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VANCOUVER, British Columbia â€" The United States won only one medal at the Vancouver Olympics on Monday, a silver in ice dancing. Yet there was some significance to it.
With 25 medals, Americans have won as many as they have at any Winter Games not held in the United States, matching their haul from Turin in 2006.
The record is all-but-broken, too, because the women's hockey team has advanced to the gold-medal game, meaning they can get no worse than silver. They will face Canada on Thursday.
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. There are six days and 35 events left to try piling them up.
Otherwise, the big news Monday was the fallout from the U.S. men's hockey victory over Canada the day before, including Canada deciding to change goaltenders.
Robert Luongo will be in goal Tuesday against Germany, with Martin Brodeur watching from the bench.
"We're in the winning business and to win in any game, at any level, you need big saves," Canada coach Mike Babcock said. "We're looking for Lu to do that."
The ongoing reverberations started with the head of Canada's Olympic committee conceding that his country wasn't going to win the medals race, a huge proclamation considering they spent $117 million over five years to "Own the Podium." The white flag wasn't raised directly because of the hockey game, but 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, TV ratings were released, and the game was the most-watched sporting event in Canadian television history and it tied the 2008 elections for the most-watched event on MSNBC.
Other events fed off 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."
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."
Also Monday, Germany made a big move to try catching the United States in the medals race, 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.
ICE DANCING: No North American couple had ever won the event. This time, they were 1-2, with Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir outskating their Michigan training partners, David and White.
"There is so much to be proud of right now," Davis said.
World champions Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin of Russia won the bronze.
Turin Olympics silver medalists Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto of the United States were fourth.
CURLING: Skip John Shuster's team got an early lead over Canada, but wound up losing 7-2 in a shortened match. Then the Americans fell 11-5 to China, ending their Olympics with a 2-7 record.
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.
AERIALS: Ryan St. Onge and Jeret "Speedy" Peterson are headed to the finals in the men's freestyle aerials â€" and defending Olympic champion Han Xiaopeng of China and this year's top jumper, Anton Kushnir of Belarus, aren't.
St. Onge was second in qualifying, Peterson fifth. Han and Kushnir fell on their second jumps.
"I have had a lot of trouble landing this year," St. Onge said. "To come out today and land two jumps the way I wanted to is unbelievable."
CROSS-COUNTRY: Both team sprints â€" a freestyle event with two skiers taking turns going three laps â€" 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 â€"the reigning world champion in the individual and team sprints, and winner of the last two World Cup sprint titles â€" 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.
U.S., Canada advance to final game in women's hockey
VANCOUVER, British Columbia â€" The final game in women's Olympic hockey is no surprise: The Canadians and the Americans were the best teams going in, and they've earned the right to go out together with one game for gold.
A few hours after Monique Lamoureux scored three goals in the Americans' 9-1 victory over Sweden on Monday, Meghan Agosta set an Olympic record with her ninth goal in Canada's 5-0 win over Finland in the semifinals. The results ensured the highly probable ending to a tournament utterly dominated by North America. Canada has outscored its opponents 46-2 in Vancouver, while the Americans have a 40-2 edge. The gold medal game is Thursday.
"I think you're probably going to see the best women's hockey game that's ever been played," said Canada's Jayna Hefford, who added two assists to her 12 points in four games.
In classification play, Switzerland beat Russia 2-1 in a shootout to finish fifth, while China beat Slovakia 3-1 to take seventh place, keeping the Slovaks winless in their first Olympics.
Before Canada struggled through parts of its toughest game of the tournament, the Americans easily avenged their 2006 semifinal shootout loss to Sweden, the biggest upset in Olympic history and a sore spot for the six returning members of that bronze-medal team.
"It was the same team, same semifinal game, but the similarities end there," said Ruggiero, the four-time Olympian. "Everyone knows. No one was saying, 'Remember, remember.'"
The Americans jumped out to another 2-0 lead at Canada Hockey Place, just as they did in Turin. That's when Ruggiero skated in on Kim Martin and beat the standout Swedish goalie cleanly, scoring on exactly the type of shot Martin repeatedly stopped with style four years ago.
"Obviously, what happened in 2006 was disappointing to everybody with USA Hockey," U.S. coach Mark Johnson said. "We've talked about when you get the opportunity, to be ready. Today was a big hurdle to get across."
The rematch was a comprehensive thrashing of the Swedes and Martin, who came nowhere close to her 37-save performance in Turin. She again made 37 saves â€" the exact number she made four years ago â€" but the ones that got away were more numerous and more glaring.
"To beat them, you need the lucky bounces and excellent goaltending," Sweden coach Peter Elander said. "Today we didn't get any lucky bounces, and we let in some soft goals."
Every goal was hard-earned for Canada, which still wasn't seriously threatened by Finland.
Cherie Piper and Caroline Ouellette scored for the Canadians, who were backed by a flag-waving crowd that sang "O Canada" in the closing minutes.
Shannon Szabados made just 11 saves for Canada, but Finnish goalie Noora Raty bedeviled the Canadian offense with 45 stops. She kept the deficit to two goals until late in the second period when Agosta broke Danielle Goyette's Olympic goal-scoring mark.
"I'm very proud, but it's not about who gets a record," said Agosta, who grew up an hour south of Detroit in Ruthven, Ontario. "It's about that one last game we've got to play, and that's what everybody has been focused on."
Although the Canadian men's team is causing worry from Victoria to Halifax with its unimpressive start, the women's team has done exactly what's expected of a Canadian club.
Canada is one victory away from winning its third straight gold medal in the sport it has largely controlled during two decades of international competition. Yet the Americans, who won the sport's first Olympic gold in 1998, have been nearly as impressive in their march to the final.
The results of their meetings last year don't provide much insight: The Americans won the world championship and the Canada Cup, but Canada won the teams' six most recent exhibitions, including two one-goal victories around New Year's Day.
"I think Canada has been a better team here than the USA," said Raty, the University of Minnesota's goalie. "But if I have to say who I think will win, I'd say USA, because I play there."
Canada scored less than 6 minutes in against Finland when Agosta, the tournament scoring leader with 14 points, made a backhand pass to Piper for a shot between Raty's pads. Irwin added an unassisted goal late in the period, but Raty made a series of impressive saves while the puck rarely left Finland's end.
