newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BRAD NOLAN

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

N.J. AT THE GAMES

VANCOUVER — The Twenty First Olympiad in Vancouver Canada has officially begun.

Hockey great Wayne Gretzky lit the Olympic cauldron a few minutes after midnight at the opening ceremony Friday night at a Games already marred by tragedy. During a practice run on the luge hill, 21-year old Georgian Luger Nodar Kumaritashvili came off the final turn of the course at the venue in Whistler and crashed into a unpadded metal beam about five feet off the side of the course. Paramedics got to Kumaritashvili within seconds and started working to save his life. The International Olympic Committee announced later that Kumaritashvili was pronounced dead at the nearby trauma center.

Another major story to come out Vancouver centers around American sweetheart and multiple medal hopeful Lindsey Vonn, who may not take to the hill in competition due to a severely bruised shin. Vonn, recognized as the best female skier in the world, was supposed to take the hill in a practice run earlier in the week but the run was canceled due to bad conditions.

Temperatures around Vancouver have been mild and the snow is being trucked in on an almost continual basis.

As Saturday opened, all the downhill skiing events were cancelled due to slushy conditions, making it unsafe for the athletes to ski, and it is doubtful at this point if any of the ski events will be run on Sunday.

New Jersey's Olympians will soon be in competition and in contention to bring Olympic medals home to the Garden State. Men's Hockey Team USA will get its start February 16th at 3p.m. Eastern in a preliminary game against Switzerland. In the second round of the Olympic round robin tournament, Team USA will take on Norway on February 18th at 3 p.m. Eastern and finally take on Canada February 21st at 7:40pm Eastern. Further play depends on how well Team USA fares. The qualification round is scheduled for February 23rd.

So how does one go about watching the games?

NBC will provide coverage of the 2010 Olympic Games and most of their network owned stations will be at least partially devoted to coverage over the course of a day. A total of six NBC/Universal stations will be hosting the games: WNBC Channel 4 in the New York viewing area, NBC 10 in the Philadelphia viewing area, NBC 40 in some South Jersey markets in addition to USA Network, MSNBC, CNBC, Universal HD, and Universal Sports. Coverage continues around the clock most days alternating between the different channels. For specific competition times check your local channel listings or visit you local NBC affiliate's website.