Canada gets men's curling gold

Canada has won its first ever men's curling gold medal. Brad Gushue, along with his lead Jamie Korab, second Russ Howard, and third Mark Nichols, captured the gold medal with a 10-4 win over Finland in eight ends.

The sixth end was where it happened as Canada scored 6 in that end. Canada was only up 4-3 going into the sixth end.

Canada caught a huge break when Finnish skip Markku Uusipaavalniemi rubbed a guard with his final stone of the end. This left Gushue with a free draw for seven, a remarkable number at this point. Gushue sailed his stone through the house and settled for six.

I confess I still don't know about the sport, but I have been fascinated with the Americans who seem to be enjoying the sport this time around. I'm also impressed that they aren't making fun of it, like I expect they would.

This was Canada's second-ever Olympic curling gold medal. The late Sandra Schmirler led the women's team in 1998 at Nagano, where curling became an official medal sport.

The Canadian women this year took the bronze yesterday. Shannon Kleibrink's Calgary rink downed Norway 11-5, also in eight ends.

This was a huge day for Newfoundland and Labrador. This was the first Winter Olympics medal for Newfoundlanders since Dwayne Norris of St. John's (silver) for the men's hockey team in 1994. Thousands of school kids who were given the afternoon off by Newfoundland and Labrador Education Minister Joan Burke.