GO TEAM CANADA!

VANCOUVER — Four more medals, a record-tying gold-medal haul and — perhaps most importantly for Canadians — a win over Russia in hockey has made Wednesday the most successful day for the host country at the 2010 Games.

Canada has caught up to the United States and Germany for the most gold medals at these Olympics with seven after the Canada-1 sled piloted by Calgary’s Kaillie Humpheries slid into first in women’s bobsled at the Whistler Sliding Centre.

The seven gold medals ties the most ever by Canada at Winter Olympics, first set in 2002 in Salt Lake City and equalled in Turin four years ago. With four more days of competition it will almost certainly be broken.

One of Canada’s remaining gold-medal favourites, the men’s hockey team, took a big step toward fulfilling their lofty expectations with a 7-3 win over Russia in the quarter-finals at Canada Hockey Place.

Canada led 4-1 after the first period, and increased the advantage to 6-1 early in the second. The win is the first for a Canadian team at the Olympics against the Russians or the Soviet Union since 1960.

Canada will play either Sweden or Slovakia in Friday’s semifinal.

Humpheries, with Heather Moyse of Summerside, P.E.I., at brakeman, were wire-to-wire leaders in women’s bobsled. They were joined on the podium by Canada-2, with pilot Helen Upperton of Calgary and brakeman Shelley Ann Brown of Pickering, Ont., who finished second.

It was Canada’s first 1-2 finish of the 2010 Games.

Also winning medals for Canada Wednesday were speedskater Clara Hughes, a bronze in the women’s 5,000-metre speedskating event, and the Canadian women’s short-track 3,000-metre relay team, who won silver. Korea crossed the line first, but were disqualified, moving China into the gold-medal spot and Canada into silver. The United States took bronze.

Canada now has 15 medals, fourth on the overall table behind the United States (28), Germany (24) and Norway (18).

Hughes, of Glen Sutton, Que., now has six Olympic medals to her name — four in speedskating and two in cycling — and has tied Winnipeg’s Cindy Klassen as Canada’s most decorated Olympian.

“When it came down to five to go, I just said ‘Bring it on! This is where the race starts.’ It’s a battle out there,” the 37-year-old said. “I was ready for it today. I was ready for 12 1/2 laps.

“The last four years I haven’t skated very well most of the time. Most of the time I’ve gone into races terrified of 12 1/2 laps because my technique has been so inefficient.

“I felt I wanted to skate it and I haven’t felt that in a long, long time.”

In other speedskating results, Kristina Groves of Ottawa finished sixth in the 5,000 metres in 7:04.57. Klassen was 12th in 7:22.11.

Also Wednesday:

— The men’s 4×10-kilometre cross-country ski relay team placed seventh. Devon Kershaw of Sudbury, Ont., and Alex Harvey of St-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Que., Ivan Babikov of Canmore, Alta., and George Grey of Rossland, B.C., had been hoping to challenge for a podium spot.

— Shona Rubens of Calgary is 22nd after the first run of the women’s giant slalom at Whistler Creekside. Marie-Michele Gagnon of Lac-Etchemin, Que., is 23rd; Marie-Pier Prefontaine of St-Sauveur, Que., 27th and Britt Janyk of Whistler 29th. The second run was postponed until Thursday due to poor weather conditions.

— Edmonton’s Kevin Martin found out his opponent in men’s curling semifinal after Sweden’s Niklas Edin beat 2009 world champion David Murdoch from Britain 7-6 in a tiebreaker at Vancouver Olympic Centre. Martin will play Edin on Thursday.

The double bobsleigh win in Whistler marks the first time Canada has won multiple medals in a single Olympic event since Duff Gibson won gold and Jeff Pain captured silver in men’s skeleton at the Turin Games.

However, the trail to victory hasn’t been a smooth one for Humphries.

Four years back, Humphries considered defecting to the British bobsleigh team in the aftermath of Canada benching her at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

That’s how much it hurt.

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