At the conclusion of the Olympic hockey tournament at Canada Hockey Place on Sunday afternoon it was a time to unveil the three stars.

Instead of announcing the three stars of the gold medal game we’ll take a look at the three stars of the entire tournament.

With the third star is the most outstanding defenceman of the tournament, American Brian Rafalski. The 37-year-old Detroit Red Wing led all defenceman with eight points, four goals and four assists in six games. Not only did Rafalski provide an offensive spark for the Americans he also was a strong presence on the blue-line, posting a +7 plus/minus rating, good enough for third best in the tournament.

Canadian Jonathan Toews , would take home the second star being named the most outstanding forward of the tournament. Toews came a long way from the pre-Olympic summer camp where he was regarded as the 13^th forward in the mix. He proved to be much better than that, leading the tournament in assists with seven while posting a crucial goal in the gold medal game, giving him eight points in the tournament. His plus/minus rating of +9 was tops in the tournament and the 22-year-old Chicago Blackhawk showed why he was the right selection by Coach Mike Babcock and GM Steve Yzerman.

Finally, claiming the first star has been the most talked about individual of these Games, goaltender Ryan Miller of the United States. Despite allowing three goals in the gold medal game Miller has been nothing short of spectacular in the Games, posting an impressive 1.35 goals-against average. Miller also led the tournament in save percentage, stopping 94.56% of shots faced. The Buffalo Sabres net-minder was awarded the MVP as well as the most outstanding goaltender of the tournament.

Honourable mention goes to a pair of teammates from Slovakia. Forwards Marian Hossa and Pavol Demitra provided the Slovaks with phenomenal play, producing nine and ten points respectively. The two NHL all-stars were one and two in the total points leader standings in six games on way to their fourth place finish.

Leading the tournament in goals against average was Sweedish goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, just a shade below Miller with a 1.34 GAA. Lundqvist’s save percentage of 92.73% was good enough for fourth in the tournament, but a shocking upset to Slovakia in the quarter-finals robbed Lundqvist an opportunity to play for a medal.

After a decisive 6-0 victory over the Bendale Tigers on Feb. 17, the RH King Academy Lions will go on to the TDSB East Region B Division hockey championship.

The game was lively and fast-paced, with quick turnovers and a handful of odd-man rushes. The Lions, who faced a depleted Tiger team, scored two goals in each of the three periods of play. Bendale played the entire game with only nine players.

“Today’s mentality is to just play a strong game – to the best of our ability,” Bendale Head Coach Steve Taylor said before the match. “We know we’re playing with a short bench today, so it will be a tough game for us. But it’s hockey – and that’s what it’s all about.”

The game got feisty in the last 10 minutes, with four of the five penalties called in the third period.

“It feels great. I feel like we played a good game.” RH King Academy Assistant Coach Brian Chetwynd said. “A little bit of a circus at the end, but it feels good to be moving on [to the finals].”

The Lions finished first in their division, never having lost a game in regulation, with a record of 5-0-1. The Tigers finished the season in fifth place, with a record of 2-4.

“To finish first – we’re pretty excited,” Chetwynd said. “The guys worked hard, but we’re trying to take it one game at a time.”

The final match will be played on Feb. 24 at Centennial Arena.

The RH King Academy Lions hosted the SATEC @ WA Porter Eagles in the Toronto District School Board’s East Region Senior Boys Tier Two B Division hockey championship on Feb. 24 at Centennial Arena.

The stands were packed to the rafters with multiple busloads of screaming high school fans to watch the third place team and underdogs, the SATEC @ Porter Eagles, upset the first place King Academy Lions for a triumphant 4-1 gold medal victory.

“It’s great – we were the underdogs!” SATEC @ Porter assistant Coach Carl Mah said. “The kids were very disciplined. They did exactly what we told them to do. And we capitalized on our chances.”

The Eagles coaches agreed that their boys’ discipline and ability to listen to instruction is what won them the game.

“Team play and disciplined play were the reasons our boys were successful,” Eagles head coach Joel Gardner said. “Even though there were a couple of infractions, they didn’t get frustrated. They played their positions great, they skated hard, it’s kind of cliché, but that’s the way the games are won and lost.”