There were noticeable rumbles of uneasiness in the same building in which Canada opened with an 18-0 victory over Slovakia on the Olympics' first full day of competition. This win wasn't nearly as relaxing for the fans or coach Melody Davidson, who acknowledged earlier that a loss to Finland would have been "a disaster" for Canadian hockey.
"Nothing was given to us," Davidson said. "We had to play hard through the whole game, and that's what you want, to play against good competition."
-- Greg Beacham
U.S. women rout Sweden, reach gold-medal match
VANCOUVER, British Columbia â€" Angela Ruggiero launched a wrist shot over Kim Martin's too-late glove and gratefully raised her hands to the roof, finally certain her U.S. women's hockey team wouldn't allow another Swedish surprise at the Olympics.
Monique Lamoureux scored three goals, Jessie Vetter made 11 saves and the Americans rolled into the gold-medal match with a 9-1 semifinal victory over Sweden on Monday.
Caitlin Cahow, Karen Thatcher and Kelli Stack each had a goal and an assist as the Americans avenged their 2006 semifinal shootout loss to Sweden, the biggest upset in Olympic history and a sore spot for the six returning members of that bronze-medal team.
"It was the same team, same semifinal game, but the similarities end there," said Ruggiero, the four-time Olympian. "Everyone knows. No one was saying, 'Remember, remember.'"
The Americans jumped out to another 2-0 lead at Canada Hockey Place, just as they did in Turin. That's when Ruggiero skated in on Martin and beat the standout Swedish goalie cleanly, scoring on exactly the type of shot Martin repeatedly stopped with style four years ago.
"Obviously, what happened in 2006 was disappointing to everybody with USA Hockey," U.S. coach Mark Johnson said. "We've talked about when you get the opportunity, to be ready. Today was a big hurdle to get across."
The rematch was a comprehensive thrashing of the Swedes and Martin, who came nowhere close to her 37-save performance in Turin. She again made 37 saves â€" the exact number she made four years ago â€" but the ones that got away were more numerous and more glaring.
"To beat them, you need the lucky bounces and excellent goaltending," Sweden coach Peter Elander said. "Today we didn't get any lucky bounces, and we let in some soft goals."
After outscoring their first four opponents by a combined 40-2, the Americans will face the winner of Finland's semifinal later Monday against powerhouse Canada, likely setting up the long-anticipated meeting of the sport's two best teams.
"Now, it's really exciting," Vetter said. "We made it to the point we really wanted to. I think we're ready for the gold-medal game."
Vetter soundly outplayed Martin, who let in a few stoppable goals and made at least one accidental save off her mask. The Americans' superior offense took care of the rest, jumping to a 4-0 lead early in the second period on consecutive goals by Ruggiero and Cahow before icing it with three goals on their first six shots in the third period, silencing a large Canadian crowd cheering mostly for the Swedes.
If the Americans needed any extra motivation, they got it Sunday night in the same rink. Much of the roster attended the U.S. men's team's victory over Canada.
"I feel we've yet to play our best game," said Lamoureux, whose twin sister, Jocelyne, had two assists. "It's hopefully coming Thursday."
Sweden's win in Turin was the first loss by a North American team in a major women's hockey tournament except to each other. Martin was the star, but she missed much of last year at Minnesota Duluth with a knee injury, only recently returning to competition.
Except for the symmetry of another semifinal meeting, there was little reason to expect a repeat: The U.S. team hadn't lost to Sweden in five international meetings since Turin, outscoring the Swedes 30-2 before beating them three more times in exhibitions leading up to Vancouver.
And on the 30th anniversary of the U.S. men's Miracle on Ice victory over the Soviet Union in Lake Placid, Johnson watched his team prevent any chance of a repeat of that minor miracle in Turin.
With U.S. men's team general manager Brian Burke watching from rinkside, the Americans scored less than 7½ minutes into a well-played first period. Moments after Vetter stopped Pernilla Winberg on a point-blank shot, Jenny Potter hit Lamoureux in stride with a long pass, and the 20-year-old beat Martin for her second goal of the Olympics. Meghan Duggan then popped home a rebound during a power play 69 seconds later.
Just 2½ minutes after Ruggiero's goal in her record 250th game with the U.S. team, Martin clumsily missed catching a soft shot by Cahow, letting it float behind her.
Sweden managed a power play goal midway through the period when Winberg adroitly backhanded a puck out of mid-air past Vetter, but Thatcher popped home a rebound goal 4 minutes later.
Lamoureux completed her hat trick on a power play goal with 2:41 to play during the Americans' four-goal third period.
After playing the preliminary round at UBC Thunderbird Arena, both teams waited through a long weekend for a chance to play at the bigger hockey venue in Vancouver. The Americans hadn't played since Thursday, while Sweden had four straight days without a game in a schedule criticized by coaches and some players.
-- Greg Beacham
For Canadian dance pair, gold is 'our Stanley Cup'
VANCOUVER, British Columbia â€" Scott Moir would have gone to sleep on the Olympic rings in the middle of the Pacific Coliseum ice if they'd let him, clutching his gold medal.
That being slightly unreasonable, even for an Olympic champion, he settled for getting on his knees, kissing the five rings and lingering as long as he could in a nearly deserted arena.
Finally, partner Tessa Virtue joined him for a few pictures with their coaches and even some volunteers. Why not? Their ice dance gold Monday night belonged to all of Canada, too.
"This is our Stanley Cup," said Moir, a huge hockey fan but, at this moment, a bigger hero than Sidney Crosby in his nation.
"We knew it was in us. But to get out there on the Olympic ice and to perform and to execute like that, it's a feeling that I've never had."
Nor was it a feeling any North American couple has had. Since ice dance was introduced in the Olympics in 1976, Russian or Soviet couples had won all but two golds, with the others going to Britain and France.
But there was no arguing that Virtue and Moir were the best in Vancouver.
"It's been 13 years of skating together. What a journey," she said. "It's been so many ups and downs, so many sacrifices. We've grown up together. We're best friends. It's just so amazing to share this together."
