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Olympic tip sheet, Day 5

LIVE: Hockey chat at 2 p.m. ET with Damien Cox, Paul Hunter and Chris Young.

Today’s West-coast weather: For Vancouver, light showers clearing up by late afternoon, high of 9C. Clear overnight and 3C. For Whistler, light snow in the morning changing to rain in the afternoon, high of 4C. Cloudy overnight, -1C. And the good news: Outlook sunny for both locations for the rest of the week.

POSTPONED: Heavy overnight snowfall has caused the postponement of the men's super combined event at the Winter Games on Tuesday, organizers said, as well as training runs for the snake-bitten women downhillers.

And now onto...
Never underestimate the sweeping power of a Canadian curler armed with an Own the Podium™-funded broom.
Among the “top-secret” researchfunded by the $117 million project that’s become something of an international dirty word was a breakdown of the biomechanics of delivering the 42-pound rock, and the most optimal sweeping motion. Whether that means Kevin Martin comes out and fires darts, we’ll have to wait until this morning’s opener as Canada meets Norway at 9 a.m. Pacific.

Over at Chris Young’s Podium blogto mark the opening: Sweden’s venerable Galenskaparna comedy troupe offers their version of the game. Full marks if you can get through it all the way.

Canada picked up a silver medal in hugely entertaining snowboard cross/men’s division on Monday. Today we’ll see if the women can match that, with Dominique Maltaisand Maelle Rickerhaving solid medal chances. 3:15 p.m. Indeed, as Randy Starkman points out on his Olympics blog, they've shared a podium in four of the last five World Cup races.

Sidney Crosby and company take to the ice for what they hope is a mere warm-up against Norway, starting at 7:30 p.m. EST. Roberto Luongo gets the start in goal, which surprised a few folks. The U.S., with Brian Burke at the helm, will open its 2010 dance card with Switzerland, which is occasionally dangerous in these Olympic things, at 3 p.m. ET, while the stacked Russian team plays Latvia at midnight Eastern time. Paul Hunter and Damien Cox will bring you stories, blog updates and Twitter updates (at right) during the day.

And as the New York Times reports, it seems there's a great divide in North America when it comes to hockey sticks. Americans lean right while Canadians - well you get the idea.

What to watch on DAY 5

When curling made its Olympic debut in Nagano, the international media had a field day with jokes about housework on ice and the un-Olympian physiques on display. But nobody’s laughing now that curling has become a cult hit for NBC. Canada’s men get started against Norway at noon (ET), while the women knock brooms with the Swiss (5 p.m. ET). Skating fans will no doubt want to tune in for Patrick Chan's Canadian Olympic debut when he takes to the ice in the men's short program (7:15 p.m. ET). If your tastes run to the more extreme, Dominque Maltais and Maelle Ricker shoot for snowboard cross gold (3:15 ET).

Here’s today’s TV schedule, all times Eastern, with medal events noted by an *:

Noon: Men’s curling, Norway vs. Canada (CTV); Great Britain vs. Sweden; U.S. vs. Germany; Switzerland vs. Denmark

1 P.M.: Women’s snowboard cross qualification (TSN)

1:30 P.M.: Women’s biathlon 10k pursuit* (OLN)

3 P.M.: Men’s hockey, U.S. vs. Switzerland (TSN)

3:15 P.M.: Women’s snowboard cross quarterfinals (OLN)

3:29 P.M.: Women’s snowboard cross semifinals (OLN)

3:40 P.M.: Women’s snowboard cross final* (CTV, OLN)

3:45 P.M.: Men’s biathlon 12.5k pursuit*

4 P.M.: Women’s luge singles run 3 (OLN)

4 P.M.: Women’s speed skating 500m race 1 (Sportsnet)

4:30 P.M.: Men’s super combined slalom* (CTV)

5 P.M.: Women’s curling, Canada vs. Switzerland (TSN); United States vs. Japan; Denmark vs. Sweden; Germany vs. Russia

5:30 P.M.: Women’s hockey, Russia vs. U.S.

5:30 P.M.: Women’s luge singles final run* (OLN)

5:52 P.M.: Women’s speed skating 500 m race 2* (Sportsnet)

7:15 P.M.: Men’s figure skating short program (Sportsnet)

7:30 P.M.: Men’s hockey, Canada vs. Norway (CTV)

10 P.M.: Men’s curling, Canada vs. Germany (TSN); China vs. France; U.S. vs. Norway

10 P.M.: Women’s hockey, Finland vs. China

Midnight: Men’s hockey, Russia vs. Latvia (CTV)

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