Vancouver 2010 Paralympics sit skiing medals ceremony in Whistler.

For more images from the medals ceremony, please visit the Set on Flickr.

You could feel that Olympic energy returning to Robson Square last night with the torch relay coming through, carried by Roberto Luongo. Hoping to see the fans just as excited during the Paralympic Games over the next ten days in support of the amazing athletes and the additional challenges they face in order to compete in this amazing event.

The crowd gets hyped for Roberto Luongo’s arrival.

Luongo finally arrives.

Luongo’s family, excited to see him.

The lighting of the cauldron.

Passing the torch to the next 24 hour relay torch bearer.

Gabriela Luongo joined her father on stage.

Gold medal winner, Roberto Luongo with his family.

Post torch even interview. Luong speaks about his gold medal (he showed it to Ryan Kessler first!), the paralympics, the sledge hockey team and how the Olympics affected his NHL game.

After all the Luongo excitement was over, I was excited to meet one of the day’s torch bearers. He told me all about riding on the bus with Roberto Luongo that day and how excited he was about having the honour of carrying the torch.

For more photos from the Robson Square event, please visit my flickr page.

The Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC) today announced that sledge hockey captain Jean Labonté has been selected as flag bearer for Canada at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

“Jean has demonstrated throughout his career the determination, athletic excellence, and strong character that embodies the Paralympic spirit,” said Blair McIntosh, chef de mission, Team Canada.”  Jean is a most deserving athlete to not only captain our sledge hockey team but to also lead our entire Canadian delegation into B.C. Place for the first Paralympic Winter Games on home soil.”

The native of Gatineau, Québec has competed in three previous Paralympic Winter Games, earning a gold medal in 2006 and silver in 1998. Labonté is one of the most decorated and admired athletes in the sport, having played in five International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Sledge Hockey World Championships, taking the gold medal in 2000 and 2008, and bronze in 1996 and 2009.

(photo courtesy of the Canadian Paralympic Committee)

The veteran defenceman demonstrates great leadership both on and off the ice. Labonté is an outstanding ambassador for sledge hockey and for the Paralympic movement.  He has worked tirelessly to promote Paralympic sport across Canada, educating Canadians about sport for athletes with a disability, and encouraging young and old to participate and take advantage of sporting and volunteering opportunities in their communities.

“When the eyes of the world focus on B.C. Place for the opening ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games – the first to be hosted in Canada, they will witness an historic moment in Canadian sport,” said Carla Qualtrough, president, CPC. “The profile of Paralympic sport has reached new heights and our flag bearer, Jean Labonté, has helped lead the way. It is a tremendous honour to carry the flag for your country. Jean, like all of our Paralympic athletes, is about to make Canada very proud.”

The Opening Ceremony of the 10th Paralympic Winter Games is scheduled for 6pm PT on Friday, March 12, 2010 at BC Place in Vancouver.

About the Canadian Paralympic Committee

The Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC) is a non-profit, private organisation with 43 member sports organisations dedicated to strengthening the Paralympic Movement.  The CPC is responsible for creating an optimal high-performance environment for the Canadian Paralympic athletes to win at Paralympic and ParaPanAmerican Games.  By supporting Canadian Paralympic athletes and promoting their success, the CPC inspires all Canadians with a physical disability to get involved in sport through programs delivered by its member organisations.  For more information, visit www.paralympic.ca.

Follow the Canadian Paralympic Committee by becoming a fan on Facebook, and following on Twitter.

(News Release courtesy of the Canadian Paralympic Committee.)

(Photo credit on blog page: Ariane Colenbrander)

I watched the Canada vs. USA Gold Medal Hockey game from the best venue in town next to Canada Hockey Place: the Molson Canadian Hockey House!

Already at 8am the lineups were growing for bars, pubs and cultural houses around the city. The lineups on and around Granville Street were huge in the morning in anticipation for the noon-time game! This was the view from my living room window that morning.

Inside the Molson Canadian Hockey House, the people were packing in and the energy and excitement for the upcoming game was building!

Francois-Louis Tremblay stopped by to celebrate the Canadian speed skating team’s Gold Medal win!

Wide Mouth Mason played two AMAZING sets! I was very excited about this, as I had been hoping to see them at some point during the Games and my moment had finally come!