And to share the podium with their training partners and friends from Detroit, Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White. Davis and White won the second straight Olympic silver for the United States in the event; Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto were runners-up in Turin, and finished fourth Monday night.
Russia's Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, the world champs, took the bronze.
Still, the Russians have been oh-for-gold in pairs, men and dance, events they're used to dominating, and could very well go home without winning at least one skating event for the first time since 1960.
"North America has really come into its own in terms of ice dance," Davis said. "This Olympics is a little bit of a turning point again. It's really exciting to be a part of it."
Davis and White's silver was the 25th medal won by the U.S., matching its record set in 2006 for medals won at a Winter Olympics away from home. The Americans are guaranteed of passing that, because the U.S. women's hockey team can do no worse than a silver medal.
Virtue and Moir's program was tender and sensual, like a married couple stealing away for a romantic evening. They showcased their skating skills with edges so quiet and smooth they appeared to float above the ice.
Yet they had power and speed. Their combination spins were almost dizzying, and their signature move saw Virtue looking almost angelic on one lift. She balanced on his right thigh with her arms outstretched while he stayed in a deep-knee spread-eagle bend. Then she flipped forward and into his arms.
By then, the fans were standing, roaring and waving their maple leaf flags in triumph. Virtue and Moir weren't quite done, but the competition was over.
They won by 5.83 points, a mammoth margin.
Virtue's jaw dropped when she saw their overall score of 221.57 and Moir jumped to his feet, screaming almost as loudly as the crowd. With Davis and White, second after the original dance, already done, Virtue and Moir knew the gold was all but theirs.
Moir couldn't stop moving on the medals podium, and he shook his bouquet so hard during their victory lap flowers went flying across the ice. The couple looked around the arena as the ceremony started and, recognizing that few fans had left, made sure to display their medals to every corner of the coliseum, inviting everyone to share a piece of their victory. With each new wave of applause, their grins widened.
After their victory lap, Moir did his own version of the Lambeau Leap. But he and Virtue weren't ready to call it a night. They sprinted back onto the ice, holding up the Canadian flag.
"Right now, Vancouver is our favorite place to be," Virtue said. "It's been the perfect games."
While Virtue and Moir were all softness and grace, Davis and White's "Phantom of the Opera" was big and bold, as powerful as any Broadway production. They skated perfectly to the music, flying across the ice in the fast parts and oozing romance when it slowed.
Their lifts were akin to stunts, done at breakneck speed yet with perfect control. In one, White flipped Davis over his shoulder so she faced the opposite direction. Then, skating backward on one leg, he picked up the other and crossed it behind him, using it to balance his partner. With her arms stretched out wide, that crossed leg was the only thing keeping her from plunging to the ice.
Their only flaw was a one-point deduction, likely for an extended lift. Not that it would have made a difference.
Domnina and Shabalin's routine was theatrical and highly entertaining. But ice dance has moved beyond the absurd theater it was 10 years ago. The sport now requires good, old-fashioned skating skills, power and innovation, and Domnina and Shabalin didn't quite have it.
Still, an Olympic medal is an Olympic medal, and Domnina and Shabalin celebrated right along with the Canadians and Americans, enthusiastically waving the Russian flag when someone finally gave them one at the end of the victory lap.
Of course, Moir wasn't settling for one or two celebrations on the ice. This party might last until the next Olympics.
"I'll probably wear it in the shower," Moir said of the gold medal. "I'm not going to take it off all week."
-- Barry Wilner
Top-ranked Kushnir fails to make aerials finals
WEST VANCOUVER, British Columbia â€" Owning the podium is out of the question for Canada. Owning the aerials hill, though, is a distinct possibility.
On a night when the defending Olympic champion and this year's top jumper failed to make it through qualifying, Canadians Steve Omischl, Warren Shouldice and Kyle Nissen all advanced to give their country a glimmer of hope in what has been a dispiriting Olympics so far.
"It's unfortunate that we're a little bit behind in the medal count," Shouldice said after qualifying sixth Monday night. "But this is the time for me to be a little bit selfish and worry about me and not what the other athletes are doing. Right now, I'm just trying to do my job, and so far I've done a pretty good job at it."
America's Ryan St. Onge also advanced, as did Jeret "Speedy" Peterson, which means his patented, quintuple-twisting "Hurricane" jump should be on the schedule when the top 12 finishers return Thursday.
Not returning: Defending Olympic champion Han Xiaopeng of China and this year's top jumper, four-time 2009-10 winner Anton Kushnir of Belarus.
Both fell on their second jumps to drop out of the top 12. They offered a stark reminder of the unpredictability of the business of catapulting down a ramp, twisting and flipping 50 feet in the air and trying for a stable landing on the hard ground below.
"I was very surprised because Anton has been very steady with his performance, and his jump was very beautiful," said Jia Zongyang of China, who won qualifying with a score of 242.52.
Jia is ranked third this season but is 18 years old with only six World Cup events under his belt.
All of which sets things up as a free-for-all come Thursday, with Canada very much in the mix.
Good news for the hosts on a day in which Canadian Olympic Committee CEO Chris Rudge had to concede his country, with nine medals to America's table-leading 24, won't fulfill its goal of winning the medal count at the Olympics, a goal many years and millions of dollars in the making.
Canada has three decent chances to improve its standing in men's aerials.
Omischl, a four-time World Cup champion, was among the dominant aerials skiers from 2006-09 but a mild concussion set his training back a bit. He landed two solid jumps on a frosty, clear night in Cypress to score 233.88 and finish eighth.
"In the final, the strategy is, take it a step up and go for it," he said. "I'm not just trying to land a jump. I'm trying to land a beautiful jump. These guys are the best in the world for a reason. To be competitive with them, I need to take a step up."
Nissen and Shouldice finished 5-6 at the 2006 Olympics and have been regulars in the top 10 for much of the past four years.
"We try to peak at the Olympics. We've done a great job in semifinals, and hopefully we can step up and do a little better and get on the podium in finals," Shouldice said.
St. Onge could say the same. He has had a series of bad finishes this season and came into the Olympics ranked 28th â€" hardly befitting of the 2009 world champion. He kept his skis arrow straight, his hands tucked into his body and hit both his landings perfectly on Monday, however, to finish second in qualifying.
