In recent years, the golden-coloured loonie became associated with Canada's winning hockey and curling teams and has been viewed as a good-luck charm in international competition. The legend began during the 2002 Winter Olympics, when a Canadian icemaker for the ice surfaces in the ice hockey tournament, Trent Evans, buried a loonie under centre ice. The original reason for placing the loonie was to assist in the puck-drop: the centre ice at Salt Lake was emblazoned with a large logo, and was missing the customary circle used by the referee and face-off players as a target for the puck — so he needed to add some kind of a dot as a puck target that would not stand out, and a loonie buried under the ice served well. Both the Canadian men's and women's hockey teams won gold in the tournament, the men's 50 years to the day after their last gold medal victory. Following the Games, Team Canada executive director Wayne Gretzky recovered the coin and gave it to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
A loonie was also used at the IIHF World Hockey Championships between Canada and Sweden on May 11, 2003. This lucky loonie is known affectionately as the Helsinki Loonie. It was hidden surreptitiously before the Gold-Medal hockey game and saw Team Canada to victory. After forward Anson Carter scored against Swedish goaltender Mikael Tellqvist in overtime to win the World Hockey Championship for Canada, Team Canada officials admitted they had placed a Loonie in the padding beneath the crossbar of the Swedish net.
The legend is also prevalent in curling, as the Kevin Martin rink at the 2002 Winter Olympics had won silver medals on a sheet with silver-coloured quarters underneath the surface. At the 2006 Winter Olympics, the Canadian icemakers in the curling tournament buried two loonies, one at each end of the sheet — coincidentally, Brad Gushue would win the gold medal there. In the same Olympics, the icemakers at the hockey tournament announced that they would not bury a loonie under the ice. The men's team finished out of the medals while the women's team won gold. Likewise, for the 2010 Winter Olympics, as part of the venue construction for the curling venue, three loonies were placed in the floor by the architect before the concrete was poured. Both the Canadian men's and women's ice hockey teams took home gold.
This legend is kept alive by the Royal Canadian Mint, which has since issued specially-designed "Lucky Loonies" for each year the summer and winter Olympics Games are held.
Team Russia has also made use of the lucky loonie — in the 2008 IIHF World Championship in Quebec City Alexander Ovechkin famously dug out the "lucky loonie" from centre ice after Russia beat Canada 5–4 in overtime and gave it to Russian teammate Ilya Nikulin, who cut it in two and made two necklaces out of the souvenir.
An episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ("Blaze of Glory") also made mention of a lucky loonie – although the episode's air date (12 May 1997) predates the more-recent Olympic tradition, making it impossible for the scriptwriter to have intended a connection between the fictional coin and its real-world counterpart. The character, Michael Eddington, had a family heirloom in the form of a 22nd century Canadian one dollar coin that he called his "lucky loonie".
A loonie was also used at the IIHF World Hockey Championships between Canada and Sweden on May 11, 2003. This lucky loonie is known affectionately as the Helsinki Loonie. It was hidden surreptitiously before the Gold-Medal hockey game and saw Team Canada to victory. After forward Anson Carter scored against Swedish goaltender Mikael Tellqvist in overtime to win the World Hockey Championship for Canada, Team Canada officials admitted they had placed a Loonie in the padding beneath the crossbar of the Swedish net.
The legend is also prevalent in curling, as the Kevin Martin rink at the 2002 Winter Olympics had won silver medals on a sheet with silver-coloured quarters underneath the surface. At the 2006 Winter Olympics, the Canadian icemakers in the curling tournament buried two loonies, one at each end of the sheet — coincidentally, Brad Gushue would win the gold medal there. In the same Olympics, the icemakers at the hockey tournament announced that they would not bury a loonie under the ice. The men's team finished out of the medals while the women's team won gold. Likewise, for the 2010 Winter Olympics, as part of the venue construction for the curling venue, three loonies were placed in the floor by the architect before the concrete was poured. Both the Canadian men's and women's ice hockey teams took home gold.
This legend is kept alive by the Royal Canadian Mint, which has since issued specially-designed "Lucky Loonies" for each year the summer and winter Olympics Games are held.
Team Russia has also made use of the lucky loonie — in the 2008 IIHF World Championship in Quebec City Alexander Ovechkin famously dug out the "lucky loonie" from centre ice after Russia beat Canada 5–4 in overtime and gave it to Russian teammate Ilya Nikulin, who cut it in two and made two necklaces out of the souvenir.
An episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ("Blaze of Glory") also made mention of a lucky loonie – although the episode's air date (12 May 1997) predates the more-recent Olympic tradition, making it impossible for the scriptwriter to have intended a connection between the fictional coin and its real-world counterpart. The character, Michael Eddington, had a family heirloom in the form of a 22nd century Canadian one dollar coin that he called his "lucky loonie".
An excellent information re: 'Lucky Loonie.' I cited/backlinked this page from an article on mine, at Burning a Hole~ Loonie
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