The Puck Finally Drops

First, some unfinished business from yesterday. Coca-Cola finally sent me my portrait with the Olympic torch that I had taken at the Coca-Cola Pavilion. I knew you'd be anxious to see it.

It was an 8 a.m. shift start again today so I was up early and off to the Stadium. As we suspected yesterday, it turned out to be a busier day.

Most professional sports arenas and stadia (doesn't "stadiums" sound better?) hold just one significant event in a day. We were going for the hat trick today and holding three hockey games at Canada Hockey Place next door to the Stadium.

As I have mentioned before, the Stadium and the arena are across the street from each other so for the Olympics we have the entire perimeter of both locked down as our integrated, secure venue. Therefore the events at one affect the other and everything must be coordinated.

At Workforce Check-in it was my sixth day so I earned another gift. I had a choice of either a Quatchi or Miga stuffed mascot. As I already own a Quatchi I chose Miga. Miga is part spirit bear (a special rare white bear that lives in coastal British Columbia) and part orca.

The hockey games, added to our schedule for a Victory Ceremony in the evening starring The Barenaked Ladies, meant that we had tens of thousands more people on the venue today.

The first game was at noon between the U.S. and Switzerland. All went well with the venue side of things and the U.S. won 3-1.

The plan for the day called for just two hours between the potential end of game one and the puck drop for game two. In this time Canada Hockey Place had to be cleared, cleaned, restocked, and filled again. It worked without too many issues. People that arrived for game two were kept in a secure holding pen until they could ingress.

I was leaving as we were doing ingress for Canada Hockey Place for the second game between Canada and Norway. The crowd was almost uniformly clothed in Team Canada colours and clothing.

I wanted to watch Canada's game on a big outdoor screen with other fans as that seemed like the right way to watch an Olympic match. I wandered over to Concord Place which is next to the Stadium and Canada Hockey Place.

This is the Ontario Pavilion. The line was too long for me to go in before the game started. I'll try it some other day.

Next door to Ontario House is Canada Hockey House (not to be confused with Canada Hockey Place.) It is a huge tent that features food, drink, entertainment and huge screens for watching the games. It also has a huge $99 charge for a day pass. I passed.

I had hoped, as game time approached, that they would show the game on their large outdoor screens. Alas, although it is Canada HOCKEY House, it didn't seem to occur to them to show the hockey game.

This is Maison du Quebec (Quebec House). It is a large pavilion with no roof but a place to eat, drink, and be entertained.

To prepare for the game I indulged in an authentic poutine (poo-teen). Poutine is french fries and cheese curds covered in gravy. It originated in Quebec so I figured that the poutine in Maison du Quebec should be good. It was very good; the cheese curds squeaked like they should when I ate them. My daughter would be proud and jealous.

Now to find a place to watch the game. The folks from Ontario were nice enough to show the game on their large outdoor screen. We watched without play-by-play for most of the first period, then they propped open a door and brought a speaker outside. Now everyone loves Ontario.

It was great fun to stand and watch with all the other rabid Canadian fans. Although the first period was scoreless, Canada exploded in the second and third periods and won 8-0.

Not only were there huge cheers from the crowd when Canada scored, but there was also a chorus of car, bus, truck and ship horns that echoed across the downtown.

Near the end of the game there were some Russian athletes or officials standing beside me. They were not cheering.

The tenants of this building that looks down on Canada Hockey Place were showing their support.















After the hockey game I wandered around downtown. The hockey fans all seemed to stay downtown with all the other fans that didn't have tickets. Downtown was a zoo. People yelling, screaming and carrying on. You would have thought that Canada had won more than just a first round game against Finland.

I answered lots of questions from people asking for directions and information. One couple wanted to know where they could buy my jacket. When I told them that it was part of my volunteer uniform they were disappointed but said that it looked good on all of us volunteers.

As I walked along West Georgia, two hockey fans walked against the traffic flow giving everyone a high five. As I approached it was "Hey. Volunteer High Five!"

I also passed two high school aged boys walking down the sidewalk holding hand-made signs that said "Free Hugs." Based on what I saw they seemed to be doing all right with the ladies.

Although it was raining this morning, it cleared by noon and was a wonderful afternoon and evening. We are now supposed to have lovely sunny, dry days through the weekend with cold nights.

This was the sight at the end of False Creek this evening with Sochi House (normally Science World) and the Athletes Village.











The other highlight of my day happened earlier. We had a chance to watch on one of the Olympic Broadcast System's channels the women's snowcross races which had been postponed from earlier in the day due to fog on Cypress Mountain. It is a wild event with lots of action and lots of crashes. In the end Canada won its second gold medal when Maelle Ricker of North Vancouver won the final race. There was cheering and applause in the Venue Communications Centre and in the entire building where I work.

Our deputy manager asked us to make an All-Call to all the radios on the venue. I spoke to everyone on Operations1 and shared the great news. It was fun to be the source of the exciting news.

Normally the Olympic rings that are floating in Burrard Inlet are green. Tonight they were gold to honour Maelle Ricker's performance today.