VANCOUVER — Canadians are waking up after their smashing success at hosting the 2010 Winter Games with something akin to post-coital bliss, a Canadian Press-Harris Decima survey has found.

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VANCOUVER — Some 80 per cent of Canadians watched part of the Olympic hockey final with an average audience of 16.6 million viewers, according to CTV.

The game aired live on nine television networks in eight languages, the host broadcaster said.

VANCOUVER — Canada capped the Golden Games with the medal that matters Sunday, beating the United States 3-2 in an Olympic hockey overtime thriller at Canada Hockey Place.

VANCOUVER — The final word on the Vancouver Olympics? Excellent and very friendly.

VANCOUVER — Like the unforgettable goals scored by Paul Henderson in 1972 and Mario Lemieux in 1987, Sidney Crosby’s winner in Sunday’s Olympic final against the United States is headed straight into Canadian hockey lore.

“Iggy!” No. 87 cried out to Jarome Iginla before taking a pass from his winger, walking out in front, and slipping the puck through Ryan Miller’s legs at 7:40 of overtime, sealing a 3-2 victory. Up went his arms, out went his mouthguard and so began the celebration of a play destined to be copied in driveways from coast to coast.

VANCOUVER — This wasn’t the Olympic story that Joannie Rochette wanted to write.

But if there can be a fitting end to a bittersweet Games for the 24-year-old figure skater from Ile-Dupas, Que., carrying Canada’s flag into the closing ceremonies of the Vancouver Games is it — the perfect tribute to a courageous athlete who has lifted so many.

WHISTLER, B.C. — In the end it was about the length of a ski that separated Devon Kershaw from an Olympic medal.

The Canadian cross-country skier came into a roaring stadium in the lead pack in Sunday’s 50-kilometre race and lunged against the sport’s superstars in a photo finish that ended with him in fifth.

VANCOUVER — Hockey fans are bonding from sea to shining sea in shared longing for Team Canada to kick some butt as its players gear up for the biggest rivalry north of the 49th parallel set to play out on ice.

Spectators were still sweating a little from Friday’s last-minute scramble to preserve a 3-2 lead over Slovakia, but were already putting that test behind them in preparation for the defining gold medal men’s hockey game against the U.S. on Sunday.

Looking for a piece of Olympic history? Monday’s Chronicle Herald will feature the iconic images of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, as well as a full recap of Canada’s performance. Don’t miss it!

Vancouver — CANADA climbed into the Olympic record books Saturday with 13 gold medals, an all-time, all-season best for the country that ties the most top-tier podium finishes by any nation in a Winter Games.

Lucky 13 went to Edmonton curling skip Kevin Martin, who piloted the Canadian rink to a convincing 6-3 win over Norway, the same country that denied him gold eight years ago in Salt Lake City.

VANCOUVER — Four years ago, Kevin Martin crafted a blueprint for Olympic curling gold.

The Edmonton skip, a silver medallist at the 2002 Winter Olympics, handpicked a team to get back to the Games. He added Brier runner-up John Morris, a former world junior champion as his third, along with second Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert, young workhorses with blue-chip resumes of their own.

AN OLYMPICS that frequently swung between success and disaster for Denny Morrison and the rest of Canada’s long-track speedskaters came to a golden end Saturday — and it was all in the push.

The men’s pursuit team introduced a new technique to the sport when the second and third skaters gently tapped the member in front of him on the butt while on straightaways, helping the often tired leader maintain his speed with the boost from behind.

VANCOUVER — The burning question the chief of Sochi’s 2014 Winter Olympic effort faced Saturday wasn’t about whether the balmy Russian resort risks a Vancouver-like weather embarrassment, or if protesters who show up will face heavy-handed Russian security.

No, people wanted to know: What the heck is a zorb?

WHISTLER, B.C. — Tears mixed with rain poured down the wide sideburns of legally blind cross-country skier Brian McKeever on Saturday as he described the utter dejection he felt at being relegated to alternate status at the Vancouver Olympics.

“It’s emotional for sure — it’s something I never hoped to hear and I’m not happy,” McKeever said.

VANCOUVER — Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette and Slovenian cross-country skier Petra Majdic are the winners of the Terry Fox Award at the Vancouver Olympics.

The award, created for the 2010 Games by the Fox family and Vancouver organizers, is named for the heroic amputee runner who set out on a cross-country trek to raise funds for cancer research in 1980.

VANCOUVER — Alarm bells sounded in women’s hockey at the Vancouver Olympics. The 2010 tournament didn’t convince anyone the level of competition in the sport is improving.

Melody Davidson’s decision to have her Canadian team play two games against midget boys’ teams during the women’s tournament was a stroke of genius.

WEST VANCOUVER, B.C. — Veteran Canadian snowboarder Jasey-Jay Anderson finally has his long-awaited Olympic medal.

The 34-year-old native of Mont-Tremblant, Que., won gold in the men’s parallel giant slalom at the Vancouver Winter Games on Saturday.

RICHMOND, B.C. — Canada has won a historic gold medal in the men's long-track speedskating team pursuit at the Vancouver Olympics.

WEST VANCOUVER, B.C. — Veteran Canadian snowboarder Jasey-Jay Anderson finally has his long-awaited Olympic medal.

WHISTLER, B.C. — Canada has won a bronze medal in the four-man bobsled at the Winter Olympics.

VANCOUVER — The nerves are on edge again for Team Canada heading into its gold-medal game against the United States at the 2010 Olympics.

VANCOUVER — Canada took the lead in gold medals at the Vancouver Olympics on Friday, winning a pair to boost its total to 10.