The first period was scoreless, with both teams getting robbed by the goalies on both ends of the ice. The second period ended the shutouts, and saw only one goal, by Eagles assistant captain Jake Stroscher, #24.

The third period saw lots of action, with tempers flaring; hard hits, and little scraps after the whistle – and four goals. With a man advantage King Academy’s #15, Landon McGhee, scored a goal to tie the game. Eagles #17, Stratos G. scored two goals, and #95, Julian D. scored one goal to end the game.

The two teams had played each other once in the regular season; the Eagles gave the Lions their only tie of their otherwise perfect record. The Lions finished 5-0-1, and the Eagles finished 3-1-2.

“We think that Porter’s a pretty good team,” said King Academy assistant coach Ben Posthumus. “We weren’t expecting to play them here.”

SATEC @ Porter had drawn Cedarbrae – who had beaten them 5-3 once in regular season play and had finished in second place – for the semi-final round on Feb. 17. Against the odds, they won the game 6-4.

“They were awesome; today’s game was the best game they’ve ever played. Everyone I sent out there did their job,” Gardner said. “It feels good to be champions, the boys are really pumped.”

On the final day of the 2010 Olympics, the Canadian men’s hockey team prepares to take the stage against team USA, fighting for a gold medal.

Team Canada barely beat the Slovakia team on Friday night, which allowed them to be a contender in the upcoming hockey game airing Sunday on CTV at 12:15 p.m. PST.

“We were too easy on Miller last time,” Team Canada head coach Mike Babcock told Sports Illustrated. “We won’t be this time.”

February 21, was the first game between Canada and the USA, which ended with a devastating loss for team Canada, taking them down a rockier road to be in contention for a gold medal.

Experts believe that the Canadian team is the stronger out of the two, however goaltender Ryan Miller of team USA has proved over the course of this competition he is the favourite goaltender.

“I think we did a great job in a lot of areas against the U.S. except put the puck in the net,” said Justin Morrow, Team Canada, to Sports Illustrated. “In a short amount of time, it’s tough to get on the same page, but I think over the last few games we found it.”

The men’s cross country 50km mass start will take place Sunday at Whistler Olympic Park with a start time of 9:30 a.m. PST.

This event, which has been part of the Winter Games since 1924 is a very complex race saved for those who have excellent stamina and strength.

Peter Northug of Norway is the favourite for this competition, but unfortunately there will be no Canadians competing in this event.

The closing ceremonies will take place at the BC Place in Vancouver on Sunday, and will be sure to be a huge celebration as Canadian Athletes may be leaving with the most gold medals from the Winter Games.

After triumph and tragedy and tears of celebration and of disappointment, the 2010 Olympics will come to a close making history for our Canadian athletes and their dedicated fans.

“We will provide the Victory Ceremonies with a level of theatre and celebration not replicated by previous Games,” David Atkins said in an announcement as the newly appointed executive producer for Vancouver’s 2010 Olympics. He went on to say to the Toronto Sun that the ceremony will be a “celebration of Canadian humour, talent and innovation featuring several well-known Canadian performers and rock bands.”

Team Canada’s gold medal dream got one step closer to fruition after a 3-2 semi-final win over Slovakia on Friday at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Ryan Getzlaf scored the game-winning goal and Robert Luongo came up with a spectacular glove save in the final seconds to preserve the win for Canada.

Getzlaf scored a power-play goal from his knees after a rebound from a Corey Perry shot fell onto his stick and he quickly shot the puck past Slovakia goaltender Jaroslav Halak at the 16:54 mark of the second to put Canada up 3-0 at the time.

Luongo, who was not tested very often until the third period, was able to get his glove on a Pavol Demitra shot from close in during the dying seconds to keep Canada ahead.

The atmosphere at Canada Hockey Place as Team Canada stepped onto the ice was at a fever pitch as the team entered to a thunderous ovation to open the game.

Brendan Morrow nearly opened the scoring for Canada in the opening two minutes but fired the puck just over the crossbar with Halak beaten.

Through the first ten minutes, Slovakia did its best to quiet the crowd by clogging up the neutral zone, forcing Canada to rely on dumping in the puck to enter the zone.

