Olympic roundup: What Canada did on Day 10
Last Updated: Monday, February 22, 2010 | 4:44 AM ET
By Tim Wharnsby, Chris Iorfida, Mihira Lakshman and John Molinaro CBC Sports
Speedskater Kristina Groves won another medal Sunday, but the biggest story of Day 10 at the Vancouver Olympics from a Canadian perspective was the failure of the men's hockey team to vanquish their rivals from south of the border.
The United States upstaged Canada with an important 5-3 victory in a hostile environment at Canada Hockey Place on the final day of the preliminary round. The pro-Canadian capacity crowd of 18,561 witnessed a dandy game, but U.S. goalie Ryan Miller was the best performer on the ice. The brilliant Buffalo Sabres netminder made 42 saves to keep his team a perfect 3-for-3.
The U.S. received a bye into the quarter-finals on Wednesday, while Canada was relegated to qualification Tuesday. The Canadians will meet Germany, and a win would advance them to a quarter-final match against Alexander Ovechkin and Russia on Wednesday.
Canada now has to win four Game 7's in six days to win the gold.
"It's the situation we find ourselves in," Canada captain Scott Niedermayer said. "We'll try and make the best of it."
Canada finds itself in this difficult situation because of a poor start against the U.S.
"We were standing around and watching the puck too much," said Canadian defenceman Duncan Keith, whose team outshot the U.S. 45-23.
The defence also had difficulty in its own end and couldn't handle the speed of the U.S. forwards. "In our defensive zone we had a few lapses," Canada's Chris Pronger said.
Finally, Canadian goalie Martin Brodeur did not distinguish himself.
"It's obviously an area we would have liked to be better," Canadian coach Mike Babcock said.
Good Canadian news
The loss by Team Canada overshadowed the efforts of Ottawa's Groves, who became the first Canadian athlete at these Games to win two medals, claiming the silver in the women's 1,500 metres.
Groves, 33, became Canada's first multiple medallist of these Games and now has four career Olympic medals. She won bronze last week in the 3,000 to add to her collection of two silver from Torino.
She skated in the next-to-last pairing and was ahead of eventual winner Ireen Wust's times in the first two splits, but couldn't hang on in the final quarter of the race. Groves's time was 1:57.14.
"That was a little disappointing for sure," said Groves. "I just had maybe too much excitement. But Ireen skated amazing, I'm really happy for her. She's a great competitor."
Speedskater Christine Nesbitt of London, Ont., also had a chance to reach the podium for a second time in the Games.
Nesbitt, too, seemed to be flirting with the gold over the first half of the final pairing with Jennifer Rodriguez of the United States, but faded down the stretch to land in sixth.
Canada now has four gold, four silver and one bronze at the Vancouver Olympics.
Six-time Olympic medallist Cindy Klassen of Winnipeg came in 21st. Klassen has treated these Olympics as enjoyment, having come off double knee surgery last year and strife caused by her sister's serious car accident two years ago.
It was a disappointing day for speedskater Brittany Schussler. The Winnipeg native is fifth in the World Cup 1,500 standings this season, but came in 35th after experiencing skate problems in her warm up.
Ice dancers Virtue, Moir shine
Also on Sunday, Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir took over the lead heading into the final portion of the Olympic ice-dance competition, scoring a personal best of 68.41 points in the original dance program.
Their total is 111.15 going into Monday's free dance.
Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the United States also turned in a phenomenal skate in the original dance, moving up from third to second place after scoring 67.08 points for a total of 108.55. Defending world champions Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin of Russia scored 62.84, fading from first to third with an overall mark of 106.60.
Virtue and Moir skated a Spanish flamenco to Farrucas, showcasing their crisp, intricate step sequences to the delight of the enthusiastic crowd. Many of their manoeuvres came at high speeds, yet they maintained precise timing and control throughout.
Virtue, of London, Ont., wore a dress that was black on top with a flowing satin skirt while Moir, of Ilderton, Ont., had on the typical flamenco dancer's outfit of ruffled white shirt, vest and pants.
Canada's other pair of Vanessa Crone of Aurora, Ont., and Paul Poirier of nearby Unionville, Ont., fell two spots to 17th place after receiving a score of 48.17 for a total of 79.31.
No North American pair has ever won the Olympic gold in ice dance. The best Canadian result was a bronze at the 1988 Calgary Olympics from Canadians Tracy Wilson and the late Rob McCall.
Other Canadian results from Sunday:
- Men's curling — Kevin Martin (7-0) of Edmonton clinched a berth in the semifinals with a 6-4 win over Switzerland.
- Women's curling — Cheryl Bernard (5-1) of Calgary and beat the U.S. 9-2, but lost in extra ends to China 6-5 in the evening draw.
- Bobsled, men's doubles — Pierre Lueders of Edmonton, and Jesse Lumsden of Hamilton, Ont., placed fifth overall in a combined time of 3:27.87 for four runs; Lyndon Rush of Humboldt, Sask., and David Bissett of Edmonton, finished 15th (3:30.46).
- Alpine skiing, men's super-combined — Ryan Semple of Ottawa placed 15th overall in two minutes and 48.26 seconds; Michael Janyk of Whistler, B.C., was 26th (2:50.77); Louis-Pierre Helie of Berthierville, Que., was 30th (2:51.58); and Tyler Nella of Burlington, Ont., was 32nd (2:52.65; 1:56.60, 56.05).
- Biathlon, men's 15-kilometre mass start — Jean Philippe Le Guellec of Quebec City finished in 30th place in 39 minutes 18.5 seconds with four missed targets/penalty laps.
- Freestyle skiing, men's skicross — Christopher Delbosco of Sudbury, Ont., finished fourth in the medal race; Davey Barr of Brackendale, B.C., was second in the consolation race to place sixth overall for the event; Stanley Hayer of Kimberley, B.C., advanced as far as the quarter-finals, but no further after finishing fourth in his heat.
