I have been looking forward to this game for a LONG time. Although we didn’t win any tickets in the lottery, we wanted to make sure we made it out to a few Olympic events so we didn’t pass up this once in a lifetime event. Of course, the one event we REALLY wanted to make it to was Men’s Team Canada Hockey… and here we are.

We got fabulous seats at Canada Hockey Place (a.k.a GM Place) and were literally Row 2 right behind the broadcasters. We got all ready for the game… we had our two signs, our flag, our face tattoos, and of course our jerseys.

It was seriously crazy trying to get into the stadium. There was a huge lineup of people, but fortunately we were at the very front. They made people wait for 2 hours before they could get into the stadium as the USA-SUI game had finished and they needed to clear people out and clean up. It was a long wait, and I was quite afraid someone was going to get trampled… but security and the volunteers kept it under control. They even split the group into two groups as you can see in the photos here.

The crowd went absolutely WILD when Team Canada stepped onto the ice. People were beyond excited to see our Vancouver Canucks goaltender Robert Luongo get the nod to be the starting goalie for Team Canada today. He looked relaxed, confident, and made some amazing saves throughout the game.

Here’s a shot of our amazing coaching staff with Mike Babcock and Ken Hitchcock, and one of our goalies, Brodeur.

Norway played great… they were fast and had some great goaltending… but not enough to stop Canada.

Allan and I were super stoked to be there as you can see from our excited faces here.

Jerome Iginla was a big fan favourite… he played extremely well… hitting, checking, shooting, passing… he played with a lot of heart last night.

Sidney Crosby also had a great game and I was surprised and impressed to see how tough he was playing, and with a lot of jump. I have a lot more photos on my Flickr stream.

Wayne Gretzky got a huge cheer when they showed him on the big screen. He says he’ll be around watching the games as long as Team Canada is playing.

Also spotted, Donald Sutherland, the two female goalies from Team Canada Women’s, my coworkers watching from a box, and a hilarious sign.

Chris Pronger had a great game as well and played solid defence against Norway. He loves to patrol the blue line.

Canada put a lot of pucks in the net, but here’s another one… we ended up winning 8-0. Sid congratulates Iggy as he gets a Hat Trick! A lot of hats were thrown on the ice.

There was lots of celebrating throughout the night.

It was rad to see the CTV broadcast happening at the other end of the rink. They actually have a collapsible “stage” that pops up and folds down in one minute so that they don’t disturb the view of the fans.

And to cap off a perfect night, we ran into the Director of Snowboarding for Canada, Christian Hrab, outside BC Place. He was proud to see his team up on the podium, especially to see Mike Robertson get the Silver Medal for Canada. He gave us free tickets to see the Victory Ceremony that night! Thanks Christian! Thank you for being so generous… loving the Canadian spirit around the Olympics!

And yep, we ended up watching the Barenaked Ladies perform live at BC Place from fantastic floor seats. I’m a huge fan (I even have their Christmas album), and I teared up a few times listening to them play some of my favourites. Allan and I ended up singing the songs all the way home and cheering ourselves hoarse at all the fans out in the city downtown. It was an incredible night, and I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

Yes! I have finally drawn a winner for the 2010 Olympics Men’s Curling tickets contest for the Canada-USA game on February 22nd. We had 180 contest entries but only 171 were eligible. Watch the video to find out who won! Please note that the winner must contact me by e-mail (allie@vancityallie.com) by the midnight this Friday, February 19th or I will have to draw someone else.

This past week, my friend Amy took my camera up to Grouse Mountain where she got the chance to meet and see Michael Bublé and Matt Lauer on the Today Show. They are up there throughout the Olympics and they have quite the set up.

Here is Amy and her friend with Matt Lauer.

She took a number of pictures while there. Check them out.

Also, it was the torch relay in Vancouver all last week. I finally made it out on Friday to see the torch in person (after a failed attempt to see Trevor Linden carrying the torch… I missed him by one minute). I teared up several times. I was so proud to have the Olympics in Vancouver and seeing the torch passed from person to person throughout False Creek and Yaletown is an incredible experience.

Downtown Vancouver was CRAZY this past weekend with the streets completed filled with people partying, dancing, and singing O Canada.

Allan, Amy and I also got a chance to watch the Omega clock countdown to the start of the Olympics before rushing back home to watch the Opening Ceremonies (fortunately PVR-ed so we didn’t miss anything). It was a real thrill to have everyone countdown to the start. Watching the Opening Ceremonies with my closest family, Allan and my friend was so emotional. I thought it was beautifully done and really spoke to who we are as Canadians. I also thought it was a very diverse ceremony. Well done!

After a full day of watching the Games at our apartment with a group of friends, we somehow managed to wake up early to head to the House of Switzerland at Bridges on Granville Island.

I was asked to provide some coverage of a chocolate competition going on. When we got there, I picked up my media pass and we posed in front of the restaurant.

We also got to see them making the chocolate inukshuk and posed in front of it.

A note to visitors: Although we were there to check out the chocolate competition, please note that the House of Switzerland differs from other houses in that it is almost purely a restaurant (open for breakfast, lunch and dinner) but they don’t have an exhibition area or anywhere where you can walk around. The food and coffee is great there, but I recommend only going there if you are wanting a dining/eating experience. We ordered the Swiss Nespresso expresso and the Raclette macaroni and cheese.

We headed upstairs to check out the chocolate competition. They had a number of judges and we were there especially to cheer on Miss604 (Rebecca) who was a JUDGE! Wow!

We also saw Keira, John and Duane there. They got to sit at a special Friends and Family table with lots of different tastings! It was great to see Rebecca and Keira again, and to meet John and Duane for the first time. It was particularly neat to see Duane as he helped me through a difficult time when I had a surfing injury last year.

We got to taste the three different chocolates made by the competitors. They were all very good (Pecan chocolate bar, chocolate mousse, and heart-shaped chocolate biscuit), but we also loved the one that won the best… the Pecan chocolate bar. John has a great photo of the three chocolate pieces here.

Then we headed to the Atlantic House where we sat on the patio and sampled free seafood tastings for the afternoon. They were surprisingly good. We had a great view on the patio.

The Maritime beers and drinks were really delicious, although the most highly recommended beer of the day by my friends was the Blueberry ale. So definitely try it out if you get a chance to go there

And that was it! A really great weekend so far and I just CANNOT believe it is only Day 4. How are we going to get through the rest of the Olympics? It was fantastic to see Canada FINALLY win gold on home soil. Congrats to Bilodeau, Jenn Heil, and also all of Canada’s other medalists! Coming up… a special announcement also coverage from the Canadian men’s and women’s hockey games!

What did you do this past weekend?