tripatlas.com/new’s Olympic correspondent, Chris Kinasz, blogs from the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games with the latest updates, news, and going-ons from the Winter Olympic Games taking place in Vancouver, British Columbia.
VANCOUVER- To start the day, a friend from Oakville/London and I ventured to catch a glimpse of the impressive Olympic Torch. The line to get to the newly built elevated viewing platform was an hour long, so I settled for taking photos of the torch through the gap in the chain link fence that has recently been created so that people can take better photos. Photography has to be the official Olympic sport for spectators. Whenever anything is about to happen, cameras are raised by everyone in all directions.
After seeing the flame, I visited the Molson Canadian Hockey House next to Canada Hockey Place. The place was packed with hockey fans, including Wayne Gretzky, watching the game between Czech Republic and Latvia. The cost to enter the Hockey House was $90 – a steep price but the food inside was free and beers cost $7.50 each.
After the Hockey House, I was ready to watch the Finland versus Germany hockey game at 9pm. I entered Canada Hockey Place through the souvenir boutique and was instantly overtaken by a feeling like the one a woman would get when entering her favourite shoe store. I saw two hockey jerseys and one tee-shirt that were calling my name, but I decided to wait a little bit to allow a chance for some sober second thought.
Germany had no chance against Finland. Finnish goaltender Nicholas Backstrom of the Minnesota Wild was making all the big saves, while the unknown German goalie was not stopping anything. The arena was not completely packed and the crowd was slightly more subdued than I’d hoped for. Between the German and the Finnish fans, the German fans cheered much harder, even when they were down by five goals.
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