the Dutch their third gold medal in speed skating. 3000 meter winner Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic took the bronze.
As expected in the two-man bobsled, Germany dominated. Bringing the Germans within six medals of the USA were their top two sleds. Driver of Germany I Andre Lange defended his gold medal from Torino, this time with brakeman Kevin Kuske. Germany II driven by Thomas Florshuetz took the silver with brakeman Richard Adjei. Russia duo of driver Alexsandr Zubkov and brakeman Alexey Voevoda took the bronze.
Today's Gold Medal Winners:
Evgeny Ustyugov (Biathlon- Russia)
Magdalena Neuner (Biathlon- Germany)
Bode Miller (Alpine Skiing- USA)
Michael Schmid (Freestyle Skiing- Switzerland)
Ireen Wust (Speed Skating- Netherlands)
Germany I, Andre Lange/Kevin Kuske (Bobsled- Germany)
Medal Count after Sunday:
USA- 24
Germany- 18
Norway- 12
Canada, Korea- 9
Austria, Russia, France- 8
Switzerland- 7
Sweden- 6
China, Netherlands- 5
Poland, Italy- 4
Slovakia, Czech Republic, Japan- 3
Australia, Belarus, Latvia, Croatia, Slovenia- 2
Great Britain, Estonia, Finland, Kazakhstan- 1

Americans Show Heart in Heart of Hockey Country

The preliminary round game between the United States and Canada Sunday night had a ton of hype around the matchup between the two North American nations and it lived up to hype without a doubt. The focus of the nation is on Canada because they are playing at home and after their shootout win over Switzerland in their last game, they needed a start to propel them throughout the rest of the game and that is the complete opposite of what happened.
With forty seconds passed in the first period, Brian Rafalski unloaded a slapshot that deflected off of Scott Niedermayer's stick and to the left of Marty Brodeur into the net to make it 1-0 USA. Before most fans had even taken their seats at Canada Hockey Place, the place was quiet.
Quiet until Eric Staal leveled the game eight minutes after Rafalski's goal. But, twenty two seconds later, Rafalski scored again giving the lead back to the USA and silencing the crowd once again.
In the second period, halfway thru the third minute, Dany Heatley tied the game for Canada and gave them momentum that lasted for most of the period, but they could not score again in the second because of Ryan Miller in the American goal. After stopping 18 shots in the first period, the Buffalo Sabres' goalie stopped 11 of the 12 Canadian shots in the second period. Late in the period, veteran Chris Drury scored to make it 3-2 and that is how it would stand going into the second intermission.
The third period was nothing less of thrilling starting with a slew of Canadian penalties, the last of three led to the power play on which Rafalski almost got his third goal but it deflected off of Jamie Langenbrunner who was credited with the goal. The last five minutes were full of physical play, just like the whole game, and then a penalty on American defensemen Eric Johnson for tripping with 5:04 left gave Canada the advantage they wanted. After failing to score on a power play two minutes before, the Canadians finally capitaziled with a goal from Sidney Crosby. After the Crosby goal, you could feel the tension in the building through the television with play-by-play announcer Mike Emrick shouting every thirty seconds because of a shot by Canada being stopped by Miller. The pressure kept coming and coming until an American clearance turned into a hustle goal into the empty net by Ryan Kesler which clinched the game for the team from south of the border. The final forty five seconds after Kesler's goal were filled with desperation for the Canadian players and shock from the fans that just witnessed the biggest American hockey win since the Miracle on Ice in Lake Placid in 1980.
3 Stars
3. Zach Parise and Jamie Langenbrunner
Both wingers were on the best line of the night center by Paul Stastny and with Brian Rafalski and Ryan Suter at defense. From the beginning, the two New Jersey Devils fought hard and set the tone early setting up Rafalski's first goal.
2. Brian Rafalski
Rafalski set the tone with his first goal and then silenced the crowd with his second goal. He almsot had a third had his shot not been deflected off of Langenbrunner.
1. Ryan Miller
It was defintely Miller Time in Vancouver tonight. The Canadians kept shooting and shooting and with the exception of three goals, Miller kept saving and blocking shots in net. Miller ended up with 42 saves, more than his first two games combined.
Up Next: Team USA will either be first or second depending on if the Sweden-Finland goes to overtime tonight.
Canada will have to play a play-in game to get to the quarterfinals, they will be either the 6 or 7 seed.

