The level of play was amazing; I didn’t think rocks were capable of sliding that way.  It was one difficult shot after another.  Double take-outs, stealing points, the whole gamut of plays occurred over and over.  By the 6^th end the score was 4-2 and it looked like Sweden might be able to take it away. Canada came back with some skillful strategy tilting the scales so that it was 5-4 by the beginning of the 8^th. The 8^th was scoreless, and Sweden tried to keep the 9^th the same, so they could try and score with the final rock, but they missed a key slide and Canada took advantage for 1 more.  The crowd was so excited in the 10^th I don’t know if any of the players could hear each other call across the ice for directions.

 Just when it looked like Canada had it closed out, they made a bad shot, setting Sweden up to take 2.  The Swedes pulled it off and the match went into an extra end. It all came down to the final slide by Canadian skip Cheryl Bernard.  Sweden had 2 rocks in the house, on fairly close to the button.  Bernard managed to knock one rock and it just kissed the other, pushing it into the button. Sweden had it won.

 One of the interesting things about curling, the players are “regular” people. Canadian skip Cheryl Bernard is a stay-at-home mom.  I’ve heard the commentators refer to players on various teams as bartenders, part-timers at hardware stores, just regular folks who play this game for the love of it. Unlike, say, a cross country skier, conditioning isn’t that big a part of the game, so you can have a job.  Plus, let’s face it, how many huge curling endorsement deals have you heard of? These folks have to work to put food on the table.

In alpine skiing, you can watch Men’s Super Combined, which combines one downhill run with one slalom run. American Ted Ligety is the defending Olympic champion, but look for Americans Bode Miller and Andrew Weibrecht to give him a run for his money.

Biathlon will award medals for a men’s and women’s mass start event today.

Two man bobsled wraps up today. Team U.S. 1 was in a good position going into today’s runs.

Men’s ski cross runs qualifying and final rounds today. If you like snowboard cross, you’re going to love this new event. Former Alpine skiers Casey Puckett and Daron Rahlves lead the Americans. You may recognize both these names as Rahlves represented the United States at the Olympics three times in alpine racing, and Puckett was a four time Olympian in the alpine disciplines.

The women’s speedskating 1500m will be raced today, as well.

In addition to medal rounds, you can check out curling and hockey (yes, I know some of you have had enough of curling and hockey). Or if you want something a bit lighter, ice dancers will be performing their free dance today.

Figure skating moves on to ice dancing today. Torino silver medalists Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto hope to upgrade that medal to gold, but they have stiff competition in fellow Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White who won the national championship in January. Traditionally, ice dancing has not been an American strong suit. Will this year change that?

Skeleton awards medals today in the men’s and women’s individual competition. Noelle Pikus-Pace, currently in fifth, is in decent position to compete for a medal. Teammate Katie Uhlaender is slightly farther back in ninth place. A couple of the American men also stand a chance to reach the podium. Zach Lund is currently in eight place. Eric Bernotas and John Daly are in 14th and 18th place at the beginning of today’s runs.

Curling has been a pretty big disappointment for the Americans this year. The men need to go undefeated to reach the podium. Today’s challenge? France. The women are looking for their first win as they face Russia.

Ski jumping continues today with the qualifying round for the 125m hill event. The U.S. has a very young team and is not favored to end the 86 year drought since they last medaled in ski jumping. Two time Olympian Anders Johnson is only 20. His teammates, Nick Alexander and Peter Frenette, are making their first trips to the Olympics. You have to really feel for these young guys. They essentially pay their own way to the Olympics. I’ll be writing more about this in the coming week.

Women’s cross country pursuit races today. America has never won a medal in women’s cross-country skiing, and that probably won’t change today. Americans Liz Stephen and Morgan Arritola make their Olympic debut here.

Women’s Super Combined— potentially more medals for Julia Mancuso and Lindsey Vonn.

Biathlon— Could there be a medal for American Tim Burke? Will Norway be happier with their results today?

Men’s Figure Skating—Who’s getting the gold? Evan Lysacek, Evgeni Plushenko, or someone else entirely?

Snowboarding— More halfpipe today. It’s the women’s turn. Will the American women exceed the American men’s medal count from last night?

Hockey— The men and the women compete today. The men take on Norway. The women take on Finland.

Speed skating— The women take on the 1000m. Don’t expect the same medal count for the American women as the American men.

Skeleton— Competition starts today for the men and women. Americans stand a much better chance at medaling here than in the luge.

Curling— both the men and women take on Denmark today. You can catch this live if you have CNBC. No, really, live coverage of an event.

