8.4°C Not observed 
The streets of Lillooet, like so many others in Canada, were largely deserted on Sunday afternoon, until 3 p.m. or so, anyway. Indoors, most eyes were glued to the gold-medal hockey game between Canada and the United States.
Canada kept a strong U.S. team at bay with a 2-1 lead until, with less than 30 seconds to go, Zach Parise tied the score for the Americans, adding an overtime period to the game.
At the same time that he revived hopes for gold in hearts south of the border, Parise brought our own hearts to a standstill.
Of all the Olympic contests, this would be the one Canada needed to win the most, especially if it was against the States, and played on home turf to boot.
Not that you missed it, but seven minutes and 40 seconds into overtime, Sidney Crosby scored the winning goal for Canada.
We like to think Canada won because we wanted it more, but to its credit, the American team played as though its national honour and identity relied on victory, too.
The CTV commentator hit the nail on the head when he spoke of the “relief” that consumed both Canadian players and fans in the arena following Crosby’s goal.
The same feeling swept the viewers at home, at least from where we were watching. Even fair-weather hockey fans could not stay away from the action, the stakes were so high.
The closing ceremonies for the Vancouver Winter Olympics were held later that day, complete with a kitschy musical ode on ice (yes, they were milking it) to Mounties, beavers, fur traders, and all other painfully Canadian things.
And then they were gone.
Overall, Canada placed third in terms of total medals won at 26, and first in terms of gold medals, earning 14 in total. The U.S. won 37 medals, the highest total for any country, of which nine were gold, while Germany placed second both in terms of all medals earned (30) and gold medals (10).
Canada’s 26 medals is its best-ever haul at a Winter Olympics, and the country also set a new record for the most gold medals ever won at the Winter Olympics. (The Soviet Union set the previous record of 13 in Innsbruck, Austria, in 1976, which Norway tied in Salt Lake City in 2002.)
While the Games were still in play, we wondered if Canada would beat its previous winter high score of 24 medals from Turin in 2006, and if our men could still win hockey gold after losing to the States last week in the tournament.
Those were the big questions then, and now that we know the answers, we cannot help but smile and congratulate all of the athletes, who achieved personal and international bests. Despite that satisfaction, we are now curious what will become of the Own the Podium program.
Own the Podium, a partnership between the federal government and national sports federations, had declared its goal for 2010 was to put Canada first in medal standings. The federal government committed to a $118-million increase in sports funding over five years starting in 2006.
The improved results suggest the program was effective to a point, but fell short of its goal, and this is a bad time to ask the government for money.
