Olympic Update

After many upsets for Canada in men's long track speed skating, the women are once again taking the reins on Canada's medal hopes. Kristina Groves won the silver and Canada's ninth medal of these games, in the women's 1,500 metre long track yesterday. She skated a great race behind a roaring home crowd. Canada's Christine Nesbitt, who already has a gold medal in Vancouver, came in sixth position after an inspiring race. Good work ladies.

It is evident that Canadian athletes are stressed under the high expectations of these Olympics, but they have done great nonetheless. After the race, Nesbitt was quoted as saying, "whether we live up to the 87 medals we were supposed to win remains to be seen." Those numbers are of course tongue in cheek, but Nesbitt goes on to say that whatever the final result people will look back on the Vancouver games as a success for team Canada.

The Canadian men's hockey team, hoping to prove Nebitt's prediction of success, once again failed to generate team chemistry in a game against the rival American hockey squad. The speed of the United States proved too much for Canada's defenders, and American goalie Ryan Miller stymied most attempts by team Canada to generate any offense. It was an exciting game, but obviously not what Canada was looking for.

The United States now have a by to the quarterfinals, while Canada now has to play an extra game to qualify. Canada will face Germany on Tuesday, and will need a win to qualify for the quarterfinals.

To some, the extra game could be a blessing in disguise for Canada, as they will now have the chance to develop that team chemistry and speed that has been lacking. On the other hand, it could prove to be disasterous as confidence must be lacking. Goaltender, Martin Brodeur cannot take all the blame for Canada's loss to the US, but it has been confirmed that Luongo will get the next start in net against Germany tomorrow night.

Despite the woes of Canada's men's team, we cannot forget the women, as their journey for gold continues tonight when they face Finland in the semi-finals at 8:00pm EST. The United States will face Sweden in the other semi-final game today. Both should be great games.

The men's and women's curling teams are still going strong, with the men raising their record to 8-0 with a win over the Americans today. Both the men and women remain medal hopefulls for Canada, so cheer loud!

More good news for Canada, as ice dancers Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue skated to an incredible performance last night. It was their second of three skates, and moved them into first place overall in the competition, thus far. The final skate is tonight, and it should be a doozie. Good luck to them.