That’s it. Check back throughout the afternoon and evening for coverage of events.

Here’s what’s going on so far:

Canada, Switzerland, and Sweden have 2 wins no losses for the men, Canada, Germany and Sweden have the same for the women.  The US men have 3 losses and US women 2.  But all is not lost!  This is a round-robin competition and while the Americans have been losing, the scoring has been close.  I’ll try to keep you updated.

First up, after days of delays, women’s downhill will finally get to race. Who should you be looking for? Well, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know to look for American Lindsey Vonn. The U.S. women have never won an Olympic gold medal in downhill, but Vonn is expected to change that. Vonn may be joined on the podium by any one of her teammates: Julia Mancuso, Stacey Cook, or Alice McKennis.

Snowboarding halfpipe is today, if the halfpipe doesn’t melt in the 40+ degree temperatures. For the U.S., this should be a medal treasure trove, since six out of nine Olympic medals awarded in men’s halfpipe have gone to Americans. That’s not expected to change this year, as reigning Olympic champion Shaun White competes. You should also keep an eye out for Dancing with the Stars alum Louie Vito, an newcomer to the Olympics. The other talented rookies are Scotty Lago and Greg Bretz.

Women’s 500m short track has a medal round today. Additionally, there will be heats in the men’s 1000m, and the semifinals of the men’s 5000m relay. Even though the U.S. hasn’t won a medal in this event since 1994, that could change this year as three-time national champion Katherine Reutter has an outside shot at a medal. Fellow American competitor Alyson Dudek is not expected to medal in the event.

Speed skating will award a medal for the 1000m today, hopefully to American Shani Davis who won this event in Torino and is favored to win gold in Vancouver. The race will also include Americans Chad Hedrick, Trevor Marsicano and Nick Pearson.

Medals will be awarded in men’s doubles luge today. Americans Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin, who have appeared in four Olympics are the best shot for a medal, having already won Olympic silver and bronze. They’ll be joined by teammates Dan Joye and Christian Niccum.

Both men’s and women’s curling compete today— the women take on German; the men take on Switzerland.

And last but not least, cross-country skiing will race the men’s and women’s 1.5km individual sprint. This is a relatively new event to the Olympics, having made it’s debut in 2002. Like most cross-country type events, this is not an American strength. There is some hope that American female Kikkan Randall might finish in the top 15. American male Andy Newell stands a slightly better, though still outside, chance of ending up on the podium.

Now you may all join me until trying to avoid the results until tonight, although I already glimpsed partial results for the women’s downhill. I hope you ever better luck.

Today was supposed to be Super Combined in men’s downhill, but due to poor weather conditions (blowing now and low visibility), that event has been pushed to Friday. At this rate, Alpine skiing will finish up sometime in March or April.

Presumably, the snow won’t stop biathlon (it’s still on the schedule, as of this writing). For today’s women’s 10 km pursuit and men’s 12.5 km pursuit, the athletes qualify by placing in the top 60 in a sprint competition. No American women are expected to qualify. For the men, Tim Burke and Lowell Bailey stand a decent chance of qualifying, even though this is not the best event for either of them.

CURLING Curling, a favorite in the Manty household, starts today. The American men are scheduled for two matches vs. Germany and Norway, and the American women are scheduled for one match vs. Japan. The American men won bronze in Torino. Will they be able to match or better that in Vancouver?

Men’s figure skating starts tonight with the short program. All three of the American men are strong contenders for a medal. Evan Lysacek is the reigning world champion and finished fourth in Torino after battling the flu. Jeremy Abbott is a relative newcomer but has won two U.S. titles. And then there’s Johnny Weir. Hopefully, the only drama surrounding his performances will be the performances, themselves. American men haven’t won gold since Brian Boitano in 1988. They’re hoping to change that this year.

Both the men’s and women’s hockey teams will be competing today. The men will be taking on Switzerland. The women will be playing Russia.

Women’s luge will be awarding a medal today. Americans Erin Hamlin and Julia Clukey are currently in 15th and 16th place after two runs—long shots for a medal but not out of contention. American Megan Sweeney is currently in 27th.

More snowboard cross today, as Lindsey Jacobellis tries to win the gold that eluded her in Turin, when she fell practically at the finish line. She is joined on the team by Olympic newcomers Callan Chythlook-Sifsof and Faye Gulini.

Finally, women’s speed skating races the 500m— hopefully with fewer problems with the ice than the men experienced yesterday. Elli Ochowicz, Jennifer Rodriguez, Heather Richardson and Lauren Cholewinski represent the United States. None are favorites to medal.