"I don't believe I've had a bad season so far," St. Onge said. "I've made the best jumps of my life, ever. They all happened in training. I really have underperformed in contests, but they were very small mistakes."
Peterson was good, too.
Like everyone else on a qualifying night, he came in hoping to do just enough to advance but without having to show everything. In his case, "everything" is quite a lot. It's the "Hurricane," which is five twists packed inside of three flips. If he lands it, he should have the gold medal hanging around his neck.
"It's definitely going to be a challenge," said Peterson, who has been having a hard time with conditions this week in training. "I don't have to (land it), but I want to; that's just my personality. Go big or go home, baby."
-- Eddie Pells
Canadian men improve to 8-0, beat U.S. 7-2
VANCOUVER, British Columbia â€" On this sheet of ice, it was all Canada.
"Some redemption for the hockey team," Canadian curler Marc Kennedy said, a day after the United States stunned Canada 5-3 in the country's No. 1 pastime.
On the curling ice, Kevin Martin's Canadians faced an early deficit against the U.S. on Monday, then fought right back to keep their Olympic unbeaten streak alive.
The favored Canada foursome (8-0) eliminated the Americans from contention with a shortened 7-2 victory in nine ends. John Shuster's U.S. team then lost a shortened 11-5 decision to China in eight ends at night. The Americans finished their disappointing Olympics at 2-7. For their last game, they used the lineup â€" minus Jason Smith â€" that they plan to go with next week at nationals in Kalamazoo, Mich.
Things weren't much better.
"I'm sick of this stupid game" Shuster said after the eighth end and stuck his tongue out.
Afterward, he explained himself this way: "Every now and then you have one of those moments where it's just not fair. It was said in fun, in sarcasm."
For a while, the Canadian men were just plain bad by their high standards â€" as in less than 40 percent accuracy for Martin, its 43-year-old ace.
"We hung on," he said. "The last five ends were strong, but the first two or three, whoa. We came out with a little bit of complacency, a little lack of focus after yesterday. Yesterday was a big win for us."
Martin already had secured the No. 1 seed going into Thursday's semifinals with a win Sunday over Switzerland, but his team wasn't nearly as sharp in this one. The Canadians had a bye for Monday night's session before finishing the round-robin schedule Tuesday against China.
It says a lot about Martin's bunch that they can play poorly and still win so soundly.
"I don't think it's just him. All four guys are phenomenal players," U.S. No. 4 shooter Smith said. "They've played together for a while now, and they know each other. They play well."
While Martin enjoyed a nice dinner with his wife Sunday â€" their first real date night since arriving in Vancouver earlier this month â€" his teammates were tuned in to the hockey team's shocking loss.
"I've still got a lot of confidence in the hockey players," John Morris said. "It will be a tough road, but we'll be cheering for those guys."
The American curlers didn't give their fans much to cheer about during a surprisingly poor Olympics. Shuster captured a bronze in Turin four years ago, the first American Olympic medal in the sport and first in a major men's competition since 1978.
But the U.S. never found a groove in Vancouver. The team lost three straight matches in extra ends at one point.
"We really came out here and played some good games and lost a bunch of close ones," Shuster said. "We're a team that puts threes and fours on the board on a pretty regular basis and capitalizes on opportunities. We haven't done that at all. We've played good and just haven't quite gotten there."
-- Janie McCauley
Underdogs or not, U.S. men ready for hockey quarters
VANCOUVER, British Columbia â€" Remember those unproven, untested U.S. men's hockey players no one was going to put money on to do damage at the Olympics? Well, they are now riding high as the top-seeded team in the tournament.
While second-guessers across Canada spent Monday trying to figure out what went wrong in the host nation's surprising 5-3 loss to the United States on Sunday, the young Americans (3-0) took the day off and waited to find out who they will play in the quarterfinals. That will be determined on Tuesday.
No losses, no goalie controversy, and no sign that this group of upstarts is intimidated by its sudden lofty status.
"This was a huge step for the confidence of all the players," said 36-year-old defenseman Brian Rafalski, who scored two goals and added an assist against Canada. "I don't think we're going to surprise anyone anymore."
But they aren't rushing to give up their long shot status.
They will be favored Wednesday in the quarterfinals to beat the winner of the Switzerland-Belarus qualification game, yet the Americans claim Russia and Canada are still the tournament powerhouses.
"I would still say that we're pretty big underdogs just from our lack of experience," forward Chris Drury said during a conference call Monday. "Certainly now the tournament takes on a whole new meaning with single elimination."
Mistakes the U.S. team got away with in preliminary-round victories over Switzerland and Norway will probably prove costly against stronger teams in the medal round.
Should the Americans advance to the semifinals, they will likely face the Czech Republic or 2006 silver medalist Finland. Those rosters are full of NHL talent, unlike Switzerland and Belarus, which don't have enough elite players combined to run a five-man shift.
The U.S. topped Switzerland 3-1 in its opening game in Vancouver last week.
"I'm not happy with the way we played to this point," U.S. general manager Brian Burke said. "We have to play significantly better. We need all hands on deck. We're playing with about 10 guys carrying us. Thank God there are some guys pulling on the rope, but we need everyone pulling on the rope."
The Americans' best player has been Buffalo Sabres goalie Ryan Miller, the man the United States needed to be on top of his game if a medal was going to be a realistic possibility. Miller is building off his fine NHL season and is living up to the billing that he is the best goalie in the league.
Miller has backstopped all three U.S. games and was tabbed by coach Ron Wilson as the starter for every game of the tournament.
The Americans played well in beating Canada in a hostile setting, but Canada dominated play for long stretches. Canada finished with a 45-23 shots advantage, wore down the smaller U.S. players with physical play and bone-jarring hits, and put on tremendous pressure in the final minutes while pushing for a tying goal.
"I was happy to see we were in a battle and we responded," Miller said. "Hopefully it provides the confidence we need to keep moving forward, but emotionally we need to make sure we are not going to get too high. We want to keep battling and keep playing, and there are going to be some tough teams ahead. We might even have these guys again."
Miller has stopped 66 of 71 shots and posted a 1.67 goals-against average, the third lowest in the tournament. He was the difference maker Sunday night.
