- February 28, 2010 7:44 PM
- By Bruce Arthur
It was an elephantine endeavour, a great work, a wonder. And it is not easy to wrestle with what it meant, precisely, to Vancouver, to Canada, to the world. If you lived through it, you felt something. You felt something new.
- February 27, 2010 12:09 AM
- By Bruce Arthur
When asked before this game what Slovakia had to do to defeat Canada in the semi-finals, Slovak pillar Zdeno Chara simply said, "Everything." Even in the anything-can-happen arena of Olympic hockey, it was as good a description as any. Canada's powerhouse had begun uncovering its vast potential, so that was about right. Everything.
- February 26, 2010 8:54 PM
- By Bruce Arthur
We are nearing the end now, and everybody is getting a little punchy. And by everyone, we are talking about certain journalists and athletes and officials and so forth, who have been on this Olympic voyage for what feels like a while now.
- February 25, 2010 9:07 PM
- By Bruce Arthur
In the Olympic standings, where Canada is trying to win the race for gold, this gold medal will be counted alongside those of Alex Bilodeau, and Christine Nesbitt, and Ashleigh McIvor. This gold medal, in the end, counts the same as all the others. Except because it's women's hockey it doesn't. Not quite.
- February 25, 2010 8:51 PM
- By Bruce Arthur
Clara Hughes didn't know how much money it was. She just knew that it didn't matter how much money it was, and that she wanted someone else to have it. The last time she did this, she knew the total because the cash was already in her bank account. This time, it won't spend much time there, if any at all.
- February 24, 2010 10:39 PM
- By Bruce Arthur
On Wednesday, the 37-year-old from Winnipeg skated her final laps, 12½ of them, blood pumping to the very end, and captured her sixth Olympic medal, a bronze, in a 5,000-metre skate that took her breath away. And ours, too.
- February 24, 2010 9:52 PM
- By Bruce Arthur
All along, this was the Canada we were waiting for, hoping for. This was the Canada we believed was possible, if everything could just click, if they could just get the hell out of their own way, if they could just stop thinking and play hockey. Just play.
- February 24, 2010 1:26 AM
- By Bruce Arthur
For the Canadians who came to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics expected, and expecting, to win a medal, life isn't so grand. This was more than just an Olympics -- it was a once-in-a-lifetime Olympics. It was at home with everybody watching. And maybe that has been part of the problem.
- February 23, 2010 10:15 PM
- By Bruce Arthur
Russia. In hockey, the word alone still evokes greatness and mystery and fear, and before these Olympics began, you figured that Canada might have to face the world's other true hockey superpower for gold. If you had to pick this tournament's dream final, it would be Canada-Russia; if you had to pick the winner, chances are those were your top two choices.