Biggest Game Since Miracle on Ice

Almost thirty years to the day of the biggest moment in American hockey and Olympic history, the Miracle on Ice, another group of young, generally unknown, American players take the ice against a superpower of hockey in Canada at home. This game means alot and its just a round robin matchup. With a win, the Americans get a bye in the medal rounds and with alot of luck, they could possibly be the number one seed. If the Czechs lose to Russia and Sweden and Finland go to overtime, Team USA needs a regulation win to clinch the top spot. The Canadian team, projected to be the gold medal winner by many, slipped up against Switzerland and had to go to a shootout to win. If they lose today, Canada could end up as far down as seventh in seeding. On this day of rivalry in Olympic history, the USA-Canada matchup could set up a chance for the USA to join the Miracle on Ice team.
The Americans looked on form by easily taking care of Norway in their last game after a 3-1 win over the Swiss in the opener. Ryan Miller has been stellar in net with 24 saves and 2 goals against in two games. Most of the U.S. defensemen have a plus-minus over 2 and will need the control the Canadian attacking. Up front, Jamie Langenbruner will paired with teammate Zach Parise and center Paul Stastny to create a familarity for Parise, who has been one of the most consistent players for the USA in both games. The line of Ryan Kesler, Patrick Kane, and Phil Kessel will have to set a tone early as all three have the potential to score goals. The main key for the Americans will be to not get behind early and to keep it close throughout to win in the third period and get a medal round bye and possibly the #1 seed.
The Canadian team has tons of motivation to prove to their nation that they are a team worthy of winning a medal. The disappointing shootout win over Switzerland put the host nation into shock and thinking that their curling team might do better than the men's hockey team. Canada will have to get a strong performance in goal from either Roberto Luongo or Marty Brodeur. The star-studded roster will not want to have to play a play-in game as the sixth or seventh seed if they lose and if they win, they will get a bye and could avoid further humiliation to the host country.
Keys to the Game:
USA: Do not get behind early, Keep the game close
Canada: No letdown allowed, Big performance in goal

In the two other rivalry games today, Russia plays the Czech Republic and Sweden plays Finland. Russia has already lost to one of the former Soviet republics by losing in a shootout to Slovakia and could finish third in their group with a loss. The Czech team has taken care of Slovakia and Latvia in their first two games thanks to Tomas Vokoun in net and their scoring power led by Patrik Elias and Jaromir Jagr. They will need to score at least four or five goals to defeat Russia, who like Canada will be looking to avenge a bad game.
Going into today's game, the Russian team is in the same situation as Canada needing to prove to their country that they can win the big game after their shock loss to Slovakia in a shootout. The worst part of that game was that they only scored one goal in regulation and then followed it up by being stonewalled by Slovakian keeper Jaroslav Halak in the shootout. Russia needs this game more than Canada needs their game. Pride is what Russia has and if they lose today they would finish behind not one, but two former Soviet republics.
Keys to the Game:
Czech Republic: Good game for Vokoun, Contain the Ovechkin line.
Russia: Big game from Ovechkin line, Score more than one goal.

After all the fun happens with the North American border battle, Sweden and Finland win face off in the Scandinavian version. Finland has been scoring at will with five goals in both wins over Belarus and Germany, while Sweden has not looked as dominant in wins over the same teams.
The Finnish team has been getting contributions from every position. Defensemen Kimmo Timonen had two goals against Germany, Temmu Selanne became the player with the most points in Olympic hockey history with two assists, putting him at 37 points overall in Olympic play. The Ruutu brothers, Jarkko and Tuomo, have been playing well and will the whole team will need to play well today to clinch the #1 seed with a win.
The Swedes have seen some sketchy goaltending in the tournament but Henrik Lundqvist, who was not in goal for the Germany game, will most likely start tonight and will need to stop the high scoring Finns from making him turn around and pick the puck of the net. Sweden's biggest contribution on offense has been from Daniel Alfredsson and the Sedin twins. The defensemen will need to help set up the breakaways and goals in the offensive zone to keep the focus off the top forwards like Alfredsson, both Sedins, Johan Franzen and Nicklas Backstrom.
Keys to the Game:
Finland: Keep the game high-paced, Score, Score, Score
Sweden: Score more goals, Shut down Finns' goal scorers

No matter what the outcome of today's big games, one thing is certain, fans all over the world will be in for an entertaining day of Olympic hockey.

