Team Canada beats U.S., 5-1, for women's Four Nations hockey title

Canada scored five straight goals to overcome a first-period deficit and defeat the U.S. women's national hockey team, 5-1, in the championship game of the Four Nations Cup in Tikkurila, Finland.

Jocelyne Lamoureux of Grand Forks, N.D., scored the only goal for the U.S., which had won its previous four major tournaments -- the 2008 World Championships, 2008 Four Nations Cup, the 2009 World Championships and 2009 Hockey Canada Cup.

Canada scored three times on the power play today to win its first tournament since the 2007 Four Nations Cup.

The U.S. and Canadian women's teams are expected to be among the medal contenders at the Vancouver Olympics in February.

Team USA will resume its pre-Olympic preparation on the Qwest Tour on Nov. 22 in Durham, N.H., against the Hockey East All-Stars.

-- Helene Elliott

A hundred days until the Vancouver Games is just another day to Evan Lysacek

While Olympic organizers marked the 100-days-out point before the Vancouver Games, world figure skating champion Evan Lysacek on Wednesday did what he’ll do with 99 days left, 98 days, and just about every other day before the Olympics.

He trained long and hard, skating powerfully through a morning practice session at the Toyota Sports Center.

Although a surprise blizzard delayed his return from last week’s Cup of China competition in Beijing, he was on the ice Wednesday as usual, sharing the surface with Italy’s Carolina Kostner, 2008 U.S. champion Mirai Nagasu, Bebe Liang and others. Afterward, he pondered whether 100 days is a long time or a short time to wait for what looms as the biggest moment of his career.

“Both. I have mixed feelings,” said Lysacek, who pulled up from third after the short program to finish second at the Cup of China behind Japan’s Nobunari Oda.

“I feel like I’m really in a good place physically and mentally for this season, but at the same time, 100 days is a long time to stay calm. As it gets closer, anxiety will start to kick in a little more than it already has, but I feel like the last several years for me have been so rewarding.

"I’m really satisfied with the way things are going. I don’t feel the constant need to be proving myself, and proving myself and proving myself, and I think with that, I’ve found an inner peace where I truly love skating every single day and being with my friends and traveling.”

That, he said, has helped him rediscover the essential joy of skating.

“I’ve sort of come full circle. I feel like I’m right back where I started where I’m just doing it because I love it,” he said. “And I really hope I can keep that, because I want to have that feeling at the Olympics and be able to enjoy the experience and not be so hung up on how every tiny little detail is going in my skating.

"I know it’s about the sport as a whole, but like any athlete will tell you, we’re ambassadors for our sport, our country, each of our families and cities and clubs and coaches.”

That sounds like a lot of responsibility, but not to him.

“No. It’s an honor,” he said.

Lysacek also said he was happy with his performance at the Cup of China.

“I just had a couple of questionable calls on edges,” he said. “I sort of had my list of what I wanted to work on, but reviewing them, I don’t so much. It seemed like just calls. I’ll just try to make it more obvious, I guess. What they say with this system is, ‘Don’t leave any gray area.’ Even though I think it was correct, what I did, I did leave a gray area so that’s what I have to correct.

“I’ve seen great skating so far this season. It’s going to be a really exciting season leading up to the Games.”

And, as of Wednesday, there were only 100 days left until the Feb. 12 Opening Ceremony.

-- Helene Elliott

Dates set for announcements of men's Olympic hockey rosters

Circle the dates on your calendars.  The International Ice Hockey Federation today announced the dates that teams participating in the Vancouver Olympics will announce their 23-man rosters.

In alphabetical order, the list is:

Belarus: Dec. 23
Canada: Dec. 31
Czech Republic: Dec. 30
Finland: Dec. 30
Germany: Dec. 30
Latvia: Dec. 29
Norway: Dec. 29
Russia: Dec. 25
Switzerland: Dec. 30
Slovakia: Dec. 29
Sweden: Dec. 27
U.S.: Jan. 1 (during NHL Winter Classic)

Each team can name 20 skaters plus three goaltenders. There will be no taxi squads.

The last day to change the roster will be Feb. 15, when members of the directorate -- the mucky-mucks in charge of the tournament -- will meet on the eve of the first men's game.

Here's the men's Olympic schedule.

In honor of today being the 100-days-out point before the Games, the IIHF unveiled a new hockey page on its website with links to Olympic hockey rules, trivia and other information.

-- Helene Elliott

U.S. men's Olympic hockey team to be announced Jan. 1; U.S. women win Four Nations Cup opener

The 23-man roster for the U.S. men's Olympic hockey team will be announced Jan. 1 during the NHL's Winter Classic game at Fenway Park.

