Day 10 Open Thread

And you thought snowboard cross was nuts

Day 10 in Vancouver sees a new event debuted.

What if you combined the speed of downhill skiing, the twists and turns of bobsled, and the chaos of snowboard cross? Then you would have skii cross, Vancouver’s new event. Canada has several medal contenders in the men’s and women’s fields, so it will be interesting to see if they can add on to their 4 golds.

After that, one of my favorite events take place, as the top 30 ranked men in the world compete in the 30k biathlon mass start. Keep it on NBC after that to see Jaromir Jagr and the Czech Republic take on current Conn Smythe holder Evgeni Malkin and Russia in hockey.

Both the US men and women face tough curling tests today. The women take on Canada, who top the pool, in a must win scenario, and the men have a must win against Great Britain (who also have a must win), after Britain’s crushing defeat to Canada last night.

Speaking of which, I haven’t done my Performance of the night for awhile, so I’ll give out three for yesterday: the Bronze of last night goes to the women’s curling team for beating a tough tough Britain team. Silver goes to the men’s curling team. John Shuster was back as skip and called a great game, and Jason Smith made a clutch clutch shot to give them the win in the last end. And Gold to Apolo Ohno for becoming the United States’s most decorated winter Olympian ever, surpassing Bonnie Blair.

11:22 – Here’s a trivia question you can tell your friends: Simon Stickl of Germany is the first person to ever take a ski cross run in the Olympics.

11:31 – McCormick had a great chance for two, but threw it through the house, and the US only takes one.

11:45 – Canada gets 4 cause Debbie cant draw one into the house, which is a shot a 5th grader should make, and lead 4-1 after 2

11:50 – Former American downhill skiier Darren Rahlves comes up next in ski cross.

12:16 – Canada is up 6-1 after 5. The US medal hopes are going up in smoke.

12:50 – It could be over after this end. Debbie might just want to shake hands and move on to the next game.

12:59 – And that’s what happens. Canada wins 9-2 in 7 ends.

1:01 – Biathlon mens start going on right now.

1:07 – Through the first station, American Tim Burke is clean.

1:14 – Through the second station, American Tim Burke is clean. He’s in 9th.

1:21 – With three misses in the first standing station, Tim Burke will not medal.

1:50 – Russia-Czech Republic gets underway in about 10 minutes in hockey

3:09 – Spoiler alert! Don’t highlight the next line if you don’t want to know the results of the super combined.

Bode Miller has won the Gold medal in Super Combined. It is the first Gold of his career. Ivica Kostelic (Croatia) was 2nd, and Silvan Zurbriggen (Switzerland) was 3rd

3:11 – In a hockey update, Russia and the Czechs are tied at 1

3:24 – Bad call as Andrei Markov closed his hand on the puck in the crease, but no penalty shot was called.

3:28 – Czech Republic power play

3:30 – End of 2, Russia leads by 1

3:51 – Russia’s Evgeni Malkin scores another goal to give Russia a 3-1 lead.

4:05 – US – Britain beginning in curling

4:11 – Milan Michalek scores to make it 3-2 Russia. Plenty of time left.

4:20 – Russia wins 4-2. Pavel Datsyuk with an ENG to clinch it.

4:21 – Debbie McCormick will not throw last rock tonight against Sweden, but will still skip.

4:58 – United States up 1-0 on Britain going into the 5th end.

They just had a special on NBC on the Miracle on Ice, and I am not ashamed to admit that there were some tears. OK you caught me, a lot of tears.