Feb. 21 Olympic Preview

While all of today's focus will be on the big three hockey games, there are six medals being given out. The new event added to the Olympics, Ski Cross or Skier X if you watch the X Games, makes its debut with the men's event. The American medal lead could shrink today with Ted Ligety and Bode Miller being the only two good chances at medals while Germany's better sports including bobsled and biathlon could produce medals and could give Germany a shot a chasing down the Americans.


Biathlon: Men's 15k Mass Start
The Norwegian team will look to have a day like Thursday when Emil Hegle Svendsen and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen took home medals. Bjoerndalen, the Michael Jordan of biathlon, has had an average Olympics and with only two events, including today, left he will look to become the most decorated biathlete of all-time.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Michael Greis (Germany)
Top American Hopeful: Tim Burke
Top Canadian Hopeful: Jean-Philippe Leguellec
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Ole Einar Bjoerndalen (Norway)
Silver: Simon Eder (Austria)
Bronze: Simon Fourcade (France)


Biathlon: Women's 12.5k Mass Start
The German team has a very good shot at sweeping the podium today. Four of the top six in the World Cup standings in this disclipine are German and two-time Vancouver medalist Magdalena Neuner is not one of them, she is 16th. With seven different medalists in the three women's biathlon events, anyone could take home the gold today.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Anna-Carin Olofsson-Zidek (Sweden)
Top American Hopeful: None
Top Canadian Hopeful: Zina Kocher
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Andrea Henkel (Germany)
Silver: Magdalena Neuner (Germany)
Bronze: Anna Carin Olofsson-Zidek (Sweden)

Alpine Skiing: Men's Super Combined
The first two skiing events for the men have witnessed the Bode Miller Redemption Tour visit Whistler Mountain twice already with a silver in the Super G and bronze in the downhill. Norway' Aksel Lund Svindal has also been in tip-top shape with a gold in the Super G and silver in the downhill. Svindal and Miller will be in contention today as well. Skiers that have had a disappointing performance so far like Didier Cuche, Carlo Janka and Benjamin Raich will look to win their first medals today.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Ted Ligety (USA)
Top American Hopefuls: Bode Miller, Ted Ligety, Andrew Weibrecht
Top Canadian Hopeful: Ryan Semple
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Carlo Janka (Switzerland)
Silver: Bode Miller (USA)
Bronze: Aksel Lund Svindal (Norway)

Freestyle Skiing: Men's Ski Cross
The newest winter event is the same as snowboard cross but with skis. Fans of the X Games see this event every year as Skier X. This shows the influence events like the X Games have on the Olympics by getting all of the snowboarding events and now Skier X into the Olympic program. The favorites in this race are Michael Schmid of Switzerland and Andreas Matt of Austria. Look for Canadian, Chris Del Bosco to contend as well as Americans Daron Rahlves and Casey Puckett.
Top American Hopeful: Daron Rahlves and Casey Puckett
Top Canadian Hopeful: Chris Del Bosco
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Chris Del Bosco (Canada)
Silver: Michael Schmid (Switzerland)
Bronze: Casey Puckett (USA)

Speed Skating: Women's 1500 meters
O, Canada has real chance of being played tonight at the women's 1500 meters medal ceremony. Kristina Groves and 1000m gold medalist Christine Nesbitt are 1-2 in the World Cup standings and will no doubt be motivated by the home crowd at the Richmond Olympic Oval. The other loud and the brightest part of the crowd, the Dutch will be supporting Ireen Wust who has a chance of medaling. Also in the hint will be, 3000m gold medalist Martina Sablikova.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Cindy Klassen (Canada)
Top American Hopeful: Jennifer Rodriguez
Top Canadian Hopefuls: Christine Nesbitt and Kristina Groves
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Kristina Groves (Canada)
Silver: Christine Nesbitt (Canada)
Bronze: Martina Sablikova (Czech Republic)

2-Man Bobsled
Both German sleds are on top of the standings after the first two runs from yesterday. Defending gold medalist Andre Lange is first and Thomas Florshuetz is second and look for it to keep the same order at the top as it has for three of the four sliding events. Steve Holcomb in USA 1 is prepping for the four-man race and is fourth right now after two runs.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist Driver: Andre Lange (Germany I)
Top American Hopeful: Steve Holcomb (USA I)
Top Canadian Hopeful: Pierre Lueders (Canada II)
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Germany I (Andre Lange/Kevin Kuske)
Silver: Germany II (Thomas Florshuetz/Richard Adjei)
Bronze: USA I (Steve Holcomb/Curtis Tomasevicz)

