Official Sochi Olympics - Backes brings home 2 stray dogs

[sj-roc]

*axe double post*

[sj-roc]

Brad Jacobs in full control over Scotland halfway through the men's curling final. Opened with a deuce, then forced, then three, then stole one and now another force (that was almost a steal). Add it up, leading 6-2 after 5 with hammer in 6. Even Jacobs himself in his wildest dreams could not have imagined such a start. Scotland missing shots all over the place.

Edit: another deuce in 6 to go up 8-2. The rest of this one will be a Jacobs victory lap. I don't see any path back for Scotland.

Edit 2: Scotland's Murdoch spills his shooter on a wide open nose hit bid for 2 in 7, has to take 1. That's the kind of day it's been for Scotland. 8-3 Canada going to 8 with. This should be the last end.

[sj-roc]

Jacobs takes one more in 8, and Scotland asks, "Can we just take our silver medals now and go home?" Make the final 9-3 and gold for Jacobs in probably their strongest game of the tournament.

[TheLionKing]

Gold and Silver in Women's Ski Cross.

[WestCoastJoe]

Great start to the day.

Gold for Markielle Thompson, Silver for Kelsey Serwa.

Gold for Jacobs and his curling team.

I have not seen a lot of Jacobs. But he throws some killer draws. And he is very cool under pressure.

Go, Sid and Team.

[Robbie]

Watching women's figure skating, I agree with the 1.6 million+ who have signed a petition stating that there's no way Adelina Sotnikova with her small flaw performed better than Yuna Kim to capture the gold. Despite the revamp in figure skating scoring by the ISU Judging System after the 2002 Winter Olympics figure skating scandal, it looks like the controversy has returned. I wonder if there will be one of those rare cases of double gold awards like what happened to Canadian athletes in 2002 and 1992. I stated before that it looks like the Olympics is the only sports organization in which the results and awards can be changed long after the tournament.

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With both the men and the women winning gold in curling, I guess there's no controversy as to whether Team Martin or Team Howard should have represented the men, and whether Team Homan should have represented the women instead despite winning double Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

[WestCoastJoe]

Watching women's figure skating, I agree with the 1.6 million+ who have signed a petition stating that there's no way Adelina Sotnikova with her small flaw performed better than Yuna Kim to capture the gold. Despite the revamp in figure skating scoring by the ISU Judging System after the 2002 Winter Olympics figure skating scandal, it looks like the controversy has returned. I wonder if there will be one of those rare cases of double gold awards like what happened to Canadian athletes in 2002 and 1992. I stated before that it looks like the Olympics is the only sports organization in which the results and awards can be changed long after the tournament.

Allowing the judges to hide, to be anonymous, was a terrible decision. I am sure Russia and France pushed for it. Disgraceful to give the Gold to the Russian girl, who slipped, over Yuna Kim, who was flawless. Disgraceful.

Don't know how one could take the subjective judging out of figure skating. I have not watched any of it in years. Skate the performance of your life and get crappy marks. They might as well announce the results months in advance.

Might as well have judges give marks to painters. First place to Renoir. Second to Monet. Third to Van Gogh, who only gets third because he is crazy. LOL Wait. Wait. Cezanne is #1. Renoir #2. Monet #3. Off the podium, Van Gogh.

A pox on figure skating judges.

[sj-roc]

Scotland struggled at second and skip today and this was the difference. Percentages don't always tell the whole story — Sweden as a team actually out-percented the Jones rink 86%-82% in their gold medal loss yesterday — but getting outcurled by a 25% margin at two positions is a recipe for disaster.

[TheLionKing]

What a game between USA and Team Canada. Scoreless after one period.

[TheLionKing]

Canada opens the scoring on a goal by Jamie Benn

[WestCoastJoe]

About Thompson and Serwa ...

It was from the comfort of her couch that Thompson watched fellow Canadian Ashleigh McIvor win gold at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Now her victory in Sochi will keep gold in Canadian hands for another quadrennial.

“She’s very nonchalant, focused on having fun and just going out there and doing her absolute best,” the retired McIvor said of her successor. “I think it’s a Whistler mentality. We both grew up in Whistler, and it’s obviously a winning approach when it comes to the sport of skicross.”

Serwa is not from Whistler, but she seems in possession of the same chilled-out vibe.

“She used to do highland dancing,” said her mom Terri Serwa. “We would go to these little competitions, and there would be these little eight-year-olds throwing up on the sidelines, and they were so nervous. And Kelsey would be playing on an escalator.”

Keeping cool under pressure. That is the key.

[sj-roc]

With both the men and the women winning gold in curling, I guess there's no controversy as to whether Team Martin or Team Howard should have represented the men, and whether Team Homan should have represented the women instead despite winning double Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

I wouldn't have argued over who we sent regardless of the result. We are so deep as a curling nation we prob have ten teams any of which could hold their own at the Olympics. The quality control in deciding who we send means you need sustained performance over several years and have to face a lot of other good Canadian teams to get the nod. It's tough to argue with whoever survives this battle. At the qualifier in December Jacobs went undefeated wire-to-wire against a field that featured no shortage of hardware in their trophy cases. Howard, Stoughton, Martin and Koe among them have won 12 Briers and 8 World Championships (I could add Morris's but all of his were as Martin's third before they parted ways last April).

It should also be noted that Homan as defending champion got an automatic bye back to the Scotties this year and didn't have to win zone and provincial playdowns as is the case for the rest of the field. She also didn't have to compete against Jones who was on the Olympic track. None of this is to dismiss her laudable accomplishments but she just wasn't as road tested as Jones. She entered the Olympic qualifier and although she finished second in the round robin her record was a middling 4-3, including a 7-6 loss to first-place Jones. She lost her semi-final to Sherry Middaugh and didn't even get to face Jones again in the final that of course Jones won. As for Martin and Howard they didn't even win their provincial playdowns this season so neither of them will even be at the Brier next month. They've had outstanding runs but both will be past 50 (Howard already is) for the next Olympic cycle. I'll never say never but chances are we've already seen the last of their Olympic bids.

In some respects being so deep can be a disadvantage. Other countries where one team is head and shoulders above the rest often send this team several times over to one international tournament after another and this lets them build up experience against the rest of the world that would be handy to draw on at the Olympics. More often when Canada faces the world we end up sending a different team from one to the next so they will be one of the least experienced internationally among the contenders.

[WestCoastJoe]

Canada defeats the USA in men's hockey, 1-0. On to the Gold Medal game.

Defensive hockey. All the teams played that way against us. Teams must have opened it up against the USA, and that was a mistake.

[TheLionKing]

Good defense will trump a good offensive. Proven once again

[TheLionKing]

Charles Cournoyer wins Bronze in 500 metre speed skating.