Editing Loonie (section)

==Lucky loonie==
[[File:2010 Olympic Lucky Loonie.jpg|thumb|right|The 2010 Olympic "lucky" loonie]]
Officials for the [[2002 Winter Olympics|2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics]] invited the [[National Hockey League]]'s ice making consultant, Dan Craig, to oversee the city's [[E Center]] arena, where the [[Ice hockey at the 2002 Winter Olympics|ice hockey tournament]] was being held. Craig invited a couple of members from the ice crew in his hometown of Edmonton to assist. One of them, Trent Evans, secretly placed a loonie at centre ice. He had originally placed a [[dime (Canadian coin)|dime]] but added the loonie after the smaller coin quickly vanished as the ice surface was built up.<ref name="OlympicHistory">{{cite book |last=Podnieks |first=Andrew |title=Canada's Olympic Hockey History 1920–2010 |year=2009 |publisher=Fenn Publishing |location=Toronto |page=[https://archive.org/details/canadasolympicho0000podn/page/201 201] |isbn=978-1-55168-323-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/canadasolympicho0000podn/page/201 }}</ref> He placed the coins after realizing there was no target at centre ice for [[referee (ice hockey)|referees]] to aim for when dropping the puck for a [[faceoff]]. A thin yellow dot was painted on the ice surface over the coins, though the loonie was faintly visible to those who knew to look for it.<ref name="EJRetrospective" />

Keeping the coin a secret, Evans told only a few people of its placement and swore them to secrecy. Among those told were the players of the [[Canada men's national ice hockey team|men's]] and [[Canada women's national ice hockey team|women's]] teams.<ref name="EJRetrospective">{{cite news |url=http://www.canada.com/sports/olympics/story.html?id={51C80F3B-CF41-4C46-87C5-354C2F90AA97} |title=Lucky loonie golden for Canada |work=Edmonton Journal |date=November 16, 2004 |access-date=August 24, 2013 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Both Canadian teams went on to win gold medals. Several members of the women's team kissed the spot where the coin was buried following their victory.<ref name="OlympicHistory" /> After the men won their final, the coin was dug up and given to [[Wayne Gretzky]], the team's executive-director, who revealed the existence of the "lucky loonie" at a post-game press conference.<ref>{{cite news |last=Vecsey |first=Laura |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-83322694.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130824213335/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-83322694.html |url-status = dead|archive-date=August 24, 2013 |title=Canadians go absolutely loonie over hockey gold |work=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |date=February 25, 2002 |access-date=August 14, 2013}} {{link note|note=Partial story rendition from HighBeam.com archive}}</ref>

The lucky loonie quickly became a piece of Canadian lore.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-23296337.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405090535/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-23296337.html |url-status = dead|archive-date=April 5, 2018 |title=Turin Notebook: Hedican named to U.S. hockey team for Winter Olympics |work=The Columbian (Vancouver, WA) |date=February 7, 2006 |access-date=August 24, 2013}} {{link note|note=Partial story rendition from HighBeam.com archive}}</ref> The original lucky loonie was donated to the [[Hockey Hall of Fame]],<ref name="CBCNationalSymbol">{{cite web |last=Bowman |first=John |url=http://www.cbc.ca/newsblogs/yourcommunity/2012/06/is-the-loonie-as-important-a-symbol-of-canada-as-the-maple-leaf.html |title=Is the loonie as important a symbol of Canada as the maple leaf? |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |date=June 29, 2012 |access-date=August 24, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130726235344/https://www.cbc.ca/newsblogs/yourcommunity/2012/06/is-the-loonie-as-important-a-symbol-of-canada-as-the-maple-leaf.html|archive-date=July 26, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> and Canadians have subsequently hidden loonies at several international competitions, including the [[2008 Olympic Games]] and the [[2010 IIHF World Championships]].<ref name="MintLuckyLoonie">{{cite web |url=http://www.mint.ca/store/product/mintcoins.jsp?campaignName=LuckyLoonie&pId=700004&lang=en_CA |title=The original lucky loonie |publisher=Royal Canadian Mint |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017131511/http://www.mint.ca/store/product/mintcoins.jsp?campaignName=LuckyLoonie&pId=700004&lang=en_CA |archive-date=October 17, 2013 |access-date=November 26, 2022}}</ref> Loonies were buried in the foundations of facilities built for the [[2010 Winter Olympics]] in Vancouver.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=ec15e11d-2b47-47de-907f-bac48934e15b |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130824213352/http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=ec15e11d-2b47-47de-907f-bac48934e15b |url-status = dead|archive-date=August 24, 2013 |title=Lucky loonies abound at Olympic skating oval |work=Vancouver Sun |date=June 20, 2008 |access-date=August 24, 2013}}</ref>

Capitalizing on the tradition, the Royal Canadian Mint has released a commemorative edition "lucky loonie" for each Olympic Games since 2004.<ref name="MintLuckyLoonie" />