As the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics come to a close and the flame is extinguished, it’s time we look back at what the Olympics have brought us this year.

It’s easy to remember who won which medals and which countries were let down with a lack of medals, but as a whole, these Winter Olympics have had some of the most exciting and competitive events. However, as the flame extinguishes, Canada has brought two sports into the eyes of the public: curling and hockey.

Curling has been one of those sports you love, even though you have no idea what’s going on. There is something mesmerizing about curling that will draw you in, and have you sitting for hours, watching no more than what seems like two teams slide heavy rocks across the ice.

Curling just took off this year. It picked up more media coverage these Olympics than any other Olympics in previous history. Curling has gone from being a time slot filler to having a fully fledged large group of followers who had no idea what exactly was going on. This coverage was spurred on by one team in particular, the Norwegian men.

Just say for instance you start flipping through the channels. Out of the blue, you see these guys in crazy bright colored pants sliding stones down an alley. If that doesn’t catch your attention, nothing will.

The Norwegian men used the pants as a tactic, both to give them a positive vibe, and to distract the other teams with their flashy, checkered pants. However, the pants can only take the team so far. Norway, after making a comeback in the semi-finals, lost to Team Canada in the gold medal match, securing a silver medal on the podium.

With all the hype now surrounding curling, it’s not hard to see it gaining ground and popularity in the United States.

Canada’s games have also revitalized the popularity of hockey. With some of the most intense hockey games played in any league in a long time, 2010 has brought “hockey fever”  back to the United States.

This year, for the men’s and women’s hockey finals, Canada and the United States were on a gold medal collision course.

In men’s, though Canada lost to the United States in the preliminary round, Canada went 3-0 to reach the gold medal match against none other than the American team. It was three periods of the best hockey ever shown on television, and it didn’t end there.

After the United States scored a goal with 20 seconds left in the third period to tie it up, the game went to overtime. From a rebound and amazing pass, Canadian’s Sidney Crosby put the winning goal past the glove of U.S. goalie Ryan Miller to win the gold.

Hockey has always been a popular sport in the United States, but with the last few days of intense play, hockey fever is only going to intensify. This comes at a perfect time for hockey, because the Stanley Cup Playoffs aren’t too far on the horizon and many of Team Canada will return to their respective National Hockey League teams, including Crosby to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

This year’s Olympics have brought a fairly unknown sport and an old favorite to the forefront of its games.

The Hilltop Views’ column, ‘Courtside Chronicles,’ appears every other week in the sports section and is written by Hilltop Views contributor Nolan Green.