Covering hockey at ice level is rarely without excitement but usually without injury to photographers … until the game I was working at last Friday.

I was covering the last of three hockey games in one day from our assigned position in a seat against the glass. During second period a puck that was shot up to the net above the glass dropped straight down and hit me on the leg. I didn’t think much of it and while fans scrambled for the loose puck I thought ‘what are the chances of that happening?’

Then during the third period another puck was shot up into the net and came straight down, this time on my head.

I did not see it coming but knew what it was when it hit, and I thought ‘hmmm I just got hit on the head with a puck…’ It didn’t hurt much but I felt my head and found it bleeding. I cleared my cameras and laptop away, leaned over the isle watching blood drip from my head to a pool in the floor, and signaled for help.

A doctor from the crowd came down and said the cut didn’t look too deep. Soon a couple of medics appeared, moved me to a seat a couple rows up, and proceeded to wrap an over sized bandage around my head. They stood me up and as we walked up the isle, spectators in the two neighboring sections applauded. The medic told me that they were applauding for me. Embarrassed and laughing, the only thing I could think of to do was to wave to acknowledge their applause.

We arrived to the clinic onsite and after getting treatment I walked out to a group of waiting colleagues who were concerned and eager to show me the photos, some of which had already been tagged on Facebook.

My Olympic souvenir: While in the clinic dealing with all the commotion, I reached into my pocket and found a hockey puck. Apparently the fan who scrambled for the puck after it bounced off my head thought that I should have it, which I thought was very nice.

Molly Riley, defense

 El Sid, The Next One, Sid the Kid, #87 … If anyone was going to find a way past Ryan Miller in overtime, and give Canada gold number 14, somehow you knew it was going to him.

The Games are over, after a closing ceremony full of deliciously funny Canadian self-deprecation. As chief organiser John Furlong said, the hockey win over the U.S. will live on for generations in Canada. For the rest of the world, I think the Games as a whole will be remembered pretty fondly too.

Here are a few things I will treasure from my time in Vancouver:

1. The warmth of the welcome from the people of this city blew me away. Vancouver is as laid back as a Californian snowboarder, and if I occasionally found myself spitting feathers at how it could take five minutes — FIVE MINUTES — to prepare a cup of coffee, or how two beers — TWO BEERS — could possibly cost 20 dollars, including two types of sales tax and tip, well, you know, that probably said more about me than The Couver.

2. Hockey. Who knew that 200 feet of ice could be the stage for such an electrifying occasion, and I don’t just meant the final against the United States. Hockey has that mix of athleticism, skill and spite all great sports need and if it wasn’t for the terrible music they play at the slightest provocation — I mean, the Banana Boat Song? Ob La Di Ob la Da? Please … — I could really get into it.

3. Snowdudes. The various types of snowboarding and freestyle skiing seem intent on outdoing each other not only in the gravity-defying invention of the jumps and the organised mayhem of their races, but also in just how casual the athletes can be in their reaction to triumph or disaster. ”Awesome” is about all they say when they win, while spectacular falls and lost medals are greeted with a shrug of the shoulder. Totally sick, man. Ill.

4. The athletes and their stories. Shaun White, Sid Crosby, Kim Yuna, Bode Miller and Lindsey Vonn came into these Games as established names and faces and all came away with gold, yet some of the best stories came from among the formerly unknowns. Joannie Rochette and Petra Majdic were among those to perform heroics and the courage they showed will be remembered for a long time too.

5. Mittens. Who would have thought $10 red mittens could be made not just fashionable, but the Must Have item for an entire country. You were no one in this city if you didn’t have the mitts and Vancouverites queued round the block at the official merchandise store in town to get kitted up in Go Canada gear. What will London do to match that in 2012? Brown corduroy jackets with patches on the sleeve? There’s a marketing opportunity of a lifetime here, people.

6. Curling. No, only kidding. But hey, you can’t expect to love everything about a Games…

PHOTO: Canada’s Sidney Crosby celebrates after scoring the game winning goal against the U.S. during overtime in their men’s ice hockey gold medal game at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics February 28, 2010. REUTERS/Todd Korol

Some even wondered if Vancouver would go on to be called the Worst Games Ever but no one is saying that now, with the action picking up to provide a series of electrifying and heart warming moments while the organisation has settled down.

