If our first 2 full days in Vancouver belonged to the Dutch and the Russians, today was ALL about Canada!
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All-Canadian eh?
- February 23, 2010 12:26 PM |
- By Ryan Zdebiak
If our first 2 full days in Vancouver belonged to the Dutch and the Russians, today was ALL about Canada!
After checking in to our 2nd stop on the "Olympic couch surfing tour" (more on this in a later post). Laner and I were off to the Vancouver Olympic Centre to check out our first event featuring a Canadian team of medal hopefuls - Team Bernard taking on the rival Swedes in an all-important clash of the top two rinks in women's curling.
The place, as you could imagine was a buzz. Red and White everywhere! It must have been hard for the other countries playing on the other 3 sheets to concentrate with all that cowbell! As someone who has never witnessed a curling event in person, I was pretty impressed! The match itself was dominated by Cheryl Bernard and her squad who knocked off the Swedes 6-2. After Cheryl was finished sweeping up the Swedes, we were more than happy to watch the attractive rinks from Denmark and Russia!
It was then off to Molson Canadian Hockey House, located in the centre of all the Olympic action in Vancouver. If you're Canadian, you HAVE to be here!
EVERYTHING about Molson Canadian Hockey House is Canadian! If the giant maple leaf cut out at the house entrance wasn't a dead giveaway to let you know where you were, maybe this will help... Red and white is the obvious theme throughout "the house". The place is littered with murals of national team hockey jerseys and photos of some of the best to ever wear the maple leaf on their chest (that's the red one...not the blue one). It was also a good thing that Lane and I brushed up on our Canadian tunes on the train ride... only Canadian artists play at Hockey House. Anyone up for a little Barney Bentall? Great Big Sea? Sam Roberts?...They're all here!
We were met by our gracious host, Tonia who took us right in to witness one of the coolest presentations of the evening. The Triple Gold Club was being honoured at Hockey House. This club is pretty exclusive. Players need to have won an Olympic gold medal, the Stanley Cup and the World Championship to be part of this club. Greats like Joe Sakic, Nicklas Lidstrom and even Hakan Loob were all on stage being honoured. Lane even had a chance to catch up with Jaromir Jagr (who was still feeling the effects of that Ovechkin hit I'm sure). Actually, we sprinted after him snapping a quick shot - my first paparazzi moment!
The night wasn't over yet as the place errupted into an "O Canada" singalong after Virtue and Moir won the country's 5th gold medal of the games! This opened the floodgates for a funk-filled dance fest featuring live tunes by Five Alarm Funk and DJ Scratch Bastid. Lane and I definitely did our part to cut up the dancefloor.
A perfect end to a day that truly was Canadian!
We're heading to Whistler! Follow the live updates on twitter right now! http://twitter.com/ZedNLane
About the Author
- Andrew Lane A native of St Thomas, Ontario (home of Olympian, Joe Thornton!), Andrew Lane is a ridiculous sports nut, a blindly supportive Canadian backer and the kid who's wanted to go the Olympics his whole life. The other 348 days of the year, when the Olympics aren't on, Andrew works in digital media in Toronto, where he resides with his three (living) plants. If you really like him, you can find him on twitter @LaneAndrew, where he won't try nearly as hard to be funny as he does on this blog. Trust me. http://twitter.com/LaneAndrew
- Ryan Zdebiak Born in Toronto. Currently residing in Mississauga Ontario. An avid sports fan and proud Canadian, Ryan Zdebiak spends the majority of the winter/spring months producing content for CBC's Hockey Night in Canada. Ryan has worked the previous 2 Olympic games (Turin 2006, Beijing 2008 - AKA: "The Michael Phelps Show") for the CBC but has never experienced the games in person... needless to say... this is gonna be GOOD! Follow me on twitter: @rzed http://twitter.com/rzed
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