CANADIAN SPORTS TRADITION: LUCKY COINS

For good luck, the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group buried a silver dollar under the turf at the new Lansdowne stadium Thursday, where the Ottawa RedBlacks will play.

The dollar is from 1976, the last year an Ottawa CFL team, the Rough Riders, took home the shiny, silver Grey Cup.

Here’s a timeline of how this ritual became a Canadian sports tradition.

2002
A legend is born

In 2002, Canadian ice-makers placed a Canadian dollar coin in centre ice at the Olympic arena in Salt Lake City. Canada went on to win gold in both men’s and women’s hockey. The Loonie was recovered by Wayne Gretzky and brought to the Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame.

2003
Helsinki Loonie

At the 2003 IIHF World Hockey Championships in Helsinki, Finland, Team Canada officials snuck a Canadian dollar into the padding beneath the crossbar of the Swedish net before the Sweden-Canada gold-medal game. Canada won.

2006
Curling coins

In 2006, Brad Gushue won gold on a sheet that had a Loonie buried at either end. In the same Olympics icemakers announced they wouldn’t bury a Loonie for the hockey tournament; the men’s team finished out of the medals, though women won gold.

2010
In the foundation

The architect who designed the curling venue for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics placed three loonies in the floor before concrete was poured. Men took gold in curling, women took silver in curling, and both men and women took the gold in hockey – that’s three gold medals for three Loonies.

2014
Snowy dollar

Canadian Jan Hudac buried a Loonie near the finish line before snagging bronze at the men’s super-G race in Sochi. This made him the first Canadian to win an Olympic medal in alpine skiing in 20 years.

To read the complete article, see: Lucky silver dollar (ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/lucky-coins)

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