Patrick Marleau broke the deadlock at 13:30 of the first period after tipping in a Shea Weber wrist shot from the point past Halak to make it 1-0 for Canada.

A review of whether the puck had been tipped by a high stick was conducted by the referee but the goal stood as called.

Morrow doubled Canada’s lead as he tipped a Chris Pronger point shot past Halak at 15:17 to make it 2-0 for Canada.

Canada out shot Slovakia 10-4 in the first period.

“We just kept going at them and got some tips on net,” Marleau told CTV during the first intermission.

Marian Gaborik led a pressure filled start by Slovakia in the second period that caused Canada’s Drew Doughty to be penalized for hooking at the 1:29 mark of the second.

Slovakia’s top ranked power play was unable to take advantage of the opportunity with Canadian players blocking several shot attempts.

Dan Boyle came close to giving Canada a 3-0 lead but his tipped shot hit Halak’s shoulder and went over the crossbar.

Richard Zednik’s holding the stick penalty at 16:34 of the second sent Canada to the power play and they would capitalize on the opportunity quickly through Getzlaf.

Constant pressure by Slovakia in the third period caused the Canadian defence problems and it felt like it was a matter of time before the Slovak pressure paid off.

Slovak defenceman Lubomir Visnovsky cut the Canada lead to two as he streaked in from point and banked a shot in off of Boyle and past Luongo at the 11:35 mark of the third.

Sloppy defensive zone coverage by Canada allowed Michal Handzus to score off a rebound from a Zednik wrap around opportunity at 15:07 of the third to cut Canada’s lead to 3-2.

Handzus would come close to tying the game in the dying minutes but was stopped by Luongo as the Slovaks fiercely pressured the Canadian zone in the final five minutes.

Both goaltenders were kept busy as Halek stopped 25 of 28 shots for Slovakia while Luongo stopped 19 of 21 for Canada.

Power play opportunities were scarce as Canada went 1-for-2 on the power play while Slovakia went 0-for-1.

Coach Mike Babcock and the Canadian team will now seek revenge against the United States in the gold medal game after suffering a a 5-3 defeat at the hands of the Americans in round robin play.

Goaltender Ryan Miller has led the United States to an undefeated record including a 6-1 semi-final win against Finland earlier on Friday and was the difference in the first meeting between the teams.

Coverage of the gold medal game will begin on Sunday, February 28 at 12:15 PST.

Men’s hockey will be the focus for Canadians on Friday when Team Canada plays Slovakia in semifinal action.

Canada will be looking to hold on to the momentum gained from a dominating 7-3 win over the Russians and Alexander Ovechkin.  Slovakia upset Sweden in the last quarterfinal Wednesday, and netminder Jaroslav Halak will be the key to Slovakia’s hopes of beating the home team.

In women’s curling, the Canadian rink led by skip Cheryl Bernard will look to win the gold medal game against defending Olympic gold medallist Anette Norberg of Sweden.  Bernard’s team struggled Thursday, narrowly defeating Switzerland 6-5 in the semifinal.  Sweden looked strong defeating 2009 world champion Bingyu Wang of China 9-4.

It will be a busy day in short track speed skating, with the men’s 500 metres, ladies’ 1,000m, and the 5,000m men’s relay.  The men’s relay team of Guillaume Bastille, Charles Hamelin, Olivier Jean, and Francois-Louis Tremblay will skate for Canada in the A final.

In long track speed skating, the team pursuit competition will begin on Friday for both men and women.  Skating for the Canadian men’s team will be Denny Morrison, Lucas Makowsky, and Mathieu Giroux, while bronze medallist Kristina Groves, gold medal winner Christine Nesbitt, and Brittany Schussler will represent Canada in the women’s pursuit.

Other medal events to be held on Friday:

• Alpine skiing:  Both runs of the ladies’ slalom will be at Whistler on Friday, with Germany’s Maria Riesch entering the competition as the top-ranked slalom skier in the world.  The Canadian skiers are building up to the Sochi Winter Games in 2014 and are not expected to contend for a medal this time around.
• Biathlon:  Canada’s relay team, led by Jean-Philippe Leguellec, will look to post another Canadian-best result in the men’s 4×7.5-kilometre relay, although they are not expected to medal.  The Norwegian team is favoured, but France, Austria, and Russia have also won relay events this season.
• Snowboard:  Kimiko Zakreski, Caroline Calve, and Alexa Loo will represent Canada in the ladies’ parallel giant slalom.  There will be a qualification race followed by the medal round held at Cypress Mountain.