The announcement of the team that will compete at the Vancouver Games in Canada will be made during NBC's national telecast of the Philadelphia Flyers playing the Boston Bruins on a temporary rink set up in the middle of Fenway Park.

"It’s terrific to have partners like NBC and the NHL,” said Dave Ogrean, executive director of USA Hockey, in a news release. "I think by announcing our men’s Olympic team as part of the broadcast of the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic, we all feel like it will add to the pageantry of what is sure to be a spectacular event."

The men's hockey tournament at Vancouver will begin Feb. 16 and will end with the gold medal game Feb. 28.

The U.S. women, who have most of their team in place and will make only a few cuts before Vancouver, continued their Olympic preparation by defeating host nation Finland, 4-0, in the first game of the Four Nations Cup.

Goaltender Molly Schaus of Natick, Mass., got the shutout by stopping 15 shots. The U.S. women took 52 shots and got goals from Monique Lamoreux, Erika Lawler,Jinelle Zaugg-Siergiej and Hilary Knight.

-- Helene Elliott

Olympic flame arrives in Canada in advance of Vancouver Games

The Olympic flame completed its journey from Greece and landed in Canada early this morning. The first two torchbearers were two-time speed-skating gold medalist Catriona Le May Doan and triathlete Simon Whitfield, who won gold for Canada at the 2000 Sydney Games and silver at Beijing in 2008.

They handed it off to rower Silke Laumann, a three-time Olympic medalist, and diver Alexandre Despatie, a two-time medalist and the first Canadian man to win an Olympic diving medal.

The Vancouver Olympic website has a nifty section about the torch relay, with an interactive map, videos and stories on some of the 12,000 folks who will carry the torch across the country and back in time for the Feb. 12 Opening Ceremony. 

Among the higher-profile torchbearers: NHL standout Sidney Crosby, who is scheduled to carry the flame in his home province of Nova Scotia on Nov. 18. Crosby was left off Canada's Olympic team for the 2006 Turin Games but that won't happen this time.

-- Helene Elliott

Olympic torch is lit, begins journey

The Vancouver Games must be near, because the Olympic torch was lit Thursday in Greece and began its journey to Vancouver.

The lighting ceremony of the Olympic torch takes place at the temple of Hera, where the ruins of a temple dedicated to this goddess remain.

First, the flame is lit by sunlight focused on a metal reflector, part of a ritual including a prayer and a hymn made by a woman representing the ancient role of the high priestess.

The ceremony also involves a young boy who cuts off an olive branch and gives it to the high priestess, a symbolic gesture.

 Once the flame is lit and placed in an urn, the high priestess brings it to the Pierre de Coubertin monument and hands it over to the first torchbearer marking the start of the eight-day Greek stage of the Olympic torch's journey.

Photo: Actress Maria Nafpliotou in the role of the High Priestess lights the torch. Credit: Giota Korbaki, EPA.

U.S. Speedskating feels the pinch of Dutch bank's bankruptcy [updated]

U.S. Speedskating, the sport's governing body in this country, is looking for new backing less than four months away from the Vancouver Olympics after a Dutch court declared one of the U.S. team's prime sponsors bankrupt earlier this week.

DSB Bank, based in the Netherlands, was thrown into bankruptcy on Monday, ending its financial support of U.S. speedskaters. In an unusual step, U.S. Speedskating issued a news release today announcing it would have a budget shortfall of more than $300,000 because DSB Bank is no longer able to provide funding. As a result, U.S. Speedskating Executive Director Bob Crowley and the organization's board are working on a new financial plan for the remainder of the 2009-10 season.

"DSB Bank has been an excellent partner for US Speedskating and has allowed us to provide excellent service for our athletes,” Brad Goskowicz, U.S. Speedskating's president, said in a statement. "It is our mission to ensure our U.S. Speedskating Olympic Team has everything they need to be successful and we will continue toward that end. The impact will be seriously felt and we will be seeking additional sponsor opportunities."

The organization also said that sponsorship money had dropped significantly during the last two years of economic uncertainty. But Crowley is hopeful about attracting new financial partners.

"There are very attractive sponsorship opportunities now available,” Crowley said, “and this is a great opportunity for a company to attach themselves, at a very low cost, to the sport that is projected to win a record number of Olympic medals.”

U.S. Speedskating is proceeding with its scheduled events, including the national championships, American Cup series and the U.S. World Cup/Olympic-qualifying event that began today in Milwaukee. 

Updated:

The U.S. Olympic Committee has been in contact with U.S. Speedskating officials about the budget shortfall caused by DSB Bank's bankruptcy, according to USOC spokesman Bob Condron.

