Eight years later, Canada’s Kevin Martin finally has redemption for his missed opportunity at Gold in 2002. The Canadian team dominated the competition during the Olympic tournament becoming the first team ever to go undefeated winning the second Gold medal for Canada and the fourth medal in total in men’s Curling. Sounding relieved after the game, Martin said “Finally, it took a long time. But the hard work was worth it.”

The game turned in the fourth and fifth ends when Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud missed draws on his final shots allowing Canada to steal one in each of those ends to take a three point lead. Kevin Martin’s team hasn’t lost a game in which they had a three point lead since September 20 of 2009 and they weren’t about let it happen in the Gold medal game.

Norway managed two points in the sixth end to close the score to 3-2. In the seventh end, Norway was lying three counters when Martin went to throw Canada’s penultimate shot of the end. He froze perfectly to one of Norway’s stones on the button making it very difficult for Ulsrud to remove it. Ulsrud’s attempt almost removed it far enough but left it scoring in the eight-foot circle allowing Martin to draw for two and a commanding 5-2 lead.

Canada forced Norway to one in the eighth to take hammer into the ninth end. Norway managed to have a good end and put pressure on Canada leaving Martin looking at two Norwegian counters with one buried on the button behind a guard. Martin’s final stone of the end gently tapped the Norway’s stone back far enough to score one and recapture a three point lead.

Canada played a perfect end in the tenth end. Martin released his final stone of the Olympics knowing he had it made and finally coming through to get the Gold medal he deeply desired and one that the rest of Canada had expected from him. “I can’t explain it.” A jubilant Kevin Martin remarked. “It’s an amazing feeling and I think it will get better and better as the day goes on.”

Canadian second Marc Kennedy who’s accuracy was a sensational 95% during the game was ecstatic afterward. “Unbelievable. Incredible experience. Sense of super excitement and relief. [I] get that sense of national pride today. [This] is the best thing to be a part of, words can’t explain it.”

Thomas Ulsrud was not expected to be in the Gold Medal game and exceeded most everyone’s expectations. His Norwegian team had won two straight bronze medals at the World Championships and everyone was anticipating another game between Kevin Martin and Great Britain’s David Murdoch to complete the trilogy. Norway took the next step up on the podium but are disappointed they did not achieve Gold. “If you give me 10 minutes then I’ll probably be happy with Silver.” Ulsrud said regarding their loss. “I’m a bit disappointed right now, but I think I will still be happy with Silver. An Olympic medal was our goal. When you are in the Final you always hope to win, but I think we’ll take it. We’ll take it as a great experience. We really enjoyed it.”

Easy rests the Olympic crown on Kevin Martin’s head. Finally.

Eight years after his last shot in Salt Lake City slid far enough for silver and Norway celebrated that last half an inch for all the gold it was worth and more, the tables turned on Sunday and it was Martin at the top of his game and the podium.

Fittingly, the Edmonton skip delivered the last rock this time too, a hit-and-stick in the 10th that ran Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud out of rocks and the ghost of Salt Lake City out of the picture.

Full story -  Martin’s golden redemption – Edmonton Journal.

She is so smooth.

She is so skilled.

And to so many, Cheryl Bernard, the Canadian curling queen, is so, so sexy.

Yes, that kind of talk takes away from her exceptional talent — again on display Friday, although she and her team of curlers fell to Sweden 7-6 in an extra end in the gold-medal match — but much of the talk about Bernard during these Games has been inappropriate

Solomon: It’s not easy to make curling sexy | Olympics | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle.

Wall Street trading is often described as a blood sport. But inside the great investment houses, the sport of the moment is, of all things, curling — that oddball of the Olympics that is sort of like shuffleboard on ice.

This slow-poke game, which originated in 16th-century Scotland, has captivated the Type-A world of Wall Street almost by accident. CNBC, whose market chatter is the background music on trading floors, switches to curling from Vancouver shortly after the closing bell.

And so, after a day of braying for money in the markets, traders are winding down with curling. It is, fans say, a bit of after-market therapy. Curling is so slow and drawn out that it becomes mesmerizing.

Full story – On Wall Street, a Romance With the Curling Stone – NYTimes.com.

As the Canadian men’s curling team neared victory in the gold medal match against Norway on Saturday, the crowd in the Vancouver Olympic Centre stood and began singing “O, Canada.”

When Canadian skip Kevin Martin threw the last stone, ensuring a 6-3 victory and the gold, the Canadian players leaped into each other’s arms, women in the stands wept, and the Prime Minister cheered.

Curling is a strange sport, more housekeeping on ice than a true, death-defying, high-speed winter game, and yet it was curling that provided perhaps the quintessential Canadian moment near the end of the Vancouver Olympics.

The men’s curling gold medal match started with noise: foot-stomping, head-splitting, ground-shaking noise.

The bagpipes came next. Then the pants. Not just any pants, but checkered pants, Rodney Dangerfield meets argyle meets the jack of diamonds. They belonged to the members of Norway’s powerhouse curling team, and the pants, not the curlers, boast some 533,000 fans on Facebook.

Full story – To Delight of Crowd, Canada Wins Men’s Olympic Curling Gold – NYTimes.com.

Kevin Martin and his Alberta foursome built a big 5-1 lead after 5 ends and held on for a 7-3 victory over Glenn Howard in the Canadian Olympic Trials final in Edmonton. His team of John Morris, Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert will represent Canada at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in February. (photo courtesy of the Canadian Curling Association)

• Martin earns 3rd Olympics after beating Howard – cbc.ca
• Kevin Martin is headed to the Olympics – ctvolympics.ca
• Martin dominates Howard to gain Canadian Olympic men’s curling berth – Canadian Press