The final event to be held on Friday is the first two runs of the four-man bobsleigh.  Lyndon Rush and Pierre Lueders will drive the two Canadian sleds.

Canada had a wonderful Wednesday. Day 13 of the Olympic Games in Vancouver had a happy ending for the host country with one gold, two silvers and one bronze.

In the ladies’ 3,000 metre short track relay, Korea’s disqualification bumped Canada up to second place and let United States win bronze.

Kaillie Humphries – Heather Moyse and Helen Upperton – Shelley-Ann Brown made the one-two in the podium at the Bobsleigh event.

Clara Hughes retires with a bronze in the ladies’ 5000 final after a 14-years career.

Team Canada was too much for Russia after a 7-3 victory in the men’s hockey quarterfinals.

Bobsleigh

Pilot Kaillie Humphries and pusher Heather Moyse won gold after breaking the track record in three occasions during the heats with a combined time of 3:32.28.

Helen Upperton and Shelley-Ann Brown from Canada-2 took silver. They started the competition far from the medal standings but climbed positions to finish second.

Americans Erin Pac and Elana Meyers drove as fast as 3:33.40 to win bronze.

Speed Skating

Multi medalist Clara Hughes had a sweet retirement with a bronze medal in the 5000 metre.

Hughes, one of the four athletes in the world who can be proud of winning in both Summer and Winter Games, put an end to her 14-years career at 6:55.73, only 2.2 seconds off her personal best.

Czech Republic’s Martina Sablikova won her second gold, third in these Games at 6:50.91.

Stephanie Beckert captured the silver medal and added to her second place in the 3000 metre.

Short Track

Korea’s misfortune in the women’s short-track 3,000-metre relay changed the story for three nations.

After crossing the finish line in first place, juries decided to disqualify Korea due to an impediment in the path.

China, who was second, bumped up to first place with a world record time at 4:06.610. Canada’s Team of Jessica Gregg, Kalyna Roberge, Marianne St-Gelais and Tania Vicent got the silver 2.527 seconds behind the leader; while United States captured bonze.

In the ladies 1,000 metre heats, Canadians Tania Vicent, Kalyna Roberge, and Jessica Gregg made it to the quarter finals.

The same happened for the men 500 metre where Francois-Louie Tremblay set a new Olympic record. Charles Hamelin and Marc Gagnon reached the quarter finals as well.

Cross-Country Skiing

The quartet of Marcus Hellner, Daniel Richardsson, Johan Olsson and Andres Soedergren of Sweeden got the gold at the men’s 4×10 km relay classic/free at 1:45:05.4. Behind them, the Norweigan team finished second; while Czech Republic captured the bronze.

Canadian team finished seventh, the best result in this event.

Freestyle Skiing

Australia’s Lydia Lassila stole the gold from Chinese with a triple-flipping jump at the ladies’ aerials final. The 28-year-old had a total score of 214.74 points.

China’s Li Nina and Guo Xinxin made the 2-3 in the podium. Asians finished with two more athletes in the top 12.

Canada’s Veronika Bauer finished 15^th.

Ice Hockey

Men’s Team Canada had an easy 7-3 win over Russia and advanced to semi finals.

Goaltender Roberto Luongo seemed to be the right option for the team, stopping 25 shots.

Canada will face Slovakia on Friday, who had a 4-3 win over Sweden.

In other games, United States defeated Switzerland 2-0, moving to semi finals where will face Finland, who had a 2-0 victory over the Czechs.

Curling

Men’s Sweden team had a 7-6 win over Great Britain in a Tiebreaker game Wednesday. With the victory, the Swedish advance to semi finals against Canada.

Alpine Skiing

Precarious weather conditions at the Whistler Creekside drove juries to postpone the Ladies Giant Slalom second run to Thursday 25^th at 12:30 EST.

The results after the first run as follows: Austria’s Elisabeth Goergl finished first at 1:15.12. Taina Barioz was second .02 behind Goergl while Kathrin Zettel was third, .16 behind the leader.