The men's short-track speedskating team was the big producer on a four-medal day with two gold and one bronze, while the women's curling team took silver.

WHISTLER, B.C. (CP) — “Sara Renner is entering the stadium,” boomed the announcer, as 5,000 people roared approval during an Olympic cross-country skiing race earlier this week.

But her daughter Aria, 3, scarcely glanced up from her separate world of snow forts and make believe.

RICHMOND, B.C. — It’ll be gold or silver for Canada in the men’s long-track speedskating team pursuit at the Vancouver Olympics, but the women are going home empty-handed after a stunning upset loss to the United States.

Denny Morrison of Fort St. John, B.C., Lucas Makowsky of Regina and Mathieu Giroux of Montreal posted an Olympic record time of three minutes 42.22 seconds to defeat Norway in the semifinals.

VANCOUVER — Kevin Martin is preparing for his biggest game in eight years as he once again meets Norway for the gold medal at the Winter Olympics.

Rewind to the 2002 Winter Olympic final in Salt Lake City — Martin, who was poised to win the gold medal, was inches too heavy on an out-turn draw with his last rock — making Pal Trulsen of Norway the Olympic champion.

VANCOUVER — The International Olympic Committee is playing down an on-ice celebration by the Canadian women’s hockey team.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams said a letter is being drafted to Canadian Olympic officials to get more details on the impromptu party the Canadian women threw at Canada Hockey Place after winning gold at the Winter Games on Thursday.

VANCOUVER — In every stroke of her blade against the ice and every graceful turn of her hand, Joannie Rochette’s mother was there in her thoughts, exactly where she always had been.

And when she turned her final spin, and her body was completely spent, she raised her arms to the rafters. They’d accomplished their goal together.

VANCOUVER — The torment began almost immediately.

The shot by Ryan Malone of the United States into a wide-open net left Finland goalie Miikka Kiprusoff staring at the ceiling and shaking his head.

VANCOUVER — Let’s hear it for the girls.

Women have accounted for more than three-quarters of Canada’s medal haul at the Vancouver Olympics.

VANCOUVER — It’s taken eight years but Canadian curler Kevin Martin finally has another chance at Olympic gold. All that stands in his way is Norway and its eye-popping pants.

Martin will get his chance to right the wrong in 2002, when he was in a position to win the gold medal in Salt Lake City but faltered in the final and lost to Pal Trulsen of Norway.

WHISTLER, B.C. (CP) — Newly crowned bobsled champion Kaillie Humphries says hometown pressure helped —rather than hindered — her push for Olympic gold.

The 24-year-old native of Calgary says the loud and proud crowd at the Whistler Sliding Centre made their stunning double medal win “all that more sweet.”

WHISTLER, B.C. — The hunt is on for the next great hope among Canada’s female cross-country skiers, and some eyes are turning now to a young woman who wants to make her Russian granny proud.

Daria Gaiazova, a 26-year-old who has managed a seventh in the team sprints at the Vancouver Olympics, was given the prestigious job of leading off the team in their four-by-five kilometre relay on Thursday.

CANADA’S CHERYL BERNARD is one win away from Olympic gold after knocking off two-time silver medallist Mirjam Ott of Switzerland 6-5.

Bernard took a 6-4 lead into the 10th end of Thursday’s semifinal at the Vancouver Games and won when Ott missed on a takeout attempt with her final stone. Ott was able to knock Bernard’s rock out of the rings but her shooter sailed too far, forcing the Swiss to settle for one.

VANCOUVER — Tough, hard, relentless. Team Canada was on its game Wednesday night.

Taking their final warmup turns in front of a raucous Canada Hockey Place crowd, the Canadian players were surging with adrenalin — and confidence. Everything had finally fallen into place with line changes, the team was back in high gear and ready for the Russians.

WHISTLER, B.C. — Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany beat the fog down the mountain and took a surprise victory Thursday in the Olympic giant slalom.

Rebensburg, who had never won a major race, won in a two-run combined time of two minutes 27.11 seconds.

VANCOUVER — Team Canada would do well to adopt the attitude of its most consistent performer heading into a potentially dangerous semifinal against Slovakia.

Jonathan Toews has stood tall in the pressure-packed Olympic men’s tournament, taking his game to another level and leading the event with seven points and a plus-9 rating. At just 21, he’s the youngest forward on the Canadian team and he’s intent on doing everything he can to stay in the moment.

VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Games may yet have some positive drug tests.

The chairman of the International Olympic Committee’s medical commission said Thursday that the anti-doping lab wants to do additional analysis on blood samples taken from some athletes because there may be signs that point to blood doping.

TORONTO — Two bronze medals tucked into his mother’s home somewhere in Edmonton are reminders of Jamie Lundmark’s international service for Canada. He once played on a line with Dany Heatley, a player Lundmark watched on television again the other night, chasing a new medal at the Vancouver Olympics.

Lundmark is pursuing his own goal, albeit one less glorified, and contained for the moment to a chilly arena in the west end of Toronto. A decade removed from back-to-back third-place finishes at the world junior championships, the 29-year-old is fighting to earn steady employment with the Maple Leafs.

VANCOUVER — A death at the Vancouver Olympics will forever place an asterisk next to its place in the history books, the president of the IOC said Thursday, and he has taken steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again at the next Winter Games.

Jacques Rogge told reporters he wrote a letter to the head of the Sochi Olympic organizing committee last week asking them to please think “safety first” as they build their sliding track for the 2014 Games.

VANCOUVER — It’s taken eight years but Canadian curler Kevin Martin finally has another chance at Olympic gold. All that stands in his way is Norway and its eye-popping pants.

