The fifth day of the 2010 Winter Olympics was filled with excitement for the host country.
Tuesday saw the start of the men’s hockey tournament, as well as curling, and Canada also saw its second gold medal won by Maelle Ricker in the ladies snowboard cross.
Germany also made noise in the medal standing by getting a total of four medals in the events today, including two gold medals. France picked up three medals, though none of them were gold, two bronzes and one silver.
Other notable events in the games Tuesday:
Men’s Curling
Canada won both of their round robin sessions today against Norway, 7-6 in extra ends, and Germany 9-4. Canada would be the only team competing twice on Tuesday to end up winning both matched, whereas the US lost both of their matches, ironically, to Norway and Germany, 6-5 and 7-5 respectively.
Sweden beat Great Britain, who were led by defending World Champion David Murdoch 6-4, France defeated China 6-5, Switzerland defeated Denmark 6-5
Women’s Curling
Canada defeated the Swiss 5-4 in a game decided on the last rock with a toss just inside the button by skip Cheryl Bernard.
Other scores around the first round of preliminary games included the U.S. losing to Japan 9-7, Sweden defeating Denmark 6-5, and Germany routing Russia 9-5
Women’s 10k Pursuit Biathlon
Germany’s Magdalena Nuener claimed gold with a final time of 30:16, beating silver medalist Anastazia Kuzmina of Slovakia by 12.3 seconds. France’s Marie Laure Brunet won the bronze medal finishing 28.3 seconds behind.
Canada’s one and only competitor in the event was Megan Tandy, who finished in 36th place.
Men’s 12.5 km Pursuit Biathlon
Bjorn Ferry of Sweden won gold with a final time of 33:38.4, which was 16.5 seconds higher then Austria’s Christoph Sumann, who was awarded the silver medal. France’s Jay Vincent rounded out the medal winners by getting the bronze.
Canada again only had one contestant, Jean Phillipe Leguellec, who placed in 11th.
Luge Women’s Singles
Germany continued its display of excellence in the luge event by winning the gold and bronze in the Women’s division. They were represented by Tatjana Huefner and Natalie Geisenberger, respectively. Austria’s Nina Reithmayer won the silver medal.
Canada was represented by Regan Lauscher, who finished 15th, Alex Gough, finishing 18th, and Meaghann Simister, placing 25th.
Ladies’ 500m Speed Skating
Korea’s Sang-Hwa Lee was awarded the Gold medal when she finished ahead of Jenny Wolf of Germany, who won silver, and Beixing Wang of China, who placed third for the bronze
Canada’s representatives were Christine Nesbitt, who placed 10th, Shannon Rempel, placing 27th, and Anastasia Bucsis, who finished 34th.
Figure Skating
Russia’s Evgeni Plushenko took first place in the Men’s short program, with USA’s Evan Lysacik and Japan’s Daisuke Takahashi rounded out the top three.
Canada’s favourite to bring a medal home, Patrick Chan, placed a disappointing 9th place after crashing two times during his routine. Canada also placed 24th with Vaughn Chipeur.
The long program is Thursday.
Women’s Ice Hockey
The two games scheduled on Tuesday were between the USA and Russia, which saw the U.S. shutout Russia 13-0, now giving the Americans a two-game, combined score of 25-1.
Game No. 2 was between Finland and China, which ended in a close 2-1 in favor of Finland.
Ladies’ Snowboard Cross
Canada’s second gold medal was claimed in the Ladies’ snowboard Cross event by Whistler born Maëlle Ricker. The gold medal is first in Ricker’s Olympic career and was Canada’s second in snowboard events.
France’s Deborah Anthonioz won the silver medal and Switzerland’s Olivia Nobs placed third, winning the bronze. Canada was also represented by Dominique Malrais, who finished 20th place overall.
Men’s hockey
Tuesday saw the start of the most anticipated event in the Winter Olympics, the Men’s hockey tournament.
The United States cruised to victory over Switzerland 3-1. The U.S. had goals scored by Bobby Ryan, David Backes, and Ryan Malone, with Ryan Miller stopping 14 shots. The Swiss goal was scored by Roman Wick and goaltender Jonas Hiller stopped 22 shots.
Russia manhandled Latvia 8-2 in the final game of the night that saw superstar Alex Ovechkin score two goals. Goaltender Evgeni Nabokov was hardly tested despite giving up two goals on 20 shots compared to Latvia goaltender who gave up eight goals on 45 shots.
In the most important game of the evening, hometown Canada made a statement towards Norway by shutting them out 8-0.
Goaltender Roberto Luongo stopped all 15 shots and Jarome Iginla recorded three goals, allowing hats to fly freely to the ice.
Canadian poster boy Sidney Crosby joined in the fun by notching three assists and Dany Heatley became the second highest scorer for Canada in international competition with his two goals.
Canada hoped to put away any doubts about the team with its dominate showing in their game against Norway.