American Lindsey Vonn crashed and broke her finger.

Niklas Hagman took advantage of an equipment malfunction to score the game-winner and Mikka Kiprusoff made 31 saves for the shutout as Finland defeated the Czech Republic 2-0 in quarter-final action at the Vancouver Olympic Games.

Finland will now face the United States in the semifinals for a chance to make it back to the final round after losing the gold medal to Sweden in the 2006 Olympic Games.

Hoping to break a 0-0 tie late in the third period, Finland finally made good on their sixth power play of the game when Hagman tipped in a Janne Niskala point shot at 13:34. The Finns have Pavel Kubina’s helmet to thank for the goal.

While battling for the puck behind the goal-line, the Czech defenseman’s chin strap broke and his helmet flew off his head and behind the net. In Olympic rules, when a player loses his helmet he must either retrieve it or skate off the ice; he cannot continue to play.

Kubina opted to retrieve the helmet, allowing Hagman to easily establish body position in front of Czech goaltender Tomas Vokoun to deflect Niskala’s point shot.

Valtteri Filppula added an empty netter at 18:25 to put the game away.

It was a duel of goaltenders in this quarter-final match as Vokoun and Kiprusoff traded one spectacular save after another all game long.

Vokoun owned the opening twenty minutes, bailing out his team in an undisciplined first period for the Czechs. Finland went 0-for-5 in the opening frame, including a two-man advantage for 40 seconds, thanks to the heroics of Vokoun and his shot blocking teammates. Despite being shorthanded for much of the opening frame, the Czechs had just one shot less than Finland.

As the game went along, both teams played with more urgency, skating at faster speeds and taking more risks offensively.

The Czech’s best chance came on the powerplay in the second period. After Kiprusoff made several saves in tight, the puck found its way on Tomas Fleischmann’s stick. The Czech forward had open ice and an empty net to shoot at as the Finnish goaltender was down and out after making the initial save, but rather than quickly flip the puck into the net, Fleischamnn hesitated by the slightest of margins.

Kiprusoff made the most of the delay as he made a desperation swipe with his stick that Fleischamnn didn’t see coming. The goaltender managed to knock the puck away just as Fleischmann was about to shoot for what looked like the easiest of goals.

Coach Mike Babcock claimed that in order to beat the Russians, Ryan Getzlaf, Dan Boyle, Corey Perry, and Chris Pronger needed to be more productive.  Those players responded by contributing nine points in Canada’s 7-3 victory against Russia to advance to the semi-final round.

Getzlaf opened the scoring just over two minutes into the first period by converting Boyle’s pass into a nearly empty net.  Boyle would later get his own goal with a wrist shot from just over the blue line that blew by goalie Evgeni Nabokov, giving Canada a 2-0 lead.

Canada’s newly formed shut down line of Rick Nash, Jonathan Toews, and Mike Richards did their job by showing no mercy to Russia’s top forward lines.

The line even produced a goal by using good hard defensive tactics.  After Richards stripped Russia’s Evgeni Malkin of the puck, he moved it up to Toews who saw Nash just over the hash marks and fed him a pass that he beat Nabokov with to give Canada a 3-0 lead.

Goaltender Roberto Luongo confirmed he is the right man to be between the pipes for Canada by stopping 25 shots by the powerful Russian offense.

Dmitri Kalinin brought the score back within reach for Russia with a shot from the point that found its way past a screened Luongo.

Brendan Morrow grinded his way to a goal that slipped past Nabokov to give Canada the 4-1 lead going into the second period.  Shea Weber scored the final goal on Nabokov before he was pulled after ripping a shot passed him just over a minute after Perry’s first goal.

Perry proved his worth after a disastrous game against U.S.A. by scoring two goals, both of which were assisted on by Getzlaf.  Perry second goal was the only tally on Russian goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, who stopped 18 shots after relieving Nabokov.

Nabokov did not fare well in the match, getting pulled early in the second period after allowing six goals on 23 shots.

Russia also got goals from Maxim Afinogenov and Sergei Gonchar, but it was not nearly enough to get passed the determined Canadian squad.  The Russians received a scare in the third period when Alexander Ovechkin took a puck off the hand and immediately headed to the bench to ice it off.