In fact, Vancouver looks like it will set the bar pretty high for the next Summer Olympics in London in 2012. On Friday, Sebastian Coe, chair of the London 2012 Organising Committee, will be talking to Reuters from the Main Press Centre in Vancouver and will address questions including what London can learn from these Games.

Coe, of course, is himself a double gold medal winner, having triumphed in the 1500m in Moscow in 1980 and again in the same event in Los Angeles four years later.

He will be answering questions in a live chat we’ll be hosting here on Friday at 1600 GMT, talking about London’s preparations for the 2012 Olympics and his own Games experience in Vancouver, where he ran with the torch on the day of the opening ceremony (see the photo above).

If you have questions for Coe, please send them in to the Live Blog within this post, or in the comments below, and join us for the chat on Friday — either at this page or at — for a first-hand look at how things are going before the Five Ring Circus heads to London.

Kevin Fylan, Vancouver

PHOTO: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) passes the Olympic torch to London 2012 Olympic committee chairman Sebastian Coe in Stanley Park before the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics February 12, 2010. REUTERS/Chris Helgren

Some even wondered if Vancouver would go on to be called the Worst Games Ever but no one is saying that now, with the action picking up to provide a series of electrifying and heart warming moments while the organisation has settled down.

In fact, Vancouver looks like it will set the bar pretty high for the next Summer Olympics in London in 2012. On Friday, Sebastian Coe, chair of the London 2012 Organising Committee, will be talking to Reuters from the Main Press Centre in Vancouver and will address questions including what London can learn from these Games.

Coe, of course, is himself a double gold medal winner, having triumphed in the 1500m in Moscow in 1980 and again in the same event in Los Angeles four years later.

He will be answering questions in a live chat we’ll be hosting here on Friday at 1600 GMT, talking about London’s preparations for the 2012 Olympics and his own Games experience in Vancouver, where he ran with the torch on the day of the opening ceremony (see the photo above).

If you have questions for Coe, please send them in to the Live Blog within this post, or in the comments below, and join us for the chat on Friday -- either at this page or at this link -- for a first-hand look at how things are going before the Five Ring Circus heads to London.

Kevin Fylan, Vancouver

PHOTO: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) passes the Olympic torch to London 2012 Olympic committee chairman Sebastian Coe in Stanley Park before the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics February 12, 2010. REUTERS/Chris Helgren

Pritha Sarkar writes:

I felt like I was floating on cloud nine as I gingerly touched the Olympic gold medal sitting there in my hand and staring back at me.

I’ve dreamed of this moment all my life. Words cannot describe how I’m feeling right now – then the voice of the security woman at the door broke my reverie: “No biting, kissing, licking and chewing of medals in any kind!”

Unfortunately I had not just been crowned an Olympic champion –- unless queue jumping counts as an Olympic sport!

Instead, I had just got a taste of what over 70,000 fans have been queuing up for -– to get an up close and personal look of the Vancouver Olympics medals.

The Olympic accreditation hanging around my neck afforded me the luxury of being fast tracked into the Royal Canadian Mint building but once inside I felt the same excitement as all those members of the public who had stood on their tired legs for up to eight hours.

For the first time at a Games, the general public have been given the chance to inspect, touch and feel a real Olympic medal.

Well, almost. The only thing separating your hand from the medal is the Michael Jackson-esque white glove you are given when you first enter the room.

Once you have the gloves on you have all of 10 minutes to experience your Olympic moment.

While fans scramble to get their pictures taken with the gold, silver and bronze medals, Stephane Ouellette, a lead machinist who was involved in the making of the pieces of metal, fills us in on the science bit.

“No two medals are alike as each medal forms a part of an aboriginal work of art,” he tells the group of 25 milling around in the first floor room. “Medal winners are given a scarf with the whole painting so that they can see which part of the artwork is depicted on their medal. Each medal weighs between 500 and 576 grammes…”

With in a flash it was all over – and while you have to hand the medal back, you do get to keep the glove as a keepsake.

PHOTO: A visitor to the Royal Canadian Mint displays a replica of a Paralympic gold medal featuring Braille script on the second day of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics February 13, 2010. REUTERS/Chris Helgren

The other event not to be missed is Russia v Canada in the men’s ice hockey quarter-finals, starting at 1630 local time, 1930 ET and 0030 GMT. Can the hosts overcome the Red Machine and keep their golden dream alive? If not, there are going to be a lot of glum faced Canadians on the streets of Vancouver.