And of course, the crowd cheered for Team Canada with such loud, excited optimism, that I have no doubt that we could be heard at Canada Hockey Place!

After the game, and during the Olympic Games Closing Ceremonies, Roberto Luongo and his daughter, Gabriela, stopped by for a quick visit to thank the fans for their support and show off his gold medal and the crowd went WILD for one of Canada’s newest heroes!

All in all, it was an amazing day and the perfect wrap up for the Games! If someone had written a script for the day, it could not have been written with a better ending!

For more photos of the Molson Canadian Hockey House during the Gold Medal Hockey Game, visit my set on Flickr.

For more photos of Wide Mouth Mason, there is a Flickr set for that too!

I’ve been quite fortunate in getting tickets to Olympic events here at the Vancouver 2010 Games! I’ve been lucky enough to acquire tickets to several events, all at face value. Events I’ve seen include speed skating at the Olympic Oval, men’s hockey at Canada Hockey Place, and women’s hockey at Thunderbird Stadium at UBC. I’ve also been to a Victory Ceremony and to the Molson Canadian Hockey House twice to watch hockey games there.

The best part about all of these opportunities for me is that I am able to take  photos of once in a lifetime events in our beautiful city!

Here are some of those images to give you a taste of my 2010 Olympics experiences:

Speed Skating:

On February 13th, after winning tickets in the Holland Heineken House ticket lottery for Dutch citizens, I went to my first speed skating event. It was unbelievable! The energy in the Richmond Oval was electrifying! And the fact that Holland’s Sven Kramer won Gold, made it that much better!

Gold Medalist, Sven Kramer of the Netherlands.

Victory Ceremony:

The first gold medal for Canada was awarded to Alex Bilodeau on February 15th. I was at the medal ceremony to see it happen!

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Molson Canadian Hockey House:

On February 15th, Tom Cochrane played at the Molson Canadian Hockey House. Guests to his stage included Tyler Stewart of the Barenaked Ladies, and Donald Sutherland. It was an amazing show and the House was full of energy and excitement! A super fun time! If you have a chance to watch a game at the Molson Canadian Hockey House, take it! Included in the FanZone ticket is entrance, food, and non-alcoholic beverages. Beer is $7.50 tax and tip included.

Men’s Hockey:

I was at the USA vs Norway game on February 18th. We had seats right behind the photographers’ pit and I was able to sneak into the photographers area for about 20 minutes in the second period! It was amazing to be so close to the action and having the players bang up against the glass right in front of me! Here are some of the shots from that game.

Women’s Hockey:

On February 22nd, the Swiss played the Russians in Women’s Hockey at Thunderbird Stadium out at UBC. After a well-matched game, a few injuries, overtime and a shootout, the Swiss were victorious, winning 4th place in the 2010 Olympic standings! Congratulations Switzerland!

Believe it or not, there are still tickets available for upcoming events! We are into the final week of the Games and your final chances to see some awesome Olympic athletes in action! Try your luck for tickets at the Vancouver 2010 Fan to Fan site, Craigslist, or even right outside the venues from people trying to simply sell extra tickets at face value because they are unable to attend the event. It doesn’t always have to be pricey!

Yesterday’s win for the women’s hockey team against Switzerland and the gold medal presentation to Alexandre Bilodeau, gave Canadians much to celebrate last night!

Last night’s celebration at the Molson Hockey House was full of energy! Tom Cochrane played an awesome concert for the crowd, starting with Victory Day and ending with Life is a Highway, with a three song encore after that.

Donald Sutherland made an appearance as well and stripped off his coat and replaced it with a Canada hockey jersey, and then saying to the crowd, “I have only one question for you: Do you believe?!” Causing the crowd to go wild!

Tyler Stewart of the Barenaked Ladies also showed up to play Life is a Highway with the band.

Here are some of the images from the front row of the concert. To see more, please visit my Flickr account.

Although the Molson House is sold out for the duration of the Games, here are a few things to not if you are able to get your hands on a coveted pass to get in:

Fanzone Entry – $100.00
VIP Entry – $450.00 and up (depending on day)

Beers are $7.50 CND
Hard Liquor $10.00  CND

As with all Olympic venues, they accept only Cash or Visa as forms of payment.

