Sochi Winter Olympics Day Six Recap: Montrealers At A Glance
By Jared Book
Day six was probably the toughest day for Canadians and Montrealers alike despite it having events like men’s hockey and short track speed skating.
Charles Hamelin was cut short in his bid for four gold medals with the unpredictability of short track speed skating. After the usual contenders from Korea fell in their attempt to make the final, the Canadians followed suit.
The Canadians will not be defending their championship in the 5000m relay when Francois Hamelin, Charles’s brother lost an edge and fell. The Canadians tried to catch up but were not able to catch up to the Chinese and Russian teams.
“We had high hopes for this relay – I mean we are the reigning world and Olympic champions,” said Michael Gilday who trains with the short track team at the Maurice Richard arena in Montreal. “We wanted to win. We’ll fight it off in the B final. It’s extremely disappointing and it’s not the way we wanted the thing to turn out,” he told the CBC.
A tough day for the Canadian short track team continued when Marianne St-Gelais failed to make the podium in the women’s 500m. She made the consolation final where she eventually finished in seventh spot overall. She was very emotional after the race but held her head high and said she is looking forward to her other distances.
The good news on the short track today was in the men’s 1000m. Charlie Cournoyer, Olivier Jean and Charles Hamelin all won their heats and advanced to the quarterfinals.
On the hockey front, it was a mixed day for Montreal Canadiens players. Carey Price beat Norway 3-1 and made 19/20 saves. Andrei Markov and Alexei Emelin were held off the scoresheet in Russia’s 5-2 win over Slovenia.
Max Pacioretty had an assist in the United States 7-1 win over Slovakia. Peter Budaj came in relief of Jaroslav Halak and allowed two goals on eight shots in just under 30 minutes of work.
Montreal native Marc-Edouard Vlasic was pointless in Canada’s win.
In the women’s 10 km classic cross country skiing race, Daria Gaiazova finished 44th with a time of 31:47.0.