"We got outchanced two to one. Our goaltender stole us the game. That's what happened," Burke said. "Except for the goaltending position, we didn't deserve to win that game. With that said, that's why we brought him. That's why he's in net."
It wasn't until Ryan Kesler's one-handed, empty-net goal sealed it in the closing seconds that the Americans could enjoy the big win over Canada.
"You didn't see Canada's best game (Sunday) night," Burke said. "Everything gets ratcheted up now. We've got to ratchet it up, too, or all this goes for naught. They don't hand out any medals for finishing first in the preliminary round. No one's taking any bows now.
"I'll see to it by (Tuesday) that they understand first-hand how I feel about it."
-- Ira Podell
Commentary:Â Good U.S. hockey win, but no Miracle on Ice
VANCOUVER, British Columbia â€" The ice at Canada's Hockey Place had barely been cleared, and Jim Craig was already offering a special.
Had to, because big U.S. hockey wins only come around so often. Big anniversaries, too.
So the tweet went out advertising his wares. Thirty years after the Miracle on Ice and 30 minutes after the U.S. beat Canada, the sale was on.
A bit unseemly, perhaps. But how often can you get $30 off a "Miracle" movie poster signed by the goalie who was behind the mask?
Craig wasn't saying how many he had sold in the wake of what surely was the biggest win by a U.S. hockey team since a group of young American college players shocked the mighty Soviet team 30 years ago Monday. He's got a Web site set up hawking other stuff, too, including a signed copy of the goalie mask he wore at Lake Placid.
Three decades later, the gift keeps giving for Craig, who also makes motivational speeches to corporate types wanting to rally around their own teams. He and captain Mike Eruzione were the faces of the team then, and they're still enjoying the fruits of their labor.
"Not a day goes by when someone doesn't ask me about it," Craig said.
But these are different times. And these Olympics have different players.
So don't bother putting the kids on your lap and telling them stories about Sunday night's U.S. hockey win over Canada. Don't worry about putting the ticket to the game in your safe deposit box, either.
Despite the initial shock and semi-hysteria, it's hardly 1980 all over again.
No one could have imagined a bunch of kids beating the feared Soviets then. But it's not all that hard to imagine now: a collection of well-paid NHL players from one country beating a collection of well-paid NHL players from another.
That's basically what happened Sunday night, much to the dismay of Canadians everywhere. If the home team doesn't rebound and win the gold medal, the loss will put a stain on their Olympics and be remembered among the darker moments in the country's proud hockey history.
But Brian Rafalski isn't going to become a household name because he scored two goals. Goalie Ryan Miller won't be earning spending money hawking signed memorabilia in 2040 because he made 42 saves.
A once-in-a-lifetime atmosphere, perhaps. Certainly a viewing spectacle and the most watched hockey game ever in a hockey-mad country.
But a once-in-a-lifetime game? No.
Motivation back then was winning one for the home team at a time the country was mired in an economic slump and wrestling with a hostage crisis in Iran. The Cold War was still on, and the Olympics were the one place you could settle a score without rattling the nuclear cage.
Motivation in this game was more subtle. The fear of being embarrassed by fellow NHL players was probably enough for the U.S.
This is a team that had played exactly two games together, so it's not as if they're blood brothers.
"Motivation for me is looking across the ice and seeing a team wearing a different jersey," said Chris Drury, who scored a goal in the Americans' 5-3 victory.
Still, there were the inevitable comparisons of the two games, if only because the latest win was an Olympic moment that came almost 30 years to the day the Americans beat the team that couldn't be beaten. Craig himself couldn't help thinking about that as he sat in the stands sipping a hot chocolate and watching Miller fend off shot after shot in the final minutes to preserve a win â€" just as Craig had done against the Soviets.
"It brought back a lot of great memories," he said.
Craig can share those memories in Vancouver. Eruzione, who scored the winning goal in Lake Placid, is here. So is the Soviet goalie, Vladislav Tretiak, the general manager of the Russian team. Al Michaels is broadcasting for NBC, still linked forever to the famous call, "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!"
And Mark Johnson, who scored two goals against the Soviets, marked the 30th anniversary by coaching the U.S. women's hockey team to a 9-1 win over Sweden and a berth in the gold-medal game.
Craig was working, too. He gave a speech to an insurance company and watched as his likeness was unveiled on an Olympic mural at USA House.
Like every other day of his life, he answered questions about that one defining moment.
"I think the late Jim McKay said that it was like a high school football team beating the Pittsburgh Steelers," he said. "But when you're young you don't know any better. You don't know you can't accomplish things."
Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg@ap.org.
After Turin flop, Vancouver is Bode's Olympics
WHISTLER, British Columbia â€" Bode Miller hates the Olympics. He rails about what he considers a misguided emphasis on medals and the rampant commercialism, along with "the corruption and the abuse and the money."
That's why he tuned out at the 2006 Turin Games â€" because "being the poster boy for that, when it's the absolute thing I despised the most in the world, was really draining on my inspiration, my level of passion."
And, true to his contrarian streak, Bode Miller also loves the Olympics.
"It has all the best things in sports," he explained. "It has amazing energy and enthusiasm, passion, inspiration. It's what changes lives. In that sense, it's the pinnacle of what sports and camaraderie and all that stuff is."
That's why he is thriving at the 2010 Vancouver Games: "You really get the chills. You feel the crowd. You feel all the energy. You feel the expectation. You feel everything."
These Olympics have become Bode's Olympics. After seriously contemplating retirement last summer, the 32-year-old from Franconia, N.H., has won three medals in three races, including the first Olympic gold of his stellar career, and there are two more events to come, Tuesday's giant slalom and Saturday's slalom.
"He's back, like never before," Switzerland's Silvan Zurbriggen said after taking the bronze to Miller's gold in Sunday's super-combined, which adds times from one downhill and one slalom.
Miller has to be considered among the top contenders Tuesday, given his current form and attitude, not to mention his past success in giant slalom: He won a silver medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, a gold at the 2003 world championships and the season-long World Cup GS title in 2004.
If he does put in yet another top-3 finish this week, Miller would be the first man to collect four Alpine medals at a single Olympics. As it is, his five career Olympic medals, including two silvers in 2002, are the most for a U.S. Alpine skier and tied for second-most by a man from any country.