Olympics Day 9 Wrapup

Greatness was made today at the Winter Olympics. Simon Ammann and Apolo Anton Ohno both set records for most medals for their country in Winter Olympic history. Ammann recorded his fourth gold medal in ski jumping by winning the long hill event and became the most decorated Swiss ever in the Winter games. Ohno's bronze in the 1000 meters gave him seven total medals passing Bonnie Blair and becoming the most decorated American. The Americans did win three medals, two bronze, one silver, but it was a disappointing three medals with favorites Ohno, Shani Davis, and Lindsey Vonn failing to produce a gold. The USA did extend its lead on Germany in the medal count to nine with only one medal coming from the German camp in silver medalist Tobias Angerer.
In the first event of the day, Simon Ammann continued his complete domination of ski jumping in the long hill competition. As mentioned above, Ammann is now the most decorated ski jumper and Swiss athlete in Winter Olympics history. Behind Ammann were the same two jumpers in the same order from the normal hill event. Adam Malysz of Poland took silver and Austrain Gregor Schlierenzauer won bronze.
The men's cross-country 30 kilometer combined pursuit was full of excitement after the switch over the freestyle. In the changeover from classic to freestyle skis, Johan Olsson sprinted out to a commanding lead and threw the field into panic. Olsson was eventually chased down and his countryman Marcus Hellner ended up with gold, Olsson took the bronze giving the Swedes two more medals. Germany's Tobias Angerer came in second.
The women's Super G was the first of three disappointing medal results for Team USA. Lindsey Vonn took the lead after her run but was bested first by Slovenia' Tina Maze and then by Austria's Andrea Fischbacher of Austria leaving Vonn with the bronze. The other top American, Julia Mancuso was not a factor finishing ninth.
The second disappointment of the night for Team USA came from Shani Davis, who needed to beat Mark Tuitert's time of 1:45:57 in the last heat to win the gold in his best event, the 1500 meters. Davis was not able to beat the Dutchmen's time, finishing .53 seconds behind Tuitert. Davis did get the silver medal but it is not the gold that everyone assumed he would win. Havard Bokko of Norway was the bronze medal winner.
In short track, it was an Asian Domination. The women's 1500 meters was won by World Cup leader Zhou Yang of China. The silver and bronze won by Lee Eun-Byul and Park Seung-Hi of Korea, were the first two of four short track medals won tonight for the Koreans.
In the men's 1000 meters, Korean skaters, Lee Jung-Su and Lee Ho-Suk took advantage of a slip by American Apolo Anton Ohno and steamrolled ahead of the Hamelin brothers, Charles and Francois, of Canada to take the lead. Lee Jung-Su took his second gold of the games adding to his gold in the 1500 meters, Lee Ho-Suk held on for the silver. Ohno's untimely slip while passing Francois Hamelin slowed him down and he had to fight for the bronze but with the medal he did become the most decorated American athelte in Winter Olympics history.
Today's Gold Medalists:
Simon Ammann (Ski Jumping- Switzerland)
Marcus Hellner (Cross-Country- Sweden)
Andrea Fischbacher (Alpine Skiing- Austria)
Mark Tuitert (Speed Skating- Netherlands)
Zhou Yang (Short Track- China)
Lee Jung-Su (Short Track- South Korea)
Medal Count after Saturday:
USA- 23
Germany- 14
Norway- 11
Korea- 9
Canada- 8
Austria, France- 7
Sweden- 6
Switzerland, China, Russia- 5
Netherlands, Poland, Italy- 4
Japan- 3
Australia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Belarus, Slovenia- 2
Great Britain, Estonia, Finland, Kazakhstan, Croatia- 1

Feb. 20 Olympics Preview

We are venturing into the second week of the Vancouver Winter Olympics and so many storylines have developed like, Will the Americans hold off Germany and Norway for the medal title? Will Marit Bjoergen, Julia Mancuso and Bode Miller win five medals? Many more questions will be asked and answered throughout the next week up until the closing ceremony on the 28th. Here is the preview for today's six medal events that could give the Americans a very decisive lead in the medal count if all goes right.