On February 4th, I was lucky to be invited to the Code Live Opening Celebration.

Code Live is part of the 2010 Cultural Olympiad and is a showcase for insteractove arts, cutting edge music and culture. It runs from February 4th to 21st.

There are two main locations for this Cultural Olympiad event. One is at Emily Carr University of Art and Design on Granville Island, the other is at the Center for Digital Media, on Great Norhtern Way. There are also other installations at various locations around Vancouver over the course of the 2010 Games.

ARTISTS AND PROJECT VENUES

Great Northern Way Campus: Centre for Digital Media

Dune 4.0: Studio Roosegaarde (Netherlands)
Artificial Moon: Wang Yuyang, curated by Li Zhenhua (China)
Where are you?: Luc Courschene (Canada)
787 Cliparts: Oliver Laric (Austria)
Vested: Don Ritter (Canada)
Cambridge Bay: A Time and a Place: Souns featuring Tanya Tagaq (Canada)
We are Stardust: George Legrady (Canada)
Paparazzi Bots: Ken Rinaldo (USA)
Condemned Bulbes: Artificiel (Canada)
ECO ART: World Without Water: Tahir Mahmood, co presentation with the Canadian Film Centre (Canada)
Greenhouse: Brendan Wypich, co presentation with the Canadian Film Centre (Canada)
Akoumasflore: Scenoscome, co presentation with the Canadian Film Centre (France)
Seed: Napoleon Brosseau and Gabe Sahwney
Mondo Spider: Zero Emissions: eatART (Canada)
mo_ving: Raquel Kogan, curated by Claudio Rivera-Seguel (Brazil/Chile)
Breaking the Ice: Societé des arts technologiques (Canada)
Reactable: Sergi Jordà, Martin Kaltenbrunner, Günter Geiger and Marcos Alonso (Austria/Spain)
Instant Places: Canada CODE: Ian Birse, Laura Kavanaugh (Canada)
PLAY: The Hertzian Collective: Geoffrey Shea (Canada)
Analogue Nostalgia Presents / présente – Foreign Voices, Common Stories (Ghettoblaster): James Phillips (Canada)

CODE Lounge: Featuring works by Organelle and Shea Allan-McCachen

EmilyCarr University of Art and Design

The Paradise Institute: Janet Cardiff and Georges Bures Miller (Canada)
Organized by the National Gallery of Canada
Electromode / Peau d’Ane : Valerie Lamontagne (Canada)
Skorpions and Captain Electric : Joanna Berzowska, XS Labs (Canada)
Walking City and Living Pod : Ying Gao (Canada)
Company Keeper and Emotional Ties : Sara Diamond (Canada)
Blue Code, Jacket Antics and Tornado Dress (Barbara Layne, Studio subTela: Canada)
Electric Skin and Barking Mad L Suzi Webster with Jordan Benwick (Canada)
Tendrils : Thecla Schiphorst (Canada)
*glisten)HIVE: Julie Andreyev (Canada)
CODE.lab: M. Simon Levin and Jer Thorp with Emily Carr Students and Faculty (Canada)
Song of Solomon: Julian Jonker and Ralph Borland (South Africa)
Odd Spaces: Faisal Anwar (Canada / Pakistan)
CODE Dialogues: Co presented with Emily Carr University of Art and Design (Canada)

Vancouver Central Library

The Sacred Touch: Ranjit Makkuni (India)
Seen: David Rokeby (Canada)
When the Gods Came Down to Earth: Srinivas Krishna (Canada)
Room to Make Your Peace: 2010 Olympic Truce Project

Around Vancouver

Vectorial Elevation: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (Canada)
Fearless Mobile, OMG IM ON DOT TV, Untold Histories: W2 Community Media Arts Society (Canada)
Intersection 2010: Bright Light: Presented by the city of Vancouver (Canada)
NeoGrafik: NomIg (Ed Jordan, Stephanie MacKay), Alexis Laurence (Canada)
PacuBoxes: Tom Kuo, Rachel Vulliers, Jacqueline Nuwame and Anthea Foyer:
Canadian Film Centre (Canada)
Glocal Urban Screen Project: Surrey Art Gallery (Canada)

For more information, visit the CODE Live Website.