The gold-medal puck had been on quite a journey since it landed Team Canada the top prize at the 2010 Winter Olympics, but it’s finally headed to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

The puck Crosby put past American goalie Ryan Miller went missing after the gold medal game and somehow found its way to the International Ice Hockey Federation offices in Switzerland. Officials apparently couldn’t determine who should get the puck at the end of the game and, in the resulting celebration, simply held on to it until the decision could be made later.

“I am happy to see that the puck is going to the Hockey Hall of Fame,” Crosby said in a statement Tuesday. “I feel very lucky to have been part of that team and that game as well, and I am glad hockey fans will get the chance to share the moment by seeing things like the overtime winning puck up close.”

Crosby’s stick and glove had also gone missing after the game, but Hockey Canada was able to locate it. The equipment was simply misplaced.

The equipment and the puck should probably both go into the Hockey Hall of Fame as soon as possible, if for no other reason than for safe-keeping.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

Reebok Canada is offering a sum of $10,000 with no questions asked for the return of Sidney Crosby’s stick and glove. Crosby used the stick and glove to score the gold medal-winning goal at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and the equipment disappeared after the star tossed them off to celebrate the victory with his teammates.

“The stick and glove are priceless,” said Len Rhodes, vice president and general manager for Reebok Hockey CCM. “There’s absolutely no substitute for that exact stick and glove.”

There is an email hotline that Reebok has set up to let people leave tips as to where the equipment might be. “He’s been a very close partner of ours and a member of the Reebok hockey family,” said Rhodes. “We just wanted to do what we thought was right.”

Cynics are already expressing the idea that Sidney Crosby should just somehow move on without the stick and glove, but true hockey fans know the importance of these sorts of objects in hockey’s storied history. The significance of the stick and glove to Crosby himself should also not be underestimated, as the gold medal win is a certain career highlight for the young player.

This notion that Crosby should somehow just “get over it” is ridiculous. The honour system in hockey is one that collects the pucks of first goals, first hat tricks and other significant career milestones. I can think of no bigger milestone than a gold medal-winning goal, so the simple dismissal of this equipment by some is rather striking in its obnoxiousness.

Reebok is doing the right thing here and I truly hope Crosby’s equipment turns up. He deserves it.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

We wouldn’t expect anything less, of course, but Sunday’s gold medal game at the 2010 Olympics snagged an enormous television audience.

CTV is reporting that around 80% of Canadians watched at least part of the game. They are also reporting an average viewing audience of 16.6 million people, with the game broadcast on nine different television networks in a total of eight languages across the country. 26.5 million Canadians watched Canada in gold over the United States in overtime.

14.3 million Canadians watched the closing ceremonies, with about 24.5 million people tuning in for at least part of the proceedings.

On NBC ratings for the gold medal game were also huge. They said that the Canada vs. U.S.A. hockey final was the most watched hockey game in the United States in 30 years. It drew a viewership of 27.6 million people. The Lake Placid U.S.A. vs. Finland game drew 32.8 million in 1980.

In America, the ratings for the 2010 Olympic gold medal game was up some 61% from the 2002 match-up.

The gold medal game capped off what was a very exciting and compelling Olympics in Vancouver. Being in this celebratory environment and seeing my little corner of the world come alive with such excitement and joy has been a pleasure and watching the events, all of them, has been a thrill.

And to have the Olympics end on such a tremendous note, with the gold medal men’s hockey win seen by almost 80% of my fellow Canadians, has been a once-in-a-lifetime treat.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

Sidney Crosby redeemed himself in the eyes of Canada with a golden goal to scoop the gold medal for Team Canada in Sunday’s big game against the United States.

The game was tense and down to the wire, but Canada pulled off an overtime victory to defeat the Americans by a final score of 3-2 to take the gold medal at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

The streets of the city were silenced after Zach Parise shocked the country with a late goal in the third period to tie things up 2-2, but it was Sid the Kid that brought the house down with his overtime heroics as the two rivals faced off in a four-on-four situation.