Ski Jumping: Long Hill
After winning the gold in the normal hill event last Saturday, Simon Ammann will look to win his fourth overall gold medal today and as always he will face the challenge of beating the powerful Austrian team. The Austrains will look to improve on the bronze won by Gregor Schlierenzauer in the normal hill. With the start moved back thirty feet and Thomas Morgenstern being the defending gold medalist, Austria's hopes are high.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Thomas Morgenstern (Austria)
Top American Hopeful: None
Top Canadian Hopeful: None
Athlete That Could Sneak on the Podium: Robert Kranjec (Slovenia)
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Simon Ammann (Switzerland)
Silver: Thomas Morgenstern (Austria)
Bronze: Gregor Schlierenzauer (Austria)

Cross-Country: Men's 30k Combined Pursuit
This olympiad has been disappointing for World #1, Petter Northug of Norway, who was expected to win a couple gold medals but only has a bronze in the sprint to boast. Northug will be a man on a mission today and look for him to finally gain the elusive gold medal.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Eugeni Dementiev (Russia)
Top American Hopeful: Kris Freeman
Top Canadian Hopeful: Ivan Babikov
Athlete who Sneak on the Podium: Ivan Babikov (Canada)
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Petter Northug (Norway)
Silver: Lukas Bauer (Czech Republic)
Bronze: Matti Heikkinen (Finland)

Skiing: Women's Super G
The attention that Lindsey Vonn has received going into and at the Olympics overshadowed the other American winning medals in women's alpine skiing: Julia Mancuso. This is one of Mancuso's better events and she will be able to set the pace as she is going out first in the afternoon.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Michaela Dorfmeister (Austria)
Top American Hopefuls: Lindsey Vonn, Julia Mancuso
Top Canadian Hopeful: Emily Brydon
Athlete who could Sneak on to Podium: Tina Maze (Slovenia)
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Julia Mancuso (USA)
Silver: Lindsey Vonn (USA)
Bronze: Maria Riesch (Germany)

Speed Skating: Men's 1500 meters
The Shani Davis Speed Skating Spectacular could continue today with the 1500 meters. Along with 1000m where he won gold, this is one Davis' strongest events. Being in the last pairing will be key so that he knows what time he needs to beat. Davis will face competition from teammate Chad Hedrick, defending gold medalist Enrico Fabris and the Dutch duo of Stefan Groothuis and Mark Tuitert.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Enrico Fabris (Italy)
Top American Hopefuls: Shani Davis, Chad Hedrick
Top Canadian Hopefuls: Lucas Makowsky, Denny Morrison
Athlete that could Sneak on to Podium: Trevor Marsicano (USA)
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Shani Davis (USA)
Silver: Stefan Groothuis (Netherlands)
Bronze: Enrico Fabris (Italy)

Short Track: Women's 1500 meters
Everyone's short track withdrawal will be cured with two medal events in the most exciting sport in the Olympics. The women's 1500 meters is the first of two medal events, China's Wang Meng is looking win her second gold in Vancouver after winning the 500 meters.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Sun-Yu Jin (Korea)
Top American Hopeful: Katherine Reutter
Top Canadian Hopeful: Kalyna Roberge
Athlete who could Sneak on to Podium: Arianna Fontana (Italy)
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Zhou Yang (China)
Silver: Katherine Reutter (USA)
Bronze: Cho Ha-Ri (Korea)

Short Track: Men's 1000 meters
The Korean speed skaters have been having nightmares of the crash that sent two Korean skaters out of medal contention and gave away two medals to the USA in the 1500 meters. With a medal tonight, Apolo Anton Ohno can become the most decorated American Winter Olympian passing Bonnie Blair. Also, look for the Hamelin brothers, Charles and Francois, of Canada who will try and will won for the home crowd.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Hyun Soo-Ahn (Korea)
Top American Hopeful: Apolo Anton Ohno
Top Canadian Hopefuls: Charles and Francois Hamelin
Athelte who could Sneak on to Podium: Thibaut Fauconnet (France)
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Apolo Anton Ohno (USA)
Silver: Lee Jung-Su (Korea)
Bronze: Charles Hamelin (Canada)