Even as he insists medals don't matter â€" "I don't know why everyone always thinks I'm lying about that" â€" Miller does appreciate the significance of what could lie ahead.
"For me, the measure of a ski racer is really how versatile they are, how close to five events you can become proficient at or the best at," Miller said after Sunday night's medal ceremony. "To do it at one Olympics ... requires a lot of luck. It requires a lot of things. That's why no one's done it before. Not because they're not capable, but it just requires a lot of things to go your way."
On a roll, he continued: "But I am in a good position to do it. But that doesn't guarantee me anything. But I'm racing the other two, so I have a chance."
Just like Miller to start three consecutive sentences with the word "but." He's long been one to see the counter-argument to any assertion, even his own.
Make him the favorite to win a race, and he'll flop. Dismiss his chances, and he'll win. Raise the idea that he's changed as a person after becoming a father, and he'll scoff. Entertain the notion that you're beginning to understand him, and he'll set you straight.
"Bode is Bode. If you tell him in the Olympics at Torino, 'Focus, and do your best,' I think sometimes he just does the opposite. Just for fun. Just because he doesn't like authority," said Liechtenstein's Marco Buechel, a World Cup veteran at his sixth Winter Games. "He would have had a great chance there. He did it his way, and it didn't work out. And I think he learned from that."
Don't expect Miller to endorse the redemption story everyone else is telling, though.
"I got asked that â€" if I took revenge," he said. "I was like, 'I don't know who you get revenge on. Myself, maybe?'"
In his mind, Turin was Turin, and Vancouver is Vancouver.
Miller has his reasons for why, back then, he lived in his own RV, apart from the rest of the U.S. Ski Team, proudly partied into the wee hours, and only managed to finish two of five events, never better than fifth.
He also has his reasons for why, these days, he is sleeping in the same condo as the other Americans, joining in their spirited Wii games during down time, pushing and being pushed during training runs on the slopes. After two World Cup seasons training and competing on his own, he came back to the fold in September.
U.S. men's coach Sasha Rearick is thrilled to have him around.
"Bode's role is to challenge each other, push the limits of what we can do," Rearick said. "He helps inspire me."
Miller woke up at 5:45 a.m. Sunday, grabbed some coffee and gave himself a pep talk. He was seventh-fastest in that morning's downhill. Shortly before racing in the afternoon's slalom, he said, "I started to get that bouncy feeling, where everything hones in, and you start to feel the shivers a little bit."
Duly inspired, he produced a slalom run that ranked with the best of his life.
"It's an amazing feeling to go out and ski that way. It was just free. I was skiing very free and going for the 100 percent gas. Normally that doesn't work out that well for me in slalom," Miller said with a chuckle, "but today it did."
Yes, everything seems to be working out quite well for Bode Miller at this Olympics, and he loves it.
-- Howard Fendrich
It's the U.S. owning the podium at Vancouver Games
VANCOUVER, British Columbia â€" Losing a hockey game to the United States was embarrassing enough. Now Canada is raising the white flag â€" giving up on its brash goal of winning the most medals at the Vancouver Games.
The U.S. remains on course for a historic medal haul, with a chance to take home the most hardware at the Winter Games for the first time in almost 80 years.
But Canada's Own the Podium program is in tatters. And a surprising, demoralizing loss to a young American team in ice hockey â€" a sport Canada invented â€" is only making the pain deeper.
"Woe Canada: U.S. sticks stake in our hearts," read the headline in Monday's Vancouver Sun.
"It was very disappointing," said George Assaf, a Vancouver firefighter who was wearing a Canada hockey jersey as he took photos of the Olympic cauldron Monday. "The Canadians didn't play up to their standards. But I'm still hopeful we'll pull it out in the end."
After the 10th day of competition Monday, the U.S. led the overall medal count with 25 â€" four more than Germany. The U.S. and Germany were tied for the most golds, seven each.
Canada had just five golds and 10 medals overall, a disappointment for a country that spent $117 million over five years to give extra support to contending athletes and dominate the medals stand.
On Monday, they conceded defeat.
"We'd be living in a fool's paradise if we said we're going to catch the Americans and win," said Chris Rudge, chief executive of the Canadian Olympic Committee.
The USOC has been careful not to make medal forecasts, boast about the success so far or take pleasure from Canada's failed attempt at medal supremacy.
The United States hasn't topped the medals table â€" gold or overall â€" at a Winter Olympics since the 1932 Games in Lake Placid. The Americans could also challenge their record of 34 total medals from the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
"Certainly it would be a bonus, but we're not focused on that outcome," said Mike English, the U.S. Olympic Committee's director of sports performance. "We're focused on the athletes' performance, not medals."
The United States picked up another medal later Monday, with ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White winning the silver.
The Americans are assured of at least a silver medal in women's hockey after beating Sweden 9-1 in a semifinal game. The U.S. will face either Canada or Finland in Thursday's final.
And the U.S. also has good medal prospects in the coming days in Nordic combined skiing, short-track speedskating, freestyle aerials and Alpine skiing.
Alpine has given the U.S. eight medals, including three for Bode Miller and two from Lindsey Vonn. Ted Ligety will be a threat in the men's giant slalom, with Julia Mancuso the defending champion in the women's.
Even the U.S. men's hockey team now has legitimate medal hopes after Sunday's unexpected 5-3 win over the star-studded Canadians â€" the biggest win for the American team since the 1980 Miracle on Ice upset of the Soviet Union.
The Americans will go into the quarterfinals as the top-seeded team, while Canada might have to beat powerful Russia just to advance past the quarterfinals.
Vancouver organizing committee spokeswoman Renee Smith-Valade insisted the Own the Podium project, which mixed government and private money to help the athletes, had been an overall success.
"There was an inordinate amount of pressure on the Canadian team," she said. "When the time comes, it is up to the athletes to deliver. We believe everything was done to give them the confidence they need. We know the program will continue to be a factor. They will have fire in their eyes and make the country proud."
The USOC spent less than half what Canada did â€" $55 million over the past four years â€" to boost its medal hopes in Vancouver. English said the Americans were never fazed by Canada's slogan.