The goaltending was solid throughout the game, although Roberto Luongo looked slightly outmatched at times. Still, he made big saves when they mattered and managed to keep things close enough despite some tricky American rushes. American goalie Ryan Miller did more than his part to keep the U.S. team right where they needed to be, but it wasn’t enough as Crosby shoveled the puck past him in the extra frame.

Ryan Kesler scored the other goal for the United States, while Corey Perry and Jonathan Toews had the Canadian markers.

Shots on goal were pretty even throughout the game, with both teams nearly reaching 40 shots a piece. Penalties were few and far between and the refs called a good game, letting each team play physical hockey for the most part with few distractions.

Canada’s gold medal in men’s hockey caps off a brilliant showing for the country in the 2010 Olympics and finishes off the events in high style. With the Americans winning silver and the Finnish team taking bronze, the men’s hockey final standings match those of the women’s hockey final standings and serve to assert Canada as a world hockey superpower yet again.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

Olli Jokinen led the third-period charge with two goals and helped the Finnish hockey team come back over the Slovaks, who led the game 3-1 going into the third period at Canada Hockey Place.

Finland scored three goals in 3:35 to come back from the deficit. While they were happy with the win, most players were still disappointed about their performance against the U.S. on Friday’s semifinal. Miikka Kiprusoff was able to redeem himself, stopping 19 of 22 shots and really turning the jets on towards the end of the game.

Kiprusoff’s condition that he had the starting role in the tournament enabled him to start in the game against the Slovakian team and memories of the disastrous first period against the Americans started to fade as he made some pretty brilliant saves on key Slovak players.

Still, not all of the Finnish players were pleased with their team’s lack of overall performance for the full game. “That wasn’t a really good 60 minutes,” Team Finland forward Teemu Selanne said. “But [it was] good enough to win the game, and that’s what really matters.”

While the Finnish team is probably let down by the bronze medal, they still played relatively well throughout the tournament. Unfortunately, Kiprusoff let the team down when it mattered the most and they were unable to get back into contention for a gold medal despite strong performances earlier in the Olympics.

As if anyone needed any reminders, Canada plays the U.S.A. for the gold medal on Sunday. That game goes at noon PST and we’ll have full coverage the second it’s over.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

The last ten or so minutes of Friday’s Canada vs. Slovakia game produced some of the most tense and chaotic moments of the Olympic men’s hockey tourney so far, but the Canadians were able to squeak out a 3-2 win after barely holding it together in the finale minutes.

The victory for Canada sets up the gold medal game against the Americans and puts thoughts of revenge in motion for fans from both countries.

Friday’s game saw Slovakia sit back for much of it, playing a sort of chess game that allowed Canada a confident 3-0 lead heading into the third period. Roberto Luongo hadn’t really been tested up to that point and the Canadians seemed primed for easy pickings. It wasn’t quite the dominant performance Canada put in against the Russians, but the red-and-white squad seemed in control nevertheless.

And then it all changed.

The Slovakian team took control going into the third period, driving hard to the net and generating lots of chances off of physical play around Luongo. The Canadians appeared to get frustrated easily and took to chaotic, flamboyant play in their own end. They played physically but often went out of their way to generate hits and that opened up ice for Slovakia to get some big chances on goal.

Slovakian defenceman Lubomir Visnovsky started the onslaught by spoiling Luongo’s shutout bid with a goal that snuck in from an awkward angle. And Michal Handzus upped the ante with a rebound goal that saw just slightly under five minutes remaining on the clock. Panic was in the air and the Canadians began to scramble under the pressure, but the clock mercifully wound down.

Naturally Canada will have to remain more composed in high pressure moments if they intend to win against the Americans on Sunday. The U.S. team is undefeated at these Olympics and took care of the Finnish team just a few hours before Canada took to the ice against the Slovaks.

Patrick Marleau and Brenden Morrow opened the scoring for Canada in the latter half of the first period, while Ryan Getzlaf notched a power play marker late in the second frame.