Olympics Day 8 Wrapup

The celebrations in Oslo are starting to get bigger by the day with another two golds going to the winnigest nation in Winter Olympics history. Norway's Marit Bjoergen and Aksel Lund Svindal took gold in the day events on Friday. At the Whistler Sliding Centre, Canada won its fourth gold of the games thanks to Jon Montgomery in skeleton and Great Britain got on the medal board with Amy Williams' gold, also in skeleton.
The men's Super G competition saw American Andrew Weibrecht take an early lead, one skier later his teammate Bode Miller continued the Bode Miller Redemption Tour by placing the best time. Miller's top time lastest until Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway, who won the silver in the downhill, beat Bode by 28 seconds and his time held up to win gold. After winning gold in the downhill, Didier Defago along with the rest of the Swiss team could not muster up a good run at all with the highest finishing Swiss in eighth place.
Also at Whistler during the day was the third women's cross-country event. This time it was the 15k pursuit, which combines the two different styles of the sport, freestyle and classic, to be done for half of the race. Marit Bjoergen continued her phenomenal form and won her second goal and third overall medal of the games. Bjoergen beat Sweden's Anna Haag by eight seconds and World Cup leader Justyna Kowalcyzk of Poland by 9.3 seconds. Bjoergen has three days off and then will try to win her fourth medal in the team relay Monday.
The Whistler Sliding Centre had a minor bit of controversy today with the American team complaining about Amy Williams' helmet being unfair but the judges ruled that the Brit's helmet was legal and had nothing to do with her record-breaking second heat yesterday. Williams continued the trend at the sliding centre by leading in all four heats. All three luge events and the women's skeleton had the same leader for all four heats. Williams dropped another record run in her third heat and after her fourth run finished over half a second ahead of Germany's Kerstin Szymkowiak and over three-fourths of a second ahead of Anja Huber of Germany. Williams' win give Great Britain their first gold medal since the Lake Placid games in 1980.
In the men's skeleton, Jon Montgomery of Canada broke the trend of being in front for all four heats. Martins Dukurs of Latvia, who was been dominant all season, was up by 0.18 over Montgomery after the third run. But, it all changed in the fourth and final run with Montgomery pulling pack his time and surpassing Dukurs by seven hundredths of a second to claim home gold yet again for Canada. Alexander Tretyakov took bronze for Russia.
Today's Gold Medalists:
Aksel Lund Svindal (Alpine Skiing- Norway)
Marit Bjoergen (Cross-Country- Norway)
Amy Williams (Skeleton- Great Britain)
Jon Montgomery (Skeleton- Canada)
Medal Count after Friday:
USA- 20
Germany- 13
Norway- 10
Canada- 8
France- 7
Korea, Austria, Russia- 5
Switzerland, China, Sweden, Italy- 4
Netherlands, Poland, Japan- 3
Australia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Belarus- 2
Great Britain, Estonia, Finland, Kazakhstan, Croatia, Slovenia- 1

Feb. 19 Olympics Preview

After one whole week of events in Vancouver we have learned a few things, the Americans have a legit shot at winning the overall medal title, Canada goes absolutely bizzerk whenever an image of a Canadian athlete is shown on a big screen and that Lindsey Vonn's shin seems to not be an issue. Friday is a slow day with only four medal events but as always here is the preview of the medal events.

Alpine Skiing: Men's Super G
After the women took to the slopes the past two days, the men get a shot at the slopes in Whistler. Also, the Bode Miller Redemption Tour continues after his bronze in the downhill on Sunday, he will look to medal again. Yet again he will face competition from Switzerland's Didier Duo (Cuche, Defago) and the strong contingents from Austria, Norway, and Canada.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Kjetil Andre Aamodt (Norway)
Top American Hopeful: Bode Miller
Top Canadian Hopefuls: Manuel Osborne-Paradis and Erik Guay
2009-10 World Cup Leader: Michael Walchhofer (Austria)
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Benjamin Raich (Austria)
Silver: Bode Miller (USA)
Bronze: Michael Walchhofer (Austria)

Cross-Country: Women's 15k Pursuit
Marit Bjoergen of Norway will look to win her third medal in three events today in the event that combines 7.5k of classic skiing style and the other 7.5k of freestyle. The same names that have been mentioned this week in the other previews like Justyna Kowalcyzk, Petra Majdic, Charlotte Kalla and others are in the hunt for more medals.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Kristina Smigun (Estonia)
Top American Hopeful: None
Top Canadian Hopeful: Daria Gaiazova
2009-10 World Cup Leader: Justyna Kowalcyzk (Poland)
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Marit Bjoergen (Norway)
Silver: Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (Finland)
Bronze: Justyna Kowalcyzk (Poland)

Women's Skeleton
After the first two heats on Thursday, Britain's Amy Williams leads after setting a track record up at Whistler in her second run. Williams is 32 seconds ahead of Kerstin Syzmkowiak and 35 seconds in front of Canada's Mellisa Hollingsworth. Americans Noelle Pikus-Pace and Katie Uhleander to need improve tremendously to have a medal shot.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Maya Pedersen (Switzerland)
Top American Hopefuls: Noelle Pikus-Pace (5th after 2 runs), Katie Uhleander (9th after 2 runs)
Top Canadian Hopeful: Mellisa Hollingsworth (3rd after 2 runs)
2009-10 World Cup Leader: Mellisa Hollingsworth (Canada)
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Mellisa Hollingsworth (Canada)
Silver: Amy Williams (Great Britain)
Bronze: Anja Huber (Germany)