Martin will get his chance to right the wrong in 2002, when he was in a position to win the gold medal in Salt Lake City but faltered in the final and lost to Pal Trulsen of Norway.

Thursday

(All times Atlantic)

1 p.m.: Women’s curling semifinals, Canada vs. Switzerland, and China vs. Sweden (CTV, Sportsnet).

3 p.m.: Women’s hockey bronze-medal game, Finland vs. Sweden (TSN); cross-country skiing women’s 4x5 km relay classic/free gold medal (OLN).

VANCOUVER — The Canadian women’s hockey team feels they could not be more prepared for what is setting up to be the best women’s hockey game in history.

Canada pushed the envelope as much as they could the last six months, so they would be ready to beat the U.S. for the Olympic women’s hockey gold Thursday at Canada Olympic Place.

RICHMOND, B.C. — Clara Hughes has capped her remarkable career with an Olympic bronze medal.

VANCOUVER — The Canadian women's short-track team went from bronze to silver in a matter of seconds at the Winter Olympics.

Canada finished third in the women's 3,000-metre relay but was quickly upgraded to silver when the winning South Koreans were disqualified for a rules violation.

VANCOUVER — Zach Parise scored twice in the third period, and the top-seeded U.S. men's hockey team reached the Olympic semifinals with a tense 2-0 victory over Switzerland today.

The Americans (4-0) got everything and more from the upstart Swiss, who hoped to advance despite being the lowest-ranked team left in the tournament.

VANCOUVER — Olympic freestyle skiing champion Alexandre Bilodeau calls older brother Frederic his source of inspiration.

Now, Bilodeau is doing his part to return the favour.

VANCOUVER — Chants of “Go Canada Go!,” impromptu performances of the national anthem, visceral screams of “Whoooo!” have echoed throughout Vancouver during the Winter Olympics, in sports venues and bars, on streets packed with fans, out of windows and balconies, on public transit.

One cry prompts another, sparking a chain reaction of hooting and hollering that rises above fans draped in flags, with hockey jerseys on their backs and Maple Leaves temporarily tattooed on their faces.

WHISTLER, B.C. — Mellissa Hollingsworth’s father held her hand the night her dreams of Olympic gold were shattered, just as he waited alone at the airport on the day she didn’t make the cut for the 2002 Canadian winter Olympic team.

Whether they’re waving flags, as skeleton racer Jon Montgomery’s parents did when he won gold, or offering hushed words of encouragement in the shadow of disappointment, parents of athletes play a critical, often unheralded role in the competition.

VANCOUVER (CP) — Canada’s Kevin Martin has ended the round robin at the 2010 Winter Olympics with a perfect record but his opponent in Thursday’s semifinal is still unclear.

Martin made an open draw for four points in the first end of the game against China’s Hongchen Li before romping to a 10-3 blowout.

RICHMOND, B.C. — Coming up on the final race of a long and accomplished career, Canadian Clara Hughes feels in some ways like she’s been through this before.

No, the long-track speedskater has never pulled a Brett Favre-like retirement flip-flop, but she has made sure to never take any major competition she’s been to over the years for granted. That’s why when she closes the book on her days as an athlete after skating in the women’s 5,000 metres Wednesday at the Vancouver Olympics, Hughes thinks she’ll be well-prepared for the moment.

Theirs was a story 13 years in the making, a friendship forged over countless hours of spins and sweat and stumbles.

And when the music stopped Monday, and the crowd rose to its feet at the Pacific Coliseum, Scott Moir wrapped Tessa Virtue in his arms and said two simple words: “Thank you.”

VANCOUVER — If anyone knows how difficult a task Joannie Rochette has set for herself, it’s Dan Jansen.

The dominant long-track speedskating sprinter of his era, Jansen raced in the Calgary Olympics within hours of learning his older sister, Jane, had lost her battle with leukemia.

VANCOUVER — Canada's Kevin Martin has ended the round robin at the 2010 Winter Olympics with a perfect record but his opponent in Thursday's semifinal is still unclear.

Martin made an open draw for four points in the first end of the game against China's Hongchen Li before romping to a 10-3 blowout.

VANCOUVER — Own The Podium has officially gone from a winning blueprint to wishful thinking.

Chris Rudge, CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee, conceded Monday the goal of finishing first in the medal standings at the Vancouver Games is not going to happen.

VANCOUVER — Team Canada is ready to sink or swim at the Olympics with Roberto Luongo in goal.

Coach Mike Babcock tabbed the Vancouver Canucks goaltender on Monday to take over from struggling veteran Martin Brodeur for as long as Canada can go at the 2010 Games.

WHISTLER, B.C. — Canada just missed the podium in the men’s cross-country sprint at the Winter Olympics on Monday as Alex Harvey of St-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Que., and Devon Kershaw of Sudbury, Ont., finished fourth.

It’s the best-ever Olympic cross-country result for Canadian men.

VANCOUVER (CP) — It was billed as an Olympic curling gold medal preview — it turned into a rout.

Canada’s Cheryl Bernard clinched a playoff spot at the Vancouver Olympics today by cruising to a 6-2 victory over reigning gold medallist Anette Norberg of Sweden.

VANCOUVER — In a sport where fractions of points are critical, Canada’s Olympic aerials team may have a leg up on the competition.

The four-member team has a new uniform for the Olympic aerials competition at Cypress Mountain. The snazzy burgundy-and-white configuration should net the jumpers plenty of style points among the thousand of fans expected for the women’s final Wednesday and the men’s final the following day.

VANCOUVER — The “Michael Jordan of curling” didn’t bring his A or even his B game to the Olympics on Monday but Kevin Martin’s Canadian rink was still good enough to easily defeat the United States to run its record to 8-0.