"We didn't take that as a threat or anything," he said. "It's something that every host nation prepares for, and we certainly have done it with our own games. I think it's part of the business going forward."
The medals race shapes up as a fight between the U.S. and Germany until the close of the games Sunday.
Luciano Barra, a former Italian Olympic official who tracks winter sports results and issues regular medal projections, now forecasts the U.S. will finish with 32 medals, 11 of them gold, with Germany taking home 31 and nine.
As for Canada, critics already have another name for the medals initiative â€" Blown the Podium.
-- Stephen Wilson
Canada admits it can't catch U.S. in medals
VANCOUVER, British Columbia â€" Canada has raised the white flag in the face of a U.S. juggernaut, conceding that it won't achieve its bold ambition of finishing atop the medals table at the Vancouver Olympics.
"We are going to be short of our goal," said Chris Rudge, CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee, at the news briefing Monday â€" the start of the games' final week.
At the end of the day, Canada was fifth in the medal standings with 10, far behind the United States with 25. A gold medal performance in the evening by Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir helped ease some of the disappointment.
Canada spent $117 million over the past five years â€" a mix of government and private funding â€" on its Own The Podium program, a plan to win the medals race by earmarking extra financial support for contending athletes.
"We'd be living in a fool's paradise if we said we were going to catch the Americans and win," Rudge said. "They are way out ahead at this point."
Sunday turned out to be a particularly disappointing day for the Canadians â€" with two speedskaters in the women's 1,500-meters and one finalist in the men's ski-cross missing medal opportunities that seemed to be within their grasp.
"It was a potential multiple-medal day where we didn't get multiple medals," Rudge said. "We've had a number of those and those are disappointing."
To compound the dismay, the men's hockey team lost a first-round, non-elimination game to the United States on Sunday evening in what the Canadian broadcast consortium said was the most watched sports event in national history.
The defeat, seen by an estimated 10.6 million Canadians, raised the possibility that the star-studded home team might need to beat powerful Russia merely to advance past the quarterfinals. Many Canadians â€" with hockey their No. 1 passion â€" feel anything less than a gold medal for the men will be a devastating setback for the nation that invented the sport.
Canadian fans "were crying out for a sliver, any sliver, of good news on the weekend when we've essentially Blown The Podium," wrote Vancouver Sun columnist Cam Cole. "The hockey team couldn't produce it."
Another big disappointment has been the Alpine skiing team, which got more Own The Podium money during the past four years than any other sport, but thus far has produced no medals on the familiar slopes at Whistler.
"It's a little frustrating," Alpine Canada president Gary Allan told reporters. "Dealing with the hometown pressure did have an impact on the performances of the athletes."
Rudge declined to predict what Canada's final medal total would be. Four years ago in Turin, after a slow start, the Canadians finished with their best-ever Winter Games total of 24 medals, good for third place after Germany and the U.S.
The brash prediction of a first-place finish in these games was greeted with mixed reactions by Canadians. Some were pleased by the uncharacteristic assertion of confidence, while others felt it smacked of arrogance and would increase pressure on the home-team athletes.
Renee Smith-Valade, a spokeswoman for the Vancouver Organizing Committee, defended the pre-games buildup as a successful means of maximizing fan enthusiasm â€" and said there would have been intense pressure on the athletes regardless of any medal prediction.
"Own the Podium was designed to help them handle that pressure," she said Monday. "All we as the organizing committee wanted to do was make sure that when each athlete stood at the starting line, they believed fully that everything had been done. That's all we could do.
"When the moment comes, it's really up to the athlete," she added. "When they don't deliver, they feel terribly bad about it. We know how hard they try."
Mike English, chief of sports performance for the U.S. Olympic Committee, said the Americans didn't use Own The Podium as motivational fuel.
"We didn't take that as a threat," he said. "It's something that every host nation prepares for. We certainly have done it with our own games that we hosted in the U.S."
-- David Crary
Notebook: Miracle goalie Craig recalls win 30 years later
VANCOUVER, British Columbia â€" Jim Craig estimates that not a single day has gone by in the past 30 years when he hasn't been reminded in some way of the Miracle on Ice.
"It's fun because when somebody talks to me about it, it's always 'When we won,' which is great because it's always about the country," said Craig, who was the goalie for the U.S. team that beat the mighty Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics.
"They remember something great about what they were doing or where they were, so I get to hear a story about somebody else's life," he said. "It's never the same thing."
Monday was the anniversary of the hockey game called one of the biggest upsets ever in sports. It made Craig, captain Mike Eruzione and their teammates national heroes: The plucky Americans who took down the Big Red Machine.
The anniversary came just a day after the 2010 version of Team USA upset Canada 5-3 on home turf. Craig was at the game, watching as goaltender Ryan Miller turned away 42 shots.
"I was thinking, how did my dad even watch me play goal? I was that nervous for Ryan," Craig said.
Craig got particularly nervous when a chant of "U-S-A! U-S-A!" went up at Canada Hockey Place after Jamie Langenbrunner scored to put the Americans up 4-2 in the third period. There was still plenty of time left.
"I was like whoa! Hold on. Don't get them mad," he laughed.
There are many connections between the Miracle team and the current U.S. squad. Miller has a shamrock on his helmet as a nod to Craig, who is Irish. Ryan Suter, who had two assists, is the son of '80 defenseman Bob Suter. And defenseman Brooks Orpik was named for '80 coach Herb Brooks.
So much has changed in the intervening years, marveled Craig, now a motivational speaker and entrepreneur living in Massachusetts. He even had a call Monday morning from Russian great Vladamir Lutchenko, now a good pal.
"I think the greatest thing about our victory was that it was more than a hockey game to a lot of people," Craig said. "We didn't realize that as players, but as you get older and you have children, you realize how important legacies in life become, and it becomes more and more important to us."
REUNITED: Bobsledder Bill Schuffenhauer already lost his house and car to pursue one more Olympics, so having his fiance and son with him in Vancouver was out of the question. On Monday, Ruthann Savage and 4-year-old Corben arrived, and Schuffenhauer burst into tears when he saw them.
"It was just hard to fathom not being able to share this all with them," he said, "because we did this as a family."