The ruthless Canadian crowd serenaded him by chanting his name while Ovechkin iced his injured hand.  In a game that was headlined with Ovechkin and Crosby, neither of the two superstars tallied any points in the contest.

An upset Russian squad showed their frustration towards the end of the game by increasing the aggressiveness of their play.  Eric Staal went hard into the boards after an Anton Volchencov check that kept Staal on the ice for a short time.  He eventually skated back to the bench with the trainer, but did not miss any ice time.

Team Canada will now soak in the victory and face the winner of the Sweden and Slovakia match on Friday.

A rare mistake by Swiss goaltender Jonas Hiller led to the winning goal by Zach Parise and the Americans defeated Switzerland 2-0 on Wednesday afternoon at Canada Hockey Place.

The goal came early in the third period on the power play as Parise got a shot on Hiller, who knocked the puck down with his glove but couldn’t hold on to it as it trickled past him. Getting assists on the play were Brian Rafalski and Paul Stastny at the 2:08 mark, 1-0 for America.

Going into the third period the game was tied 0-0 with the U.S. dominating most of the play, as fatigue appeared to be wearing on the Swiss team, who had played an overtime game the day before.

Though there was no score on the board the Swiss were fortunate to catch a break at the end of the second period on a controversial call.

Switzerland narrowly escaped going down a goal in the dying seconds of the second period, as Hiller would make a huge mental error, batting the puck out of the air, back towards the goal, deflecting off of him and into the net as time expired.

The play was reviewed to see if the puck crossed the line before the period was over, after deliberation the referee claimed the puck didn’t cross the red line in time.

Coming into the game all the talk was about the phenomenal play of American net minder, Ryan Miller, in his outstanding showing against Canada. Who they forgot to mention was Swiss goalie Jonas Hiller and his equally impressive play in the tournament.

In the early going, Hiller would show why he’s been so unflappable, turning away all 18 shots he faced. Miller would only have to make four saves despite a multitude of chances by the Swiss who would have shots blocked by defenders.

The U.S. opened the game with an early onslaught of scoring chances, but the Swiss would counter-attack with an odd man rush.

This would be the theme for much of the period with the U.S. being aggressive and the Swiss trying to create on the overly aggressive play of the Americans.

Though this strategy created chances for Switzerland it was giving the U.S. far too many opportunities and the Swiss would be in far more trouble if not for the play of Hiller.

Through one, the game remained scoreless with the Swiss receiving the only power play of the game.  The second would be much different as five penalties were handed out.

Despite all the power-play opportunities both teams effectively cleared the puck and didn’t allow the other to establish any positioning in the attacking zone.

When on the power-play both teams seemed disoriented and unable to create any chances as if it were a weakness. When on full strength it was an entirely different game.

The American attack seemed to be even more effective, putting together a number of cross crease passes trying to get a deflection but to no avail.

On the other hand, Switzerland looked tired and an inability to clear the puck deep in American territory at the end of the period almost cost them.

Surviving the second period was all the Swiss could ask for as they looked sluggish heading into the second intermission.

With two periods in the books, the game would remain tied 0-0 with the Americans outshooting Switzerland, 14-to-4 in the period.

Persistence paid off for the U.S. as they were able to finally put one past Hiller to take the advantage.

After the Parise goal the pace appeared to pick up, with a bizarre sequence of events.

First Switzerland had a breakaway chance where the Swiss player got the puck across the goal line from the left side but hit the post without crossing the goal line, though the red light went on.  Before a stop in time could come to review the play the U.S. had an apparent goal taken away by a high sticking call on Ryan Kesler with 15:53 remaining.

On the ensuing power play the Swiss created the most opportunities of the game for themselves. They put the pressure on but were turned away as the best saves by the Americans were not being made by Miller but by defenders giving up their bodies.

With time running out the Swiss were forced to pull the goalie and it was a matter of time before the Americans put the game out of reach. Parise would put the nail in the coffin scoring an empty-net goal with 12 seconds remaining.

Heading into the semi-final the Americans looked impressive, completely dominating the puck and creating a huge disparity in shots, 44-to-19. They will await the outcome of the rest of the day’s quart-final games to see who they will play on Friday.