Canada gave up a rare steal in the first end and finally took control in the fourth end but at one point Martin was curling a paltry 38 per cent efficiency while third John Morris was even worse off at 13 per cent.

VANCOUVER — Joannie Rochette was welcomed by a wave from her boyfriend, her father and five family friends when she stepped on the ice at the Pacific Coliseum.

In the wake of her mother Therese’s death due to a massive heart attack, and on the eve of the biggest competition of her life, a perceptibly more lighthearted mood greeted the Canadian figure skater at practice Monday.

VANCOUVER — It was billed as an Olympic curling gold medal preview — it turned into a rout.

Canada's Cheryl Bernard clinched a playoff spot at the Vancouver Olympics today by cruising to a 6-2 victory over reigning gold medallist Anette Norberg of Sweden.

VANCOUVER — CTV says 10.6 million Canadians watched the Canada-United States Olympic hockey clash, making it what the network calls the most-watched sports program in the country's history.

The average number of viewers for the game exceeded the 10.3 million who watched the same two countries in the hockey final at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. However, a different measuring system is now in use so comparing numbers is difficult.

VANCOUVER — Too little, too late.

COQUITLAM, B.C. — A quick-thinking bus driver riding as a passenger on a shuttle used for the Vancouver Olympics is being hailed for taking control of the vehicle after the man at the wheel died suddenly.

The 71-year-old driver was transporting five other bus drivers to work early Monday morning on the Trans-Canada Highway in Coquitlam when he apparently had a massive heart attack, the RCMP and Olympic organizers said.

RICHMOND, B.C. — Long-track speedskater Kristina Groves has her second medal of the Vancouver Olympics, winning silver in the women’s 1,500 metres Sunday.

The 33-year-old from Ottawa finished in one minute 57.14 seconds. She was on track for gold until she ran out of steam on the final lap. Dutchwoman Ireen Wust won gold in 1:56.89.

VANCOUVER — Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir kept Canada’s first Olympic gold medal in ice dancing firmly within their grasp Sunday, moving into first place overall with an inspired performance in the original dance.

Virtue, from London, Ont., and Moir, from Ilderton, Ont., second after Friday’s compulsory dance, scored 68.41 for their Spanish flamenco set to guitar song “Farrucas.” Virtue wore a dazzling dress with black-sequined bodice and flowing satin skirt, while Moir had on the typical Flamenco dancer’s outfit of ruffled white shirt, vest and pants.

VANCOUVER — Evgeni Malkin scored twice, igniting the top line as Russia beat the Czech Republic 4-2 in a classic showdown between traditional rivals Sunday that lived up to the hype.

The Pittsburgh Penguins star put the Russians up 1-0 with a power play goal in the first period before thrusting a dagger into the Czechs with his third goal in as many games in the third.

WHISTLER, B.C. — American Bode Miller finally fulfilled his expectations and won an Olympic gold medal Sunday, using a blistering slalom run to complete a super-combined victory.

After placing seventh in the downhill run, Miller skied the third-fastest slalom leg for a two-run combined time of two minutes 44.92 seconds Sunday.

VANCOUVER — Canada can still Own the Podium.

That’s the message Canadian team officials sent Sunday in their assessment of the host team’s performance over the first half of the Vancouver Olympics, although with perhaps less bravado than a week earlier.

WEST VANCOUVER, B.C. — There will be no Olympic medal for Canadian ski-cross racer Chris Del Bosco after the medal favourite crashed on the second-last jump in Sunday’s final at the Winter Olympics.

The crash-and-bang sport is making its debut at the Vancouver Games.

VANCOUVER (CP) — Cold as the ice he curls on and absolutely focused, Canada’s Kevin Martin took a giant step forward in his quest for a gold medal in men’s curling at the 2010 Winter Olympics by winning his seventh game in a row and clinching the top seed for the semifinals.

Martin improved to 7-0 Sunday with a 6-4 win over Markus Eggler of Switzerland. The Canadian skip controlled the game from the start, scoring two points in the first end. Thomas Ulsrud of Norway, who had been nipping at Martin’s heels, missed a golden opportunity to keep pace. He missed with his final shot in an extra end to bow out 8-7 to Niklas Edin of Sweden. With the loss, second-place Norway fell to 5-2.

VANCOUVER (CP) — Cold as the ice he curls on and absolutely focused, Canada’s Kevin Martin took a giant step forward in his quest for a gold medal in men’s curling at the 2010 Winter Olympics by winning his seventh game in a row and clinching the top seed for the semifinals.

Martin improved to 7-0 Sunday with a 6-4 win over Markus Eggler of Switzerland. The Canadian skip controlled the game from the start, scoring two points in the first end. Thomas Ulsrud of Norway, who had been nipping at Martin’s heels, missed a golden opportunity to keep pace. He missed with his final shot in an extra end to bow out 8-7 to Niklas Edin of Sweden. With the loss, second-place Norway fell to 5-2.

RICHMOND, B.C. — Denny Morrison apologized to Speed Skating Canada on Sunday, saying his criticisms of the program a night earlier after a poor race at the Vancouver Olympics didn’t come across the way he intended.

The long-track speedskater, who finished ninth in the men’s 1,500 following a 13th-place finish in the men’s 1,000 on Wednesday, called his coach Marcel Lacroix in the morning and later spoke to high performance and Olympic director Brian Rahill to clarify his comments.

VANCOUVER — The Canadian short-track speedskating team had looked for six medals at the Vancouver Olympics. Midway through the Games, it has one.

VANCOUVER — A true Olympic moment.