The trio was united by a Procter & Gamble campaign that helps moms, dads, and other family members watch their loved ones compete in the Olympics. Schuffenhauer has to network for sponsorship money and had mentioned to a few people that his fiance and son weren't with him.
Schuffenhauer scooped up Corben when he saw him, and the boy laughed before resting his head on his father's broad shoulders.
The veteran of two Olympic Games decided some two years ago that he would try to make one more team. He would have to quit his job with Wells Fargo bank, and Savage, a nurse, would have to support the family. He'll retire after these games and said it's time he support Savage.
"It has cost her a lot," Schuffenhauer said. "She's been willing to stick by my side and let me pursue this dream of being an Olympian."
SKIING IN SHIRTSLEEVES: The sunshine over Whistler Olympic Park led to a slightly unusual dress code Monday for some of the cross-country skiing fans at the Vancouver Olympics.
With spring-like temperatures of about 50 F (9 C), some of the European fans ditched their regular thermal jackets and knitted hats in favor of something considerably more Mediterranean â€" short-sleeved shirts. Or, in some cases, no shirt at all.
Even a few skiers followed suit, with Frenchman Cyril Miranda competing in the men's team sprint final in a short-sleeved top.
In a sport where races are often held in subzero temperatures, it was a welcome change for fans and athletes alike.
"It's a beautiful day, beautiful sun, beautiful snow, and we are happy in our hearts," said Russian skier Nikolay Morilov, a bronze medalist in the team sprint.
Swedish duo Anna Haag and Charlotte Kalla couldn't remember the last time they skied in such warm temperatures.
"Maybe last spring?" Haag said, racking her brain after winning silver with Kalla in the women's event.
"It's really nice to ski in this kind of weather," Kalla said. "As the result went today, we quite like it."
Germany's Claudia Nystad also enjoyed the experience â€" especially after pulling away from Haag on the final sprint to secure the first gold medal for her and Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle since the relay at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
"On such a nice day, dreams come true," Nystad said.
COME TOGETHER: If it wasn't already clear from all the fans filling the streets in Vancouver or all those maple leaf flags flying, Canadians are really excited about the 2010 Games. A new poll by The Canadian Press/Harris Decima shows 77 percent of Canadians think the Olympics are helping unite the country with 58 percent saying the games will be remembered as one of the country's greatest achievements.
Even 61 percent of those in Quebec agree, a province where people weren't happy with how little the French language or culture was included. The poll of 1,004 people between Feb. 18 and 21 had a margin of error of 3.1 percent, and Canada had won nine medals by the time it concluded.
Canadian officials admitted Monday they wouldn't "Own the Podium" and fulfill their goal of winning the most medals. The majority of Canadians polled will judge the games' success by how safe, on-budget and problem-free they are.
"They want athletes to do well, they want them to be supported, but do we really want to have to win the most in order to define these Games as a success?" said Doug Anderson, senior vice president for Harris Decima.
"No, I don't think we have to win the most, that's what Canadians are saying."
-- Annew M. Peterson
Lookahead: Dominant Dutchman: Kramer tries for another title
VANCOUVER, British Columbia â€" Everyone else is racing for second place.
At least, that's what it feels like when speedskater Sven Kramer enters a long-distance event. The tireless Dutchman won world championships in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters each of the last three years, and Tuesday he'll try to complete the same sweep at the Vancouver Olympics and join the short list of these games' most dominant athletes.
"Mentally he is a killer," said teammate Ireen Wust, who won gold in the women's 1,500 Sunday. "He is unbeatable on the 5K and 10K. With every race of the streak the pressure is getting bigger, but he is always there."
NBC plans to televise Kramer's race Tuesday, along with the women's figure skating short program and men's giant slalom. American Bode Miller will race in the latter, trying to become the first man to win four Alpine skiing medals at a single Olympics.
Although everyone loves an upset, there's something special about Olympic dominance, and every now and then an athlete comes along who is essentially without peer. Toni Sailer of Austria swept his three Alpine skiing events at the 1956 Games, and in the 1920s and 30s, Norway's Sonja Henie won three consecutive Olympic golds and 10 straight world championships in women's figure skating.
More recently, there was American Eric Heiden's five speedskating golds at the 1980 Games.
Sometimes it's a country, not an individual, that enjoys virtual hegemony over a sport. This year, German Tatjana Huefner won her country's fourth straight Olympic gold in women's luge. Germany has won 10 of a possible 12 medals in that span.
Kramer, who turns 24 in April, won the 5,000 on the first Saturday of the Vancouver Games, setting an Olympic record in the process. Kramer is also the world record holder in the 5,000 and 10,000.
In March 2007, he broke his own world mark in the 10,000 by over eight seconds. Later that year, he knocked over four seconds off the 5,000 record held by Italian Enrico Fabris.
In 2008, Kramer won the 10,000 world title by 21.1 seconds over Fabris, roughly the same margin that separated second place from eighth.
"He has a flawless skating technique and a feeling for the ice conditions," said Gerard Kemkers, Kramer's coach. "All these victories though also make it tougher, because the streak creates pressure in itself. There is no race that he can treat like a training race, because every time he has to be ready to take pressure."
Kramer isn't the only athlete who has had high expectations this year. Snowboarder Shaun White and Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn were two American headliners coming into these Olympics, and each has come through with a gold medal.
Magdalena Neuner of Germany helped her country move up the medals chart with a pair of golds in the biathlon, and Simon Ammann of Switzerland won two individual golds in ski jumping.
Now, Kramer will go for his second victory, and his opponents are trying to convince themselves he can be beaten.
"He is a man, like me," Fabris said. "I always try. If I don't try, it is not possible."
There was a time when Miller was revered in much the same way Kramer is. Miller entered the 2006 Games with recent world championships in four different events, but he flopped spectacularly at those Olympics, failing to win a medal.
This year, Miller has collected a medal of each color â€" including his first career gold â€" reminding everyone why there was so much hype surrounding him four years ago.
"I feel good, and when I race like I have here it's so much fun to do," Miller said after winning the super-combined Sunday. "It's how I used to ski when I was little."
Miller's next race will be aired by NBC in prime time along with figure ska