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The Canadian hot streak in men’s World Cup snowboarding came to an end Sunday on an icy mountain in Stoneham, Que.

A Canuck boarder had won gold in each of the first four parallel giant-slalom races to start the season, but a pair of powerful Austrian riders took the top podium spots away from the speedy Canadian team — on home turf to boot.

World No. 1 Benjamin (Benji) Karl beat Andreas Prommegger to win the gold Sunday. Prommegger took home the silver in an event packed with elite snowboarders.

Veteran Jasey-Jay Anderson of Mont-Tremblant, Que., won the bronze.

Anderson, who has two World Cup victories this season and ranks No. 2 in the world, said the hill’s icy conditions gave him a lot of distress. He said he considered himself lucky to end third.

“It was very intense, I felt like I was on a battlefield,” said Anderson, 34, who lost to Karl in the semifinals. “There’s not much you can do with this, just survival. It’s controlled mayhem, if that makes any sense.”

Toronto’s Michael Lambert took seventh place.

No guarantee for Lambert

Lambert needed a top-five end to guarantee himself a spot on the Canadian Olympic team, but is still expected to make the squad.

“Obviously, right after the event, it stung a bit but I’m feeling excellent right now,” said Lambert, who lost to Prommegger in the quarter-final.

With the result, Prommegger, 29, bumped him out of the No. 3 rung in the World Cup rankings.

“Andy [Prommegger] rode really well today,” said Lambert, who beat his Austrian rival head to head earlier this month to win gold in Nendaz, Switzerland. “I know that he’s a competitor — I also know I can beat him.”

Matthew Morison of Burketon, Ont., who sat out Sunday’s race to rest an injured elbow, has the other Canadian victory for the men this season.

Morison, 22, is expected to be ready for the Olympics.

Karl, 24, said Canada’s Anderson-Lambert-Morison attack has been a force on the World Cup tour.

“They have a strong team — there are three riders who can win every time,” said Karl, who won for the third year in a row at Stoneham. “Yeah, I reckon they will give the toughest fight.”

Karl, who says he’s feeling better than he has all season, likes Cypress Mountain, the site of all snowboarding events during the Games.

“I had a really excellent training there,” the he said of last year’s visit. “I’m looking forward to the Olympics.”

The Austrians could also have a three-pronged attack of their own in Vancouver, if 2009 World Cup champion Siegfried Grabner returns from an ankle injury he suffered last month.

Anderson confident

Still, Anderson remains confident as he heads into his fourth Olympic Games.

“We have ferocious competitors right now in Benji and Andreas, who are very strong,” he said. “I’m a small more volatile than them, but when it’s my day I reckon it’s tough to count me out.”

In the women’s event Sunday, Caroline Calve of Aylmer, Que., who was also battling to make the Canadian squad, finished eighth.

“This day was challenging for me — just knowing that my parents are here, my friends, everyone,” she said after racing to her best result of the season. “It really is a boost for my confidence.”

Russia’s Svetlana Boldykova won the gold and her teammate, Alena Zavarzina, grabbed the silver. Nathalie Desmares of France captured the bronze.

Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning was too much to handle down the stretch for the New York Jets defence. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

The last time Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts played the New York Jets, the future Hall of Famer was on the sidelines in the fourth quarter.

Not this time.

With a trip to the Super Bowl on the line, Manning led a potent Colts offence that scored 24 unanswered points en route to a 30-17 victory Sunday, putting the game out of reach with a fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Dallas Clark at 8:57.

Colts head coach Jim Caldwell took a gamble when the 14-0 Colts faced the Jets in Week 16. With the game, and a perfect season on the line, he sat Manning and other starters in the fourth quarter. The Jets came back to win, ending the Colts’ record 23-game regular-season winning streak.

Caldwell wanted to make sure his players were fresh for the playoff grind ahead of them.

It seems to have paid off.

Colts hitting stride

Manning and his core of receivers showed no signs of fatigue, demonstrating that they are peaking at the right time. With his prime target Reggie Wayne facing tight coverage from the Jets’ Darelle Revis the entire game, Manning connected with Austin Collie and Pierre Garcon for two of his three TD strikes.

The Colts quarterback finished the game 26 for 39 attempts, passing for 377 yards.

The Jets got off to a strong start, building a 17-6 lead in the second quarter.

Rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez exploited the Colts secondary for a few huge plays, leading to two touchdowns. One was an 80-yard strike to Braylon Edwards, the team’s longest TD of the season.

New York also used some trickery in its offence. Receiver Brad Smith took a direct snap and found Jerricho Cotchery behind the coverage for a 45-yard gain. It set up a Dustin Keller touchdown to give the Jets a 14-6 second quarter lead.

After kicker Jay Feeley extended the lead to 17-6, Manning responded with a quick three-play drive inside the two-minute warning, hitting the rookie Collie for two crucial receptions, including a 16-yard TD.

“We talked about being patient against these guys,” Manning said. “We knew it would be a four-quarter game. They have an brilliant defence.”

Jets grounded in 2nd half

Prior to the game, much of the talk surrounded the Jets’ defence, which was billed as the best in the NFL. But in the second half of Sunday’s contest, the Indianapolis D stole the show, shutting out the Jets offence.

“The guys have always been a very confident bunch and they do a fantastic job of hanging in there,” Caldwell said.

“Peyton had just an outstanding game,” Caldwell said. “He’s one of those guys that can adjust to different situations. … A real champion.”

Sanchez played with the poise and patience of a veteran, making perfect throws to receivers especially when they had defenders draped around them.

Sanchez, who was 17 for 30 for 257 yards, played mistake-free football until late in the fourth quarter, throwing his first interception after the outcome was already chose.

Despite his strong play, the Jets (11-8) were unable to score any points in the second half. Feeley missed two of three field goals, including a 52-yard miss in the third quarter that led to the Colts’ go-ahead touchdown.

“Today wasn’t our day. There’s no question,” Jets coach Rex Ryan said. “You have to give credit to the Colts. Obviously, they’re the cream of the crop right now.”

The Colts (16-2) face the NFC champion, either Minnesota or New Orleans, in the Super Bowl Feb. 7 in Miami.

It’s the second Super Bowl appearance in the past four years for the Colts, who beat the Chicago Bears for the NFL championship in 2007. Manning was the MVP.

The rescue of a hunter stranded on a drifting ice floe in the Northwest Passage is only hours away, his wife said Sunday.

A Canadian Forces helicopter from Nova Scotia is expected to lift David Idlout to safety from his icy raft in the darkness south of Resolute, Nunavut, early Monday, Tracy Kalluk said.

Blizzard-like conditions had delayed the helicopter’s journey, but Kalluk reiterated forecast reports that the weather was improving.

Idlout, 39, left Friday on a seal hunt and was hunting at the edge of the sea ice, about 15 kilometres from Resolute, Nunavut, when a large chunk of ice broke free and he drifted out to sea.

The experienced hunter had a satellite phone with him and called his wife, Tracy. She called her father who called the coast guard. Idlout built himself an ice shelter and has spent two nights on the ice.

Idlout’s wife, who has been talking to him every two hours said, her husband is well-versed in cold weather survival.

Early attempts at a rescue were thwarted when a helicopter sent to Resolute to pluck the man off the ice was unable to take off due to mechanical problems.

Rescuers have since dropped food, water, a tent, fuel and a locator beacon to him — but they haven’t been able to get any closer to pick him up because of strong winds, snow and ice pellets in the area.

Resolute remains under a blizzard warning. There’s poor visibility and winds of 50 km/h, gusting to 80 km/h. But a gradual improvement in the weather was expected Sunday evening.

With files from The Canadian Press