Canada’s Kevin Martin was trailing his curling arch-nemesis, David Murdoch of Britain, on Saturday evening by a single point in the 10th end when a bout of Canadian patriotism broke out.

WHISTLER, B.C. — Andrea Fischbacher got Austria’s “Wunderteam” back on track by winning gold in the Olympic super-G Saturday, denying Lindsey Vonn a sweep of the speed events.

Taking advantage of a tricky course-set arranged by one of her coaches, Fischbacher navigated her way down Franz’s Run in one minute 20.14 seconds.

WHISTLER, B.C. — Switzerland’s Simon Ammann is the first ski jumper to win four individual Olympic titles with his victory in the large hill event.

Strapping on his disputed bindings again, Ammann flew past his main rivals, putting down the best jump in both rounds today and staving off four Austrians who weren’t happy about his equipment.

WHISTLER, B.C. — Marcus Hellner of Sweden sprinted away from his rivals near the finish line Saturday to win the men’s 30-kilometre cross-country pursuit, an Olympic race that saw a strong performance from the Canadian team, with four skiers finishing in the top 16.

Hellner pulled away from his three remaining rivals after entering the ski stadium, building enough of a lead to sprint alone down the final straight. He had time to look back at his chasers before slowing down to raise his arms in celebration as he crossed the finish line.

VANCOUVER — Toronto’s Veronika Bauer missed out on the women’s aerials final Saturday, finishing 15th in qualifying after botching her second jump.

Bauer, who has missed most of the World Cup season while recovering from post-concussion syndrome, sat third after a solid opening jump that earned her 94.47 points.

VANCOUVER — Canadian curler Cheryl Bernard is still perfect at the Vancouver Olympics, despite yet another close call.

Bernard's Calgary rink defeated Denmark 5-4 in an extra end Friday. Bernard, who improved her tournament record to 4-0, was a heavy favourite against a Denmark team that was thrashed 11-1 by China earlier in the day.

VANCOUVER — Canada isn’t owning the podium at the Vancouver Olympics. The United States is.

While the U.S. has galloped through the opening days of the 2010 Winter Games, the host Canadians have merely trotted.

WHISTLER, B.C. — Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway won the men’s super-G title Friday, denying American Bode Miller his first Olympic gold medal.

Svindal won in one minute 30.34 seconds on a tough, icy track that gave many racers problems staying within the painted blue lines guiding the course.

WHISTLER, B.C. — Marit Bjoergen of Norway won the women’s 15-kilometre pursuit Friday for her second gold medal of the Vancouver Olympics.

Bjoergen pulled away from her rivals midway through the freestyle portion of the race, and was never threatened the rest of the way.

VANCOUVER (CP) — Canadian figure skater Patrick Chan says he was “really shocked” when told of Elvis Stojko’s blunt criticism of the scoring at the men’s free skate at the Pacific Coliseum.

Stojko, a former three-time world champion and two-time Olympic silver medallist, called the judges’ decision to give gold to Evan Lysacek and not Evgeni Plushenko “ridiculous,” in a column for Yahoo! Sports.

VANCOUVER — Not so fast.

The Olympic men’s hockey tournament began just days ago with many thinking co-favourites Canada and Russia were poised to travel a straightforward road to the gold-medal final. However, each country has already had a bump in the road, and it’s difficult to consider either a true favourite based on the play so far in Vancouver.

VANCOUVER — Desperate times call for desperate measures so the U.S. men’s curling team at the 2010 Winter Olympics has shaken up its lineup in a major way.

Things have not gone well for the American curling team at this championship. Skip John Shuster lost his first four games and three of them were in extra ends where he missed his final shot - allowing the other teams to steal victories.

VANCOUVER — Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir began their quest Friday to capture Canada’s first Olympic ice dance gold, finishing second in the compulsory dance at the Vancouver Games.

Virtue, from London, Ont., and Moir, from Ilderton, Ont., scored 42.74 points for their Tango Romantica, the original dance drawn for the Olympic competition.

VANCOUVER — If organizers of the embattled 2010 Winter Olympics need some salesmen, they can turn to a pair of Swedish brothers who play for the Vancouver Canucks — Henrik and Daniel Sedin.

All the talk of the Glitch Games and their transportation woes, broken ice-clearing machines at the speedskating oval and the lack of snow are lost on the 29-year-olds who have spent their entire NHL careers in Vancouver.

WHISTLER, B.C. (CP) — Canada’s Mellisa Hollingsworth finished fifth after the final heat of the women’s Olympic skeleton event.

She moved up to second after the third run but the podium turned out to be too tough a hill to climb.

VANCOUVER — While the gold and bronze medallists posed for pictures on the ice, Evgeni Plushenko was plotting his escape.

The Russian figure skater tugged his silver from around his neck and darted for the opposite end of the rink, where security personnel wouldn’t let him out. They pointed him in another direction, where he hastily beat his retreat.

RICHMOND, B.C. — Christine Nesbitt crossed the finish line thinking she hadn’t done enough to win Olympic gold.

VANCOUVER — Sidney Crosby scored in a shootout as Canada eked out a 3-2 victory over Switzerland on Thursday at the Winter Olympics in a game that evoked scary memories of the Swiss upset win four years ago in Turin.

Canada was stymied for much of the game by Jonas Hiller in the Swiss goal. Martin Brodeur stopped all four Swiss shooters while Crosby scored on Canada’s fourth shot to secure the win before a sea of red-and-white clad Canadian fans at Canada Hockey House.

VANCOUVER (CP) — Canadian curler Cheryl Bernard has made it three wins in a row to start the Vancouver Olympics.

