Part 4 - Reporting from the 2010 Olympic (HOCKEY!!!) Games

His Name is Jonas! And he's carrying the Swedes! Except for all the rebounds! Dumping pics after the break!

Hey Leafs Nation,

Just want to take a minute and give a shout out to a very important collaborator in these the XXI Olympic Winter Games – the weather!

I know that everyone around the world is assuming that the warm, sunny weather in Vancouver is an international embarassment for Canada, but I couldnt disagree more. The last four days have been absolutely gorgeous weather – bright and sunny, barely a cloud in the sky, a gentle breeze. People out walking around with their faces in the sun during the day and roaming the streets for hours at night. Basically, it's good enough weather that a Canada jersey is all you need to wear to keep warm during the day. I love it.

TSN analyst Pierre McGuire and I had a moment before the beginning of the Second Period of Friday's tilt between Team Sweden and Belarus. I had tickets right behind the Swedish bench and I crept down before the start of the period to take some close-up pics of the Swedes coming out onto the ice. McGuire was between the benches hanging out and chatting with his cameraman when he looked over at me, chuckled and gave me a salute – it was because I was wearing a Canada jersey, the Team Canada scarf, and my Ray Ban sunglasses. That's Vancouver Winter Olympics apparel in a nutshell. I saluted back and then started taking pictures.

But first, funny story. When I showed up to the afternoon Sweden vs. Belarus game I was shocked to discover that my seats for the game had been removed and replaced with a HD camera.

So instead of Row 25 I was upgraded to Row 14 along the blueline. Nicely done Vanoc - as long as your screw ups benefit me, it's cool that you're all a bunch of idiots.

Pre-game Lineups. I really don't get the point of this - the teams lineup for roughly 5 seconds. No anthems - no opening ceremony. They could atleast have the team captains pull a bingo-ball out of a drum and give away a free car or something.

Team Belarus and their ugly communist conucopia uniforms in a pre-game pants shitting contest.

Jonas getting himself focused.

Last man off the ice. Who were the last men off the ice yesterday? Crosby and Ovechkin. Coincidence?

Gus and Hank Sedin, who for some reason had to surrender his #33 to Freddy Modin.

The Sedin Sisters with Uncle Mattias Weinhandl in action.

Peter "fackin" Forsberg. He didn't look great in this game, but he got a cheer everytime he touched the puck.

TEAM BELARUS GOAL! DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES!?

The Belarussian fans lovin' it.

Henrik Zetterberg gooning it up. He and Douglas Murray are the badasses on the Swedish team.

Hey everybody! It's Pierre McGuire! He and I are practically homeboys now.

Patric Hornqvist.

Some goof wearing #11 jumps over the boards.

Sweden wins 4-2! Gus didn't blow the lead!

"Good game - hope you enjoyed my juicy rebounds...Good game - hope you enjoyed my juice rebounds..."

Yellow pride.

The Swedes raise their sticks in the air, before lowering them to the normal swedish level - face height.

And here are some shots exterior shots of Vancouver. Beautiful weather.

GM Place beaming in the sun as crowds approach their gates.

Anyway, as far as the Sweden vs. Belarus game went, Sweden should have won by a much wider margin. They controlled the play but were thwarted on most of their attacks by the tenacity of the Belarussians. They worked hard out there, following the "size of the fight in the dog" philosophy. It's a recurring theme in this men's hockey tournament - the teams aren't as far apart as we think. All of the low-seed teams have put up some good fights - even Latvia took it to the Czech Republic last night. And if it werent for Belarus hitting a crossbar late in the third period, Sweden could have easily needed an extra period to dispose of the Belarussians.

Canada should still be worried about Sweden, however. Their Alfredsson-Backstrom-Eriksson line is lethal I tell ya'. And the Sedins will start clicking eventually. We definitely don't want to play either the Fins or the Swedes before a semi-final at the earliest.

Well Leafs fans, I just did 7 games in 4 days at the Olympics. I didn't expect to see so many close games over the last four days but they have been a welcome surprise. Excellent hockey. Excellent fans. Excellent Atmosphere.

I'll see you next week for an intimate look at a Quarterfinal, a Semifinal, and the Gold Medal matchup.

Who will be playing? Damned if I know.