"Mike English, our Chief of Sport Performance, and Alan Ashley, our Team Leader for Winter Olympic Sports, spoke to Bob Crowley about the situation, and Alan is going to meet with Bob this weekend at the Trials to try and understand the impact on U.S. Speedskating," Condron said in an e-mail.

"We'll make some decisions after that."

-- Helene Elliott

U.S. women's hockey team loses to Canada, 5-2

Caroline Ouellette scored two power-play goals in the second period to lead Team Canada to a 5-2 victory over Team USA in a matchup of Vancouver Olympic hockey gold-medal contenders Friday at Spokane, Wash.

Gigi Marvin of Warroad, Minn., and Jenny Potter of Edina, Minn., scored for the U.S. Goaltender Jessie Vetter of Cottage Grove, Wis., lost to Canada for the first time in six games against the defending Olympic gold medalists.

The two teams are likely to meet again in the Women's Four Nations Cup, Nov. 3-7 in Finland.

More info about the women's team is available at the team's Facebook page and at www.usahockey.com.

--Helene Elliott 

Angela Ruggiero isn't getting older -- she's getting better

Like most athletes as they age, three-time U.S. Olympic hockey medalist Angela Ruggiero of Simi Valley realized that her 29-year-old body wasn’t rebounding as quickly as it used to after games and workouts.

Intent on helping Team USA return to gold-medal glory in February at the Vancouver Games, she worked out with male hockey players this summer at the Athletes Performance training facility at the Home Depot Center in Carson. She emerged leaner and stronger—and believes she might have added 10 years to her playing career.

Ruggiero spent May, June, July and part of August at Athletes Performance as the only woman in a training group that included Chris Drury of the New York Rangers, George Parros of the Ducks, Orange County-raised Richard Park of the New York Islanders, former King Noah Clarke—now playing in Switzerland--and other pro players.

She said she lost eight pounds of fat and added six pounds of muscle, all while enjoying the work.

“For me it was really cool,” she said from Spokane, Wash., where the U.S. women’s national team will face Canada tonight at 7 in a game televised by the NHL Network.

“I actually played against Noah growing up in California, when I played in Pasadena, so it was really neat for me not only to train with pro guys but train with some of the guys I grew up playing against. Now we’re all adults and still playing hockey, so it was kind of a thrill there.

“I’m 29 years old, I’ve played in three Olympics and done quite a bit of off-ice training in my lifetime but this was definitely the best summer training I’ve ever had.”

Varying her workouts helped, she said, as did the intense drills and being pushed by the guys.

“I spent two, 2½ hours in there each day and I felt I got something out of it each and every day,” she said. “It wasn’t just going through the motions or just trying to get through a workout. We were actively engaged in each and every exercise. Their philosophy was just amazing. The technology they have is second to none….

“Really, it was like I was a little kid because I felt that I was learning something every day and challenging myself in a way that I hadn’t been able to do before. When I got to training camp in August I felt better than I ever have.”

The U.S. and Canada are fierce rivals in women's hockey. The U.S. women lost their last game against Canada, 3-1, on Oct. 5 but have won six of the teams' last nine games. The U.S. is ranked No. 1 in the world now but will go to the Olympics as the second seed based on its ranking after the 2008 world championships.

“Which is fine by us,” Ruggiero said. “All the pressure’s on their shoulders because they’re the defending gold medalists and they’re hosting the Olympics and that’s their national sport. So I think there’s more pressure on their side, but our team has high standards.”

-- Helene Elliott

Vancouver unveils medals ... jury still out on design

Organizers proudly revealed the medals today for the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver and the description was naturally enthusiastic:

"The medals, revealed today, each feature a different crop of larger contemporary Aboriginal artworks and are undulating rather than flat -- both firsts in Games history. The dramatic form of the Vancouver 2010 medals is inspired by the ocean waves, drifting snow and mountainous landscape found in the Games region and throughout Canada. The Olympic medals are circular in shape, while the Paralympic medals are a superellipse, or squared circle."

A couple of random thoughts. Whenever you can get the word undulating in a release, it's impressive. Let's put it this way ... that word doesn't make its way into NBA copy very often. And if it did, a phone call from an editor would probably follow.

After a morning of looking at images of the medals, and two cups of coffee later, I am still not sure whether I like the look. But the viewpoint of a junior high art-class laggard hardly matters and, quite frankly, no athlete is going to quibble with the quality of appearance of a gold medal.

Colleague Ron Judd, columnist at the Seattle Times, summed it up quite nicely on his Twitter feed this morning: "Vancouver 2010 medals display traditional native 45-RPM-record-left-on-dashboard-in-sun design."

He probably got all A's in art class.

-- Lisa Dillman

Photo: 2010 Olympic medals. Credit: Jonathan Hayward / Associated Press