While the opening week of the Olympics was all about Canada's shocking run up the medal table that we all knew wasn't going to last forever, Week Two's storylines were pretty much what we were all expecting as once the Men's Hockey tournament started eyes drifted from the amateurs and back onto the game that Canadians love so much. Round robin play brought upsets, special moments and of course tons of debate over how good Canada has been playing and if it will be enough to get them through to this weekend's semifinals and eventually the Gold Medal game.
Still even with all of the hockey there has been more than enough special Canadian moments this week. Even if the medals started changing from Golds to Silver and Bronze Canada has still continued to ride the Olympic wave and have the chance to finish out the Olympics with a big final weekend to once again be amongst the best countries in the world at the Winter Games for the second straight Olympics. With that being said, here are the Olympic highlights from Wednesday the 12-19:
Patrick Chan's silver
Patrick Chan was billed in Vancouver as Canada's star non-hockey athlete for the Games and a hope to be the country's first ever Men's Figure Skating Olympic Champion. That pressure got to him in 2010 and after disappointment at home he was supposed to head to Sochi as once again Canada's hope for figure skating history in our country.
Finishing fifth in Vancouver Chan did his best in the competition, but eventually was edged out for the Gold, settling for silver in what was a disappointment for both Chan and the country that has supported him through his career and were expecting him to finally climb the Olympic mountain for the Gold medal everyone has expected out of him.
Chan's loss sparked widespread debate on how we should view the accomplishments of Olympic athletes. Many praised Chan for winning silver, even if he was touted as a Gold medal contender in both 2010 and 2014 without getting the job done. That led to others calling out Chan for his lack of "clutch" as they expected Chan to win and he failed by losing . It is a fair debate and there is no wrong answer to your viewpoint, but his loss once again reminded Olympic viewers that not all medals are the same. Chan himself will be disappointed initially to have lost arguably his last great chance at a Gold medal, but at the same time he deserves to be proud of representing Canada with a Silver.
Team Jacobs, Team Jones off to Men's/Women's Curling finals.
Olympic curling has seen a rapid rise since it's inclusion as an Olympic sport and after the 2010 Games in Vancouver countries started to improve on the sheets and heading into Sochi the men's team led by Brad Jacobs and the women's team led by Jennifer Jones would have to contend with talented teams from Great Britain, China and Sweden to find their way to a Gold medal opportunity.
The Canadians had ups and downs during the round robin round, but still were amongst the most dominate teams and easily earned their ways into the semifinals as expected by most Canadians before setting up tough matchups against China for the men and Team GB for the women to guarantee themselves medals.
Jacobs and Jones did just that, both winning by multiple points to ensure at the very least double silver for Canada after the Gold medal games are played. Jones and Jacobs both know that Silver will not be enough to satisfy the thirst of the Canadian curling fans, who take pride in the fact the game is the most popular and organized in our country. For Jones and Jacobs there will be as much pressure on them as the Olympic hockey teams, which speaks to how much curling means to this country.
Charles Hamelin falls in 1,000 meter, 500 meter qualifications
Already boasting three total medals from performances in Torino 2006 and Vancouver 2010, Charles Hamelin knew he had a good chance to add to his medals in Sochi when he took to the track for the 1,500 meter event.
After the disappointment of finishing seventh in Vancouver in the 1,500 meter event Hamelin worked on improving himself over the four year break and it paid off. Hamelin beat out Tianyu Han of China with a time of 2:14.985 to win by 70 milleseconds over the field for a surprising win in an event that is typically not his strong point.
That made Hamelin's upcoming appearances in the 1,000 meter and 500 meter short track events compelling as the Canadian speedskater looked like he would get at least one medal out of two events where he also is among the top in the world, but fate had other ideas.
A spill in the 1,000 would set up an even more disastrous fall in his specialty event as in the 500 meter quarterfinal heat Hamelin would roar out to a clear lead heading into the first turn of the final lap where he spilled out and failed to qualify for the semifinals.
Hamelin's defeats showed just how small the margin of error is in the Olympics with so many world class athletes preparing for one event to define their careers, Hamelin will be able to look back on his upset in the 1,500 meter and smile but his shocking fall from grace reminded us just how easy it is to see your Olympic dream turn into a nightmare.
Canada-USA Women prepare to do battle for Gold.
Heading into the final stretch of events at the Olympics, the second marquee event for the Canadians will be in the Women's Hockey Gold Medal game as the Canadians will be looking to sweep the Americans and complete what has been an upset in the women's hockey tournament so far with the Canadians playing so well while the favourite Americans blew a 2-1 third period lead to finish second in the group in the round robin meeting with the Canadians.
USA-Canada always brings some of the best games in all sports when they do battle on the Olympic stage and we all remember Hayley Wickenheiser calling out the Americans for stepping on the Canadian flag in their dressing room after Canada won their first Olympic Gold. This rivalry is as good as it can get and when the two do battle it is sure to take the center stage in Sochi as the entire world pays homage to how great both the US and Canada truly are at women's hockey.
Men's hockey reaches knockout round
As we speak Canada and the United States men's hockey teams are in the second period of their Quarterfinal games in the Olympic hockey tournament. With Russia out of the picture after being upset by Finland, the two should set up a semifinal together that could define who wins the Gold as the Americans and Canadians are both undefeated and are looking to make statements. After the epic 2010 Olympic Gold Medal game between the two expect a classic. Enjoy the rest of the games all.