Men's Skeleton
Just like the women, the men took their first two runs last night and World Cup leader Martins Dukurs of Latvia leads by 28 seconds over Jon Montgomery of Canada. With a chance to possibly sweep the skeleton events along with Hollingsworth for Canada, Montgomery will surely be motivated to take back those 28 seconds.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Duff Gibson (Canada)
Top American Hopeful: Zach Lund (8th after 2 runs)
Top Canadian Hopeful: Jon Montgomery (2nd after 2 runs)
2009-10 World Cup Leader: Martins Dukurs (Latvia)
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Jon Montgomery (Canada)
Silver: Martins Dukurs (Latvia)
Bronze: Alexander Tretyakov (Russia)

Olympics Day 7 Wrapup

In a week chock full of excitement in Vancouver, today added to the excitement. Norway finally came through and won both biathlon gold medals today after struggling to win a medal in the early events. The Americans surprisingly failed to take home a gold due to a crash by Lindsey Vonn in the slalom portion of the combined and Torah Bright winning the halfpipe event for Australia. Canada got their third gold medal today thanks to Christine Nesbitt in the 1000 meter speed skating race. Also, some of the smaller nations took home medals like Australia along with Belarus and Kazakhstan.
The biathlon finally went Norway's way and gave a gold to Tora Berger in the women's 15k individual start and Emil Hegle Svendsen in the men's 20k individual start. Also adding to the medal count was legend Ole Einar Bjoerndalen who took the bronze in the men's event.
The big story, at least for the small nations of Belarus and Kazakhstan, was that the other medalists gave their country a reason to party all night. Kazakhstan's Elena Khrustaleva won silver in the women's biathlon event and Belarus took two medals in biathlon thanks to Darya Domracheva with a bronze and Sergey Novikov who took home a silver.
In the women's super combined, Lindsey Vonn looked set for another gold after finishing first in the downhill but by crashing in the slalom, she left her medal hopes for today on the slopes. However, all was not lost for the USA because Julia Mancuso continued her great skiing form and won her second silver medal of the Vancouver games. Germany's Maria Riesch won the slalom portion of the event and it was enough to slide by Mancuso. Taking the bronze was Anja Paerson of Sweden.
In speed skating, Christine Nesbitt was all but a lock to win the women's 1000 meters and she did. Giving Canada its third gold of the games, Nesbitt bested two Dutch women, Annetter Gerritsen and Laurine van Riessen, who took silver and bronze to give the home crowd something worth cheering for.
A surprise occurred in the women's halfpipe event, Torah Bright of Australia beat out the strong American contingent of snowboarders. Gretchen Bleiler failed to complete her runs and Elena Hight did not make the podium but Hannah Teter and Kelly Clark did. Teter took the silver and Clark the bronze as the Americans added to their snowboarding collection of medals making it their fourth and fifth in the sport.
In figure skating, the race for gold in the men's event was within a point's reach for three skaters, Evgeni Plushenko, Evan Lysacek, and Daisuke Takahashi. Lysacek was the first to go in the last group in the free skate, he took the lead and after the last skater, Plushenko's scores were posted, Lysacek was still on top. Lysacek now has a gold to match his girlfriend Nastia Liukin's gold from Beijing. Pluschenko finished a whole point behind Lysacek to take silver and Takahashi was almost ten points behind the top two but still was able to take bronze.
Today's Gold Medalists:
Tora Berger (Biathlon- Norway)
Emil Hegle Svendsen (Biathlon- Norway)
Maria Riesch (Alpine Skiing- Germany)
Christine Nesbitt (Speed Skating- Canada)
Torah Bright (Snowboarding- Australia)
Evan Lysacek (Figure Skating- USA)
Medal Count after Thursday:
USA- 18
Germany- 11
Norway- 8
Canada, France- 7
Korea, Austria- 5
Switzerland, China, Russia, Italy- 4
Sweden, Netherlands, Japan- 3
Australia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Belarus- 2
Estonia, Finland, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Croatia, Slovenia- 1