Canada’s goals were generated by top-loading the Slovaks with traffic and giving them plenty to think about, so the same strategy will have to be carried out against the tough American club. U.S. goalie Ryan Miller will be all sorts of trouble, making deflections and rebounds the best options for Canadian scoring.

The gold medal game goes Sunday at noon PST. Slovakia will face off against Finland for the bronze.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

In defeating the Americans by a score of 2-0, the Canadian women’s hockey team took to the ice in a celebration that many of them will not soon forget. With Shannan Szabados’ shutout leading the way, the women’s hockey team piled on their goalie and kept the celebration going well into Thursday night.

Olympic gold medals on home soil have to feel good and the taste of victory is all the sweeter when it comes against a rival club. The Americans have always been Canada’s biggest rivals in women’s hockey and many know all about the bad blood between the two clubs that came to a boil when the lousy Americans trampled the Canadian flag in their dressing room during Salt Lake’s Olympics.

Or there’s the situation from the 1998 Nagano Olympics where Sandra Whyte allegedly said something insensitive about the recent passing of Danielle Goyette’s father.

Whatever the facts are amid the hype, the rivalry between the two women’s clubs has been clear throughout the years and has made for some exciting and tense moments. On home ice, however, 2010 belonged to Team Canada.

That didn’t stop IOC president Jacques Rogge from putting a bit of a damper on the proceedings, however, as his pronouncement that women’s hockey could go the way of softball at the Olympics certainly seemed to be poorly timed.

Indeed, Rogge’s desire to piss all over the excitement of both Finland’s run for bronze and Canada’s run for gold couldn’t have been more of a mistake. “We cannot continue without improvement,” Rogge said. “There is a discrepancy there, everyone agrees with that. This is maybe the investment period in women’s ice hockey. I would personally give them more time to grow - but there must be a period of improvement.”

Rogge most certainly has a point, but there’s no way his timing of the statement helps things.

The “problem” with women’s hockey lies simply with the inequality in the programs internationally. The Americans and Canadians spend considerable money on their hockey clubs, while other teams don’t come up with as much capital or time to invest. The Americans and Canadian teams know each other well, but teams like Finland and Sweden don’t have the same cohesion.

That’s not to say that the other teams in women’s hockey don’t have a serious work ethic or shouldnt be considered as threats. “The Sweden team worked their asses off,” said Sweden coach Peter Elander.

The Finnish club is getting set to spend considerable money to improve their facilities and overall hockey program in time for the 2014 events in Sochi and other international clubs are expected to do the same. With Rogge’s pronouncement lingering overhead, it looks like it’s time to shape up or ship out for women’s hockey at the Olympics.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

In a game that was expected to be a challenge for the Canadians, Team Canada defeated the Russians by a score of 7-3 on Wednesday night to keep their gold medal hopes alive at the 2010 Olympics.

It was an exciting contest that saw the Canadians sticking to their system throughout. They kept the shot totals high yet again, continuing the trend of firing over an incredible volume of shots per game on goal that they’ve utilized throughout the tournament so far. Canada was able to convert their shots to quality chances against the Russians, however, and used their physical play to rattle Evgeni Nabokov early and often.

After scoring six goals on the San Jose Sharks goalie, Canada chased Nabokov from the net and Ilya Bryzgalov stepped in as a replacement. Canada would only score one more goal, but the they kept the tempo up throughout the rest of the contest.

Perhaps the main key to Canada’s success during the game was their ability to contain Alex Ovechkin. Canada pressured him hard and he was visibly rattled by the attention. Coach Mike Babcock’s decision to put Ovie in the path of his checking line paid off and the Russian superstar remained a non-threat throughout the game.

Canada’s mobile defence chipped in, too, with Dan Boyle and Drew Doughty proving why they were selected for the team with electrifying rushes and tremendous physical play. Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer both played their best game of the tournament so far too, demonstrating veteran leadership in key situations and playing tight on Russia’s rushing forwards.