The Calgary skip knocked off the previously undefeated German squad 6-5 today in front of a thunderous hometown crowd.

WHISTLER, B.C. (CP) — Amy Williams of Great Britain leads after the first day of the Vancouver Olympics women’s skeleton event.

The 27-year-old from Cambridge recorded a combined time of one minute 47.96 seconds in her first two runs of the four-heat event at the Whistler Sliding Centre.

WHISTLER, B.C. — Maria Riesch of Germany won the women’s super-combined gold medal at the Vancouver Olympics on Thursday after her friend and close rival Lindsey Vonn missed a gate in the slalom leg and crashed.

Vonn, who had said her badly bruised right shin was bothering her after her victory in Wednesday’s downhill, was last among the leaders to ski in the slalom run after being fastest in the morning downhill leg.

VANCOUVER — Gary Bettman and Rene Fasel may very well be friends, as they repeatedly insisted during a Thursday news conference that was at times amusing and awkward.

But it’s pretty clear the issues surrounding the NHL’s continued participation in the Olympic Games will sometimes pit the two men against one another. The NHL commissioner and the IIHF president traded some verbal jabs during a 30-minute media session that focused largely on whether the world’s best hockey players will be in Sochi, Russia, in 2014.

WHISTLER, B.C. — The status of Beat Hefti — the favourite to win the Olympic gold medal in two-man bobsled — was up in the air Thursday, one day after the Swiss pilot slammed his head in a high-speed wipeout in a night of crashes at the Whistler Sliding Centre.

“He went to the clinic last night. They checked him over and released him and he rejoined his team. He’s OK,” Don Krone, spokesman for the International Bobsleigh Federation, said Thursday.

All and all he’d rather be in Vancouver.

But if Brad Gushue can’t defend the Olympic gold medal he won in 2006 in Italy, he can look forward to chasing his first Tim Hortons Brier title next month at Halifax Metro Centre.

VANCOUVER — You could call it a tale of two curling teams at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Both Canada’s Kevin Martin and David Murdoch of Britain were considered the heavy favourites for gold before competition began at the Vancouver Olympic Centre.

GOLD (2)

FREESTYLE SKIING

RICHMOND, B.C. — American Shani Davis defended his Olympic title in the men’s 1,000-metre long-track speedskating competition, while Canadian Denny Morrison finished a disappointing 13th Wednesday.

The world record holder in the event, Davis finished first in one minute 8.94 seconds.

VANCOUVER — The huge grin that seems a permanent fixture on Patrick Chan’s face was nowhere to be seen, replaced instead by a look of bewilderment when his short program came to an end.

Russian star Evgeni Plushenko made his return to the Olympic arena in stunning fashion by finishing first in the men’s short program Tuesday, while Chan, the young Canadian with medal potential, faltered in a jam-packed men’s field at the Pacific Coliseum.

VANCOUVER — Canada’s powerhouse short-track speedskating team is on the board at the Winter Olympics.

Marianne St-Gelais of St-Felicien, Que., raced to a silver medal in the women’s 500 metres on Wednesday at Pacific Coliseum.

WHISTLER, B.C. — After living up to the hype, Lindsey Vonn wept tears of joy.

The American star won her first medal of the Vancouver Olympics on Wednesday, a gold in the women’s downhill.

BAKURIANI — The body of the Georgian luger killed during a practice run at the Vancouver Olympics arrived Wednesday at his hometown, where his grief-stricken mother threw herself on his coffin and cried: “Why have I survived you?”

Nodar Kumaritashvili’s body arrived in a flag-draped coffin at the Georgian capital’s airport before dawn, met by relatives and onlookers. The 21-year-old is to be buried Saturday at a churchyard in Bakuriani, a village of about 1,500 located in one of Georgia’s popular winter sports regions.

VANCOUVER — On a team that features young stars, it was old pro Jarome Iginla who rose to the top in Canada’s first game at the Winter Olympics.

The 32-year-old Calgary Flames captain got Canada started with his first of three goals in an 8-0 victory over lowly Norway before a packed Canada Hockey Place on Tuesday night.

WEST VANCOUVER, B.C. — Colour Shaun White gold once again at the Winter Olympics.

The defending Olympic halfpipe champion, one of the most recognizable athletes at the Vancouver Games, dominated the competition at Cypress Mountain.

VANCOUVER — Canada charged into the semifinal round of the Olympic women's hockey tournament with a 13-1 thumping of Sweden on Wednesday.

WHISTLER, B.C. — One of Canada's top male cross-country sprinters put in a promising qualifying time Wednesday in the men's 1.6-kilometre race in the Olympic biathlon.

VANCOUVER — Canadian curler Cheryl Bernard is two for two at the Vancouver Olympics.

Bernard's Calgary rink upended Japan's Moe Meguro 7-6 in the second women's Olympic curling draw.

VANCOUVER — Evgeni Plushenko made his return to men’s figure skating in stunning fashion Tuesday and set the standard for the rest of the field in the Olympic men’s short program.

The Russian skater, gold medallist at the 2006 Olympics and runner-up in 2002, scored 90.85 for his “Concierto de Aranjuez” program, less than a year after coming out of a three-year retirement for one last shot at Olympic glory.

WHISTLER, B.C. — After teasing Olympic officials with sun and clear skies for one day, the weather was up to its old tricks Tuesday, forcing postponement of the men’s super-combined ski race.

A night of heavy, wet snow resulted in the race being moved to Sunday. A women’s downhill training run was also cancelled.

WEST VANCOUVER, B.C. — Another day, another cancellation on Cypress Mountain.

More Olympic standing-room tickets for snowboard and ski cross events have been cancelled as rain continues to turn the troubled venue into a muddy mess.

