Canada's win over U.S. sends Hedrick off with silver

Medal is fifth for Spring speedskater headed for retirement

By DAVID BARRON Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle
Feb. 27, 2010, 4:10PM

RICHMOND, British Columbia – In the final race of his career, Chad Hedrick of Spring won a silver medal in men’s speedskating team pursuit at the Richmond Olympic Oval.
Hedrick, 32, teamed with teenagers Brian Hansen and Jonathan Kuck against the Canadian team of Mathieu Giroux, Lucas Makowsky and Denny Morrison. The U.S. team finished the eight-lap race around the 400-meter oval in 3:41.58 to Canada’s 3:41.37.
Hedrick will retire with five Olympic medals – the pursuit medal and a bronze at 1,000 meters from the Vancouver Olympics and a gold, silver and bronze from the 2006 Turin Games.
Hedrick said in a Twitter message filed about an hour before the event that he was suffering from “sharp pains in my hip” and was undergoing treatment at the oval. He took to the ice to warm up about 30 minutes before race time and took several laps around the track alone and with his U.S. teammates