Babcock’s decision to go with Roberto Luongo proved to be the right one, too, as the Vancouver Canuck kept things in control and stopped an considerable onslaught of shots on goal. A highlight came when he stoned Evgeni Malkin on a late breakaway. The crowd’s excitement over having the home team hero play in goal was evident with every “Luuu.”

The win was a historical one, marking the first time Canada has defeated Russia at the Olympics since 1960.

Canada is now set to play the winner of the Slovakia-Sweden game that goes later Wednesday. The next game for Canada will take place on Friday at 6:30 pm PST.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

In a performance that seemed to fill in all the gaps left by previous games in the tournament, Team Canada took out the Germans on Tuesday night to advance in the 2010 Olympics.

Canada kept the zones clogged, for the most part, and really worked on crashing the German net throughout the game. Goals came from all angles, with Joe Thornton getting things started 10 minutes into the first period. The onslaught continued, with Canada finally getting some much-needed cohesion out of pairing Crosby with Eric Staal and Jarome Iginla.

The line came up with two goals for Iginla and added another for Crosby, demonstrating the power of those three players if they’re paired with the right linemates.

Germany did break through Roberto Luongo and Co. twice, catching the Canadians on a sloppy setup in their own end 36 minutes in and adding another quick one as time ticked away on the clock.

But the win was a decisive one and Canadians have reason to celebrate - for now. The Russians are up next on Wednesday and they’ll be a more complicated test for a Canadian squad that still has a lot of work to do. With lofty expectations, Canada will have less than 24 hours to prepare for the next game.

Cohesion will continue to be the name of the game and coach Babcock will need to hold his lines together the best he can. Resisting the temptation to juggle is going to be key, as it seems that Crosby has finally discovered who he can play with on the team and he’ll need that sense of constancy to bring his teammates up to the level they should be playing at.

The Russians will be a tough team to tackle, no doubt about it, and Canada will need to keep things going forward throughout the game.

I believe Luongo is the best bet in goal to face off against the Russian club, as Martin Brodeur’s puckhandling may put the Canadians in some unnecessary danger against the high-flying opposition.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

When Team Canada skates against the Germans Tuesday night in the qualification round of the 2010 Olympics, Roberto Luongo will get the start in goal.

There was considerable speculation that Luongo would be taking the place of starter Martin Brodeur after a rather disappointing game against the Americans on Sunday and CBC Sports has indeed confirmed it after Monday’s Team Canada practice.

Brodeur did not play his best hockey on Sunday night and struggled to get into form throughout the game. He was easily beaten by Ryan Miller, who played a solid game battling nearly 50 Canadian shots on goal. Brodeur looked uneven handling the puck and seemed to have to fight to make some relatively easy saves.

Luongo spent Monday’s practice in net at one end of the ice while Brodeur and Marc-Andre Fleury shared the net at the other end of the rink. It is not expected that Fleury will see any ice time during the Olympics.

The game is a crucial one for Canada, as they face elimination from medal contention should they fall to the Germans. The winner of Tuesday’s game will go on to face the Russians in the quarterfinals on Thursday, so this is not an easy path to be on for Canada and a medal is certainly not a guarantee for this hockey team.

With Ron Wilson, America’s coach, touting Canada as the “best team” in the tournament and scores of expectations from across the country and the world on the shoulders of Team Canada, it’s not surprising to see the pressure getting to the players. They entered the tournament as heavy favourites, as always, but the mystique is wearing off and the competition in the Olympics is fierce.

Canada can not afford to take any team in the Olympics lightly. With Luongo in goal, the Canadians have a chance for rejuvenation but I fear that expectations may have some on Team Canada putting the cart before the horse. Many players have been in the press talking about Tuesday’s game against the Germans as though it’s an “extra game” and I think this is to their peril.

No single team in these Olympic games should be underestimated. Every team should be treated with adequate preparation from the Canadians before the unthinkable happens. Canada underestimated the Swiss in 2006 and we all know how that story ended. Let’s hope for a different finish this time.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.