VANCOUVER — The first hint of trouble for Canada’s Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison came in the warmup. Dube shook her hands vigorously as if she was trying to snap herself into focus, but her mind couldn’t help but go through the motions of the dreaded triple Salchow.

And what started out shaky completely unravelled for the Canadians, who finished sixth in the Olympic pairs Monday after Dube falling on her triple Salchow in what was just the beginning of a program full of missteps.

VANCOUVER — Stephen Colbert is finally going to meet some of the “ice-holes” that he’s been mocking all this time.

After months of lampooning Canadians and Olympic ideals, the American satirist is in Vancouver and about to face his chance to don the pink hat of the Olympic Oval ombudsman.

VANCOUVER — Canada’s curling skip Kevin Martin jumped out to a quick lead but then almost watched his first game at the 2010 Winter Olympics slide away Tuesday against Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud.

Martin led 5-1 after four ends before the Norwegians battled back with three points in the fifth and then took it to an extra end with two in the 10th to tie the game 6-6.

VANCOUVER — Every Olympics has teething problems.

In the first few days, bus drivers brought in from out of town didn’t know where they’re going. Athletes settled into their new home and discovered it’s too bright at night to sleep. Broadcasters got ornery when the Olympic rings weren’t positioned perfectly for their beauty shots.

WEDNESDAY

(All times Atlantic)

1 p.m.: Women’s curling Japan vs. Canada (Sportsnet).

3 p.m.: Alpine skiing women’s downhill gold medal (CTV).

VANCOUVER — The fire over the Olympic flame cauldron may be out by Wednesday.

Olympic organizers say they are putting the final touches on a solution that will include adjustments to the ugly chain-link fencing protecting the steel-and-glass structure as well as setting up a viewing platform.

VANCOUVER — Cheryl Bernard's Olympic debut was a successful one.

Canada's Kevin Martin has won his opening game at the 2010 Winter Olympics. But it wasn't easy.

WEST VANCOUVER — CANADIAN snowboarder Mike Robertson rode his way to a silver medal at the Winter Olympics on Monday.

VANCOUVER — He sipped champagne on national TV, posed with Wayne Gretzky, chatted with two prime ministers and did one interview after another after another.

VANCOUVER — Curler Cheryl Bernard won’t have much time to get her feet wet at her first Winter Olympics.

The Calgary skip will make her Games debut today in front of what’s sure to be a raucous Vancouver crowd and will square off against the woman who’s claimed the silver medal in each of the last two Olympics, Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott.

VANCOUVER — Members of Vancouver’s small Georgian community showed up with flowers and candles outside a funeral service held Monday for the Georgian luger who died on the track in Whistler during training last week.

Members of the Georgian Olympic delegation, the International Olympic Committee and the Vancouver Games committee gathered at a funeral home to bid goodbye to Nodar Kumaritashvili.

VANCOUVER (CP) — Ryan Getzlaf has been cleared to play for Team Canada at the Olympics.

The Anaheim Ducks centre missed a couple of NHL games this week with a sprained left ankle, but was given the thumbs-up to compete for Canada one day after scoring four points in his return to the lineup.

VANCOUVER — With glowering looks, not with glowing hearts, is how Quebec appears to be welcoming the Winter Olympics.

Monday was “Quebec Day” at the Vancouver Games, part of a $5-million contribution the province made almost five years ago in exchange for a stage to celebrate their heritage.

WHISTLER, B.C. — Being the top Canadian didn’t mean much to Erik Guay after the host country was shut out of the medals in the men’s downhill at the Winter Olympics on Monday.

The race was won by Switzerland’s Didier Defago in one minute 54.31 seconds. Guay, from Mont-Tremblant, Que., was fifth in 1:54.64

RICHMOND, B.C. (CP) — South Korea’s Mo Tae-Bum has won gold in the men’s 500-metre long-track speedskating race at the Vancouver Olympics, while veteran Canadian Jeremy Wotherspoon was ninth in what is expected to be his final race in the distance.

Keiichiro Nagashima captured the silver while Japanese teammate Joji Kato took the bronze.

VANCOUVER — Canada punched its ticket to the semifinals of the Olympic women’s hockey tournament Monday with a 10-1 win over Switzerland.

The Canadian women improved to 2-0 and can finish first in Group A with a win over Sweden in the final preliminary-round game for both countries Wednesday.

TUESDAY

(All times Atlantic)

1 p.m.: Men’s curling Norway vs. Canada (CTV).

2:30 p.m.: Women’s biathlon 10 km pursuit gold medal (OLN).

4 p.m.: Men’s hockey U.S. vs. Switzerland (TSN).

WHISTLER, B.C. — The top woman on the World Cup cross-country skiing circuit is the latest to criticize the Olympic course in Callaghan Valley.

After placing fifth in the 10-kilometre freestyle race, Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland told reporters, “the track is not for me, the track is not for the Olympics.”

WHISTLER, B.C. — Canada has been shut out of the medals in the men's downhill at the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

VANCOUVER — FINALLY. Canada claimed its first-ever Olympic gold medal on home soil Sunday as freestyle skier Alex Bilodeau of Rosemere, Que., blistered the men’s moguls run at Cypress Mountain and narrowly edged out top-ranked Dale Begg-Smith, who originally hails from Vancouver but was representing his adopted home of Australia.

MONTREAL — Celebration in Quebec over Alexandre Bilodeau's Olympic freestyle skiing victory is being tempered by anger at a perceived lack of French at the Vancouver Games.

WHISTLER, B.C. — Luge medal contender Natalie Geisenberger used her German words — and didn’t mince them — on Sunday when asked what it’s like to run the biggest race of her life from the same start line used by newbies.

