Americans have borrowed Canada’s Olympic medals stand so much, hosts say US can keep it

Canada drops medals quest; US women’s hockey rolls

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — A full day later, the U.S. hockey victory over Canada was still reverberating at the Vancouver Olympics.

The fallout started Monday morning, with the head of Canada’s Olympic committee conceding that his country’s $117 million, five-year plan to “Own the Podium” — translation: win the medals race — wasn’t going to pan out.

It wasn’t a direct result of the hockey game. Still, the timing makes you wonder.

“We’d be living in a fool’s paradise if we said we were going to catch the Americans and win,” COC head Chris Rudge said.

In the afternoon, Canada hockey coach Mike Babcock answered the question everyone across the country was asking by declaring that he was benching goaltender Martin Brodeur and starting Roberto Luongo for Tuesday’s win-or-else game against Germany.

“We’re in the winning business and to win in any game, at any level, you need big saves,” Babcock said. “We’re looking for Lu to do that.”

Other events drew significance from the U.S.-Canada hockey game. For instance, Canada’s men’s curling team beat the Americans 5-3, eliminating them from the tournament, then one of the Canadian curlers called it “some redemption for the hockey team.”

And there were the expected victories from the U.S. and Canadian women’s hockey teams, setting up a showdown in the gold-medal game Thursday.

Oh, don’t forget the other connection Monday: Happy 30th anniversary to Mike Eruzione, Jim Craig and the “Miracle on Ice” club.

“It was more than a hockey game to a lot of people,” Craig said. “As you get older … it becomes more and more important to us.”

With the ice dancing final still to finish, no Americans won medals Monday, but the victory by the women’s hockey team clinched no worse than silver. That makes at least 25 medals for the U.S. squad, tops among all countries and matching the haul from the 2006 Turin Games for the most at a Winter Olympics not held in the United States.

The next big number for the Americans: 34, their record for medals won at any Winter Olympics, set at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

The United States also is trying to win the Winter Olympics medals race for the first time since 1932 in Lake Placid. Germany made a big move to try thwarting that Monday, tying the Americans for the most gold (seven) and getting to 21 overall.

The Germans won the women’s cross-country team sprint and got silver in the men’s team sprint and in ski jumping.

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

What a day to remember for U.S. coach Mark Johnson: He celebrated the anniversary of the “Miracle on Ice,” in which he scored two goals, and saw his team avenge their 2006 Olympic shootout loss to Sweden with a 9-1 victory.

The Americans jumped ahead 4-0, then put the game away with four goals early in the third period, all against Kim Martin, the same goalie who stunned them in Turin. Monique Lamoureux scored three goals. Angela Ruggiero, a four-time Olympian playing in her record 250th game, also scored.

Canada advanced with a 4-0 win over Finland. Meghan Agosta set an Olympics record with her ninth goal and Canada upped its margin of victory for the tournament to 46-2.

CURLING

Skip John Shuster’s team got an early lead over Canada, but wound up losing 7-2 in a shortened match. The Americans fell to 2-6 going into their finale Monday night against China.

Shuster won bronze four years ago, helping bring more attention to this sport. It was the first U.S. curling medal at the Olympics and the first in a major men’s competition since 1978. They couldn’t build on it, though, losing three straight matches in extra ends (which are like innings in baseball).

“We’ve played good and just haven’t quite gotten there,” Shuster said.

CROSS-COUNTRY

Both team sprints — a freestyle event with two skiers taking turns going three laps — were decided in dashes to the finish.

Norway’s Petter Northug did it in the men’s event, pulling away from Germany’s Axel Teichmann. Norway’s Ola Vigen Hattestad —the reigning world champion in the individual and team sprints, and winner of the last two World Cup sprint titles — pulled out because of a sore throat.

Americans Torin Koos and Andy Newell were ninth.

Germany won the women’s team sprint when Claudia Nystad beat Sweden’s Anna Haag across the line by 0.6 seconds. Americans Caitlin Compton and Kikkan Randall were sixth.

Russia took bronze in both events.

SKI JUMPING

On his final jump in the team event, 20-year-old Gregor Schlierenzauer soared farther than anyone else in these Winter Games to wrap up the gold for Austria. This was his third medal; he won bronze in both individual events.

Switzerland’s Simon Ammann, who won both individual events, didn’t compete in the team event because his country didn’t have the four jumpers needed for a team.

BOBSLED

More changes are coming to the Whistler Sliding Center, this time to shave the ice in several tricky curves in hopes of making the track easier for bobsledders to navigate.

“It’s still going to be the toughest track in the world. No doubt,” U.S. coach Brian Shimer told The Associated Press.

Changes came after a two sleds crashed during supplemental training, which many nations chose to skip, opting for rest instead.

The women’s event is Tuesday and Wednesday, with the men’s four-man event Friday and Saturday.

BIATHLON

Magdalena Neuner of Germany won’t go for a third gold medal, pulling out of the relay on Tuesday because of exhaustion.

Neuner said she is “happy and satisfied” with having won gold in the pursuit and mass start races, and silver in the sprint, but that her Olympics have been “incredibly stressful.”

BUS DRIVER DIES

Police say a 71-year-old bus driver working at the Olympics died on duty while driving other drivers to their depot. He’s believed to have had a heart attack.

Another driver grabbed the wheel and safely stopped the bus, said the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.