Feb. 18 Olympics Preview

After the domination by Americans and defending gold medalists yesterday, a couple defending gold medalists have a good shot at taking gold again in today's medal events. Also, Canada has another shot winning a gold in speed skating with Christine Nesbitt.
Biathlon: Women's 15k Individual Start
The same contenders from the past two biathlon events, the pursuit and sprint, will be in the mix for medals today. So far both Magdalena Neuner of Germany and Anastazia Kuzmina of Slovakia have two medals in two events and will be looking for more. Challenging them will be Neuner's fellow Germans Andrea Henkel and Kati Wilhelm and Sweden's Helena Jonsson and Anna-Carin Olofsson-Zidek. The French team will look to add to their surprising amount of medals in biathlon, already with the two bronze medals, their best chance comes from pursuit bronze medalist Marie Laure Brunet.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Svetlana Ishmouratova (Russia)
Top American Hopeful: Haley Johnson (44th in WC standings)
Top Canadian Hopeful: None
Dominant Nations: Germany, Sweden
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Magdalena Neuner (Germany)
Silver: Marie Laure Brunet (France)
Bronze: Anna Carin Olofsson-Zidek (Sweden)

Biathlon: Men's 20k Individual Start
Biathlon is the only sport that the USA has not won a medal in the Winter Olympics and Tim Burke can change that today. Burke is fourth in the World Cup standings and will pose a challenge to pursuit silver medalist and individual World Cup leader Christoph Sumann of Austria for gold.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Michael Greis (Germany)
Top American Hopeful: Tim Burke
Top Canadian Hopeful: Jean-Philippe Leguellec
Dominant Nation: Austria
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Christoph Sumann (Austria)
Silver: Tim Burke (USA)
Bronze: Bjorn Ferry (Sweden)

Alpine Skiing: Women's Super Combined
The combination of downhill and slalom will give Americans Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso a chance to win more medals after their 1-2 finish in the downhill yesterday. Vonn goes in as the World Cup leader and will get a challenge yet again from Anja Paerson of Sweden, who crashed yesterday, and bronze medalist in the downhill Elisbabeth Goergl of Austria.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Janica Kostelic (Croatia)
Top American Hopefuls: Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso
Top Canadian Hopeful: Shona Rubens and Emily Brydon
Dominant Nations: USA, Austria
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Lindsey Vonn (USA)
Silver: Anja Paerson (Sweden)
Bronze: Julia Mancuso (USA)

Speed Skating: Women's 1000 meters
This is Christine Nesbitt's race to lose. The top-ranked Canadian has won all four World Cup events and will look to win Canada's third gold medal in Vancouver. With an internationally diverse group of skaters hailing from the Netherlands, Korea, China, and Germany chasing her, Nesbitt will have to perform like she has all season.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Marianne Timmer (Netherlands)
Top American Hopeful: Jennifer Rodriguez and Heather Richardson
Top Canadian Hopeful: Christine Nesbitt
Dominant Nation: None
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Christine Nesbitt (Canada)
Silver: Nao Kodaira (Japan)
Bronze: Kristina Groves (Canada)

Figure Skating: Men's Free Skate
After the short program on Tuesday, the top three skaters are seperated by less than a point. This puts extra pressure on all three skaters, defending gold medalist from Russia Evgeni Pluschenko, American Evan Lysacek and Japan's Daisuke Takahashi. There is no question that this is top three barring a fall but the actual medal places will be determined tonight.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Evgeni Pluschenko (Russia)
Top American Hopeful: Evan Lysacek (2nd after short program)
Top Canadian Hopeful: Patrick Chan (7th after short program)
Dominat Nations: Russia, USA, Japan
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Evgeni Pluscheko (Russia)
Silver: Evan Lysacek (USA)
Bronze: Daisuke Takahashi (Japan)

Snowboarding: Women's Halfpipe
After the show that American teammate Shaun White put on last night, Kelly Clark, Gretchen Bleiler, and Hannah Teter will look to sweep the podium tonight. The gold should go to the Americans, but competition does come from Aussie Torah Bright and Sophie Rodriguez of France. If any one of the Americans will be weak, it is Teter who has just started snowboarding again this season after taking time off to do humanitarian work.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Hannah Teter (USA)
Top American Hopefuls: Kelly Clark, Gretchen Bleiler, Hannah Teter
Top Canadian Hopeful: Mercedes Nicoll
Dominant Nation: USA
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Kelly Clark (USA)
Silver: Gretchen Bleiler (USA)
Bronze: Hannah Teter (USA)