“It’s not a ladies start. It’s a kinderstart (children’s start) said the 22-year-old, who, along with teammate Tatjana Huefner, are favourites to win gold when the women’s Olympic competition begins today at the Whistler Sliding Centre. “I’m not happy,” she said.

VANCOUVER — There is one great equalizer in the sport of curling that allows bad teams a chance— albeit a faint one — to bring the good teams down to their level.

The quality of ice has been a boon to less experienced teams at international events for decades and a bane, most notably, to Canadians.

KRISTINA GROVES has put Canada’s powerhouse long-track speedskating team on the board at the Winter Olympics.

The Ottawa native raced to a bronze medal in the women’s 3,000 metres at the Richmond Olympic Oval on Sunday.

WHISTLER, B.C. — The Olympic motto: Faster. Higher. Stronger. But for the Vancouver Games it could very well be: Foggy. Rainy. Slushy.

As the 2010 Games roll into the first full week of competition, organizers, athletes and fans are anxiously watching the sky and the thermometer.

RICHMOND, B.C. — All Catriona Le May Doan could do was smile and wave.

The two-time Olympic champion speedskater was supposed to light a section of the cauldron during the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics on Friday night. But a malfunction prevented the hydraulic arm from rising out of the floor, forcing her to improvise in front of more than 60,000 people at B.C. Place.

WHISTLER, B.C. — Canadian luge coach Wolfgang Staudinger says driver error, not the lightning-fast Whistler course, led to the death of a 21-year-old slider from Georgia in a training run crash at the Vancouver Olympics.

“It was not a track issue. It was a driver error — 100 per cent,” the coach told The Canadian Press on Saturday, referring to the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili.

WHISTLER, B.C. — Swiss ski jumper Simon Ammann won the first gold medal at the Vancouver Olympics with victory in the normal hill event Saturday.

Polish veteran Adam Malysz took silver and 20-year-old Gregor Schlierenzauer of Austria recovered from a disappointing first jump to earn bronze on his Olympic debut.

VANCOUVER — The goals kept going in, but there was no way the Canadian women's hockey team would play the benevolent host and let up on Olympic newcomer Slovakia.

When the lopsided affair mercifully ended on Saturday night, Canada had opened the 2010 Games with a record 18-0 victory, led by veteran Jayna Hefford's three goals and three assists.

VANCOUVER — Charles Hamelin's path to the Olympic podium was blocked Saturday by rival Apolo Anton Ohno, a disappointment that left Canada's top short-track speedskater and his teammates even hungrier for medals in their next races.

Hamelin had been touted to win a medal, possibly gold, in the 1,500 metres at the Vancouver Games. But he failed to advance to the championship final.

Rain, racing and riots in the streets: such was the first full day of competition at the 2010 Winter Games.

Neither the clouds in the sky nor the critics in the streets were prepared to yield any ground Saturday as black-clad protesters, drenched by a steady drizzle, smashed Olympic store windows, splashed red paint and clashed with police.

WHISTLER, B.C. — The International Ski Federation says the men's downhill at the Vancouver Olympics has been postponed because of a slushy course.

The opening Alpine race was called off about seven hours before it was scheduled to start Saturday.

VANCOUVER — There were mixed emotions for Hayley Wickenheiser as she took the athletes' oath at the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics on Friday.

The Canadian women's hockey star from Shaunavon, Sask., took the oath on behalf of some 2,700 athletes in the Games but says it took on special meaning after the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, who was killed in a training accident earlier in the day.

For a guy who doesn’t say much, Vancouver-born moguls skier Dale Begg-Smith sure has people talking.

The quiet Australian is considered by many to be the man to beat at the Olympics, winning gold in 2006 and leading this year’s World Cup standings. Begg-Smith dominated in his previous visit to Canada, looking fundamentally sound in winning a pair of events at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary last month.

WHISTLER, B.C. — They hurtled into the history books as the very first Canadian athletes to compete at the 2010 Winter Games, leading a Canadian team that is hotly anticipated to set new national Olympic medal records.

And let the record books show that Canada’s young, underfunded, unheralded and altogether overmatched ski jumpers avoided the ignominy of finishing dead last in Friday’s 90-metre qualifying session — a fate reserved for a French competitor.

VANCOUVER — Deaths at the Olympics are blessedly rare. But when they do happen, it’s generally during the Winter Games.

The potential for serious injury and death is substantially higher in Winter Olympic sports, where athletes hurl themselves off the faces of mountains and rocket down chutes carved out of unyielding ice.

VANCOUVER (CP) — Canadian athletes could win more medals than any other country at the Vancouver Winter Olympics but Canada still might not be the top nation in some medal standings.

Why?

VANCOUVER, B.C. — When the chief executive officer of the Vancouver Olympics awoke at 4 a.m. Tuesday, he went outside on his deck to check the weather and he was pleased.

“It was zero and I thought ‘God has stopped playing chicken with us,’ ” John Furlong told a breakfast meeting.

WHISTLER, B.C. — After years of slumming it, Canada’s Olympic luge team has a chance to move into sport’s high-rent neighbourhood.

An Alberta sponsor has offered a $1-million prize to any Canadian luger who wins a gold medal at the Winter Olympics.

VANCOUVER — Canadian athletes are aiming to Own The Podium at the 2010 Winter Olympics by winning more medals than any other country at the Games. Will they do it? Germany needed 29 medals to finish with the biggest haul four years ago in Turin, Italy. The Canadian Press is projecting 37 for Canada this time. Here’s a look at where we think they will come.