The Ice Men Commeth

Day 5

Short-track bronze for Canada


Canadian Anouk Leblanc-Boucher won the bronze medal in the women's 500-metre short-track race.

China's Wang Meng won the gold medal, while Bulgarian Evgenia Radanova captured the silver. China's Fu Tianyu finished fourth by a tiny margin, but was disqualified for cross-drafting.

Leblanc-Boucher, 21, hails from Prevost, Que. She is competing in her frist Olympics. She broke her ankle while training in November 2001 and a screw was inserted during surgery. She went on to clinch the world junior title in the 500 in 2004. She has been strong ever since, and is now ranked fifth overall in this event. Wang, a rising star in the sport, is considered a successor to the legendary Yang Yang (A). Wang has won one gold and one silver medal in this event at world championships. She won four gold medals in the 2005-2006 World Cup season, and is ranked first in the world in this event.

Radanova has competed in three Olympics, winning silver at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. She has won one gold medal and two silvers at world championships. She won two silver medals and one bronze in the 2005-2006 World Cup season, and is ranked second in the world in this event.

It seemed all Canada needed to find its game was a scare by a motivated Italian team Wednesday morning at Palasport Olimpico arena. Jarome Iginla scored two power-play goals to lead Canada to a 7-2 win over Italy as the team opened defence of its Olympic gold medal.


The Canadians looked sluggish and confused early as they missed passes and good scoring opportunities. The result was only a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period on Iginla's goal. He took a perfect pass from Todd Bertuzzi and then one-timed a shot from the slot to beat Italian goaltender Jason Muzzatti at 5:33.

Italy scored the tying goal on the power-play just 43 seconds into the second period that shocked Canada and prompted the home crowd into loud chants of "Italia, Italia," after Giulio Scandella directed a shot to the Canadian net that beat goalie Martin Brodeur. The mometum didn't last as Dany Heatley scored a power-play goal to give Canada a 2-1 lead a 1:12 later. Heatley's goal seemed to settle the Canadians en route to five unanswered goals. Winger Todd Bertuzzi, who had two assists in the game, said his Canadian team wasn't unnerved by the Italian goal.

"Not at all, not with the amount of character we have," Bertuzzi told CBC Sports.

"We know what we have to do, we came out strong in the second period, we kept building and building, our passes got better and we started scoring goals."

Iginla's second goal with the man advantage gave Canada all the insurance it would need. He took a nifty cross-ice pass from Joe Sakic and wristed a shot to the short side past Italian goaltender Jason Muzzatti at 6:04.

While motivated by the crowd, the Italians were undisciplined as Canada's speed produced three goals on the eight chances on the power play. Canadian coach Pat Quinn's decision to put Iginla, Bertuzzi and captain Sakic paid off in this game as the three combined for five points.

"We all play similar roles on the power play," said Bertuzzi. "Me and Jarome are better suited for around the net and in the corner. It was pretty easy, especially [playing with] Jarome and I tried to get him the puck in the slot and worked off Joe."

Shane Doan, Brad Richards, Martin St. Louis and Joe Thornton scored Canada's other goals, while forward John Parco tallied for Italy's second goal. Despite Canada's immense advantage in talent and 50-20 edge in shots, Italy worked hard and Muzzatti made several key saves.

The Italians are making only their third Olympic appearance in hockey. They participated in the 1948 and 1956 Winter Games. Italy does have some players with limited NHL experience. Muzzatti, a former Calgary Flames first-round pick, had his only NHL shutout in 1996 when he stopped all 40 shots to lead the Hartford Whalers to a 1-0 win over a young Martin Brodeur and the hometown New Jersey Devils.

"It was a tremdous challenge for us," said Muzzatti, who gained a lot of respect from the Canadian team. "My boys worked so hard to keep it at [7-2]. There's a lot of people at home saying prayers in Toronto and I think they helped me keep it to seven."

The win gives Canada its 91st Olympic victory, the most by any coutnry. Canada's next game is Thursday against Germany.

Canada's Brad Gushue wasn't going to let a freak occurrence break his concentration or slow him down in the men's curling competition at the Torino Games. Gushue, who curls out of St. John's, skipped his Canadian rink to a 9-5 victory in nine ends over David Murdoch and Great Britain Wednesday in Pinerolo, approximately 50 kilometres from Turin, Italy.

After Gushue posted back-to-back steals in the first two ends, Murdoch drew to the button to score a deuce in the third to knot the score at 2-2. Gushue, holding last-rock advantage for the first time in the contest, capitalized by scoring three in the fourth end to take a 5-2 lead. Murdoch scored one in the next end to make it a 5-3 contest. Gushue drew to the button to score one in the sixth end and then stole a single in the seventh to jump out 6-3. Murdoch made it a two-point contest when he scored a pair in the eighth end, but Gushue put the game away in the ninth with a double takeout to score two.

Swiss skip Ralph Stoeckli provided stiffer opposition in the second showdown, but Gushue scored singles over five consecutive ends to prevail 7-5

Gushue, a two-time world junior champion who curls out of St. John's, showed a deft touch by drawing against three for one in the first end. But Stoeckli tied 1-1 on an open draw in the second, then stole three in third when Gushue's last shot picked before reaching the house. After Gushue drew to the back of the four-foot in the fourth, he earned a steal of one on Stoeckli's failed tap in the fifth. Gushue pulled even in the sixth and regained the lead in the seventh when Stoeckli's hit-and-roll stopped a hair short of the button, prompting a measurement won by Canada. Stoeckli continued to unravel in the eighth, wrecking on a guard to give Gushue yet another steal of one, but he regrouped to to count one on a precarious rub to cut it to 6-5 through nine. Gushue then drew to the four-foot to clinch it in the 10th.

Later,
Kenaz