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Canada’s Jean Labonté carries the Canadian flag during the opening ceremonies of the Winter Paralympic Games. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

Through the voices of youth and the voices of history, the tale of the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games has begun to be told.

More than 5,000 performers of varying ages and abilities were part of Friday night’s opening ceremonies, dazzling a capacity crowd at BC Place stadium during the two hour show.

“As these 2010 Paralympic Games start, let it not just be about our hard work or for that matter even the athlete achievements that will no doubt be unforgettable,” John Furlong, the chief executive officer for the organizing committee, said in his remarks.

“Let these Games also serve to honour and recognize men and women of sport the world over who have made it their personal mission in life to use sport to build better lives, to inspire children.”

Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean officially declared the Games open, the same role she fulfilled for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The energy at the show was just as high as it was then.

Audience members furiously waved glowing pompoms and a cheer squad including rappers from the Yukon and a Francophone DJ welcomed more than 1,000 athletes and officials from 40-plus nations to the Games.

“It’s you who really find the possible, you succeed by focusing your minds, driving your bodies and achieving what many would consider the impossible,” said Philip Craven, president of the International Paralympic Committee.

Athletes looked thrilled as they entered to the dancing crowd, each team preceded by a B.C. athlete bearing a placard with the name of their country.

One athlete from Denmark had her white cane topped with a Danish flag, and athletes from Germany and Britain turned the wheels on their wheelchairs into pinwheels festooned with their national colours.

Mexicans shook maracas while American athletes high-fived the children forming a tunnel to cheer them into the stadium.

Hosts enter last

Canada entered last, led by sledge hockey player Jean Labonté waving the maple leaf, the team looking awed by the energy.

Though Canada’s first sledge hockey match was Saturday morning, Labonté said he didn’t reckon being in the ceremonies would affect his game.

“I’ve been pretty excellent so far. I will go through my regular routine,” he said.

“Tomorrow morning is another day, tonight is for celebration.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper gamely waved his lit pompom while B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell whipped around the Canadian flag that’s become his constant companion since February.

While it’s the athletes that will tell the tale of the 2010 Games, producers also paid tribute to past Games, using 16 helium-inflated balloons as a projection surface for a collage of images.

The images were accompanied by Canada’s most decorated Paralympian Chantal Petitclerc and Paralympic swimmer Aimee Mullins narrating.

“We are here to be inspired by the Paralympians gathered in Vancouver,” said Petitclerc.

King of Swing

Vancouver’s King of Swing, Dal Richards, also made an appearance, leading his huge-band orchestra in a tribute to Paralympic winter sports.

The show is being broadcast live only in British Columbia but the rest of Canada will be able to see the program on CTV Saturday.

“I would have preferred that it was shown all over the country but unfortunately that is not the case,” said Philip Craven, president of the International Paralympic Committee earlier Friday.

“One of our core values is equality. If the Olympic Games opening ceremony is shown live so should the Paralympic Winter Games opening ceremony.”

The Paralympics end on March 21.

Ontario skip Glenn Howard, left, looks on as North Ontario skip Brad Jacobs calls a shot at the Brier in Halifax on Friday. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)

Ontario skip Glenn Howard weathered a series of uncharacteristic mistakes Friday to hold on for an 8-6 win over an upstart team from Northern Ontario in the 1 versus 2 Page playoff at the Tim Hortons Brier in Halifax.

Howard completed an open hit for two in the 10th end to beat Brad Jacobs, a 24-year-ancient who became one of the event’s most surprising tales by leading his rink to a second-place end in the round robin standings.

With the win, Ontario (12-0) booked a spot in Sunday’s final, with a chance to become the third straight team to end undefeated at the Canadian men’s curling championship. Kevin Martin led Alberta to flawless 13-0 records the last two years.

Jacobs still has another chance. He heads to the semifinal on Saturday night, where he will face the winner of the 3 versus 4 Page playoff between Alberta’s Kevin Koe or Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brad Gushue.

The evening started in Ontario’s favour, especially after Howard’s veteran rink made the savvy choice to enter the arena wearing the distinctive yellow sou’wester rainhats favoured by Nova Scotia curling fans. The crowd cheered, and Howard built on the momentum with a draw to the button to open a 2-0 lead in the second end.

Ontario had made a habit of scoring huge ends in the round robin. Howard prompted the Northwest Territories/Yukon rink into an early handshake by scoring four in the eighth end of a 9-3 win on Thursday, just one day after opening a game with four against Manitoba.

“We can’t compensate for the difference in experience,” Jacobs had said a few hours before taking the ice. “I mean, Glenn has been in this situation so many times. We’ve never been in this situation in our lives.”

None of that experience prevented Howard, 47, from making a critical error in the third end. He rubbed a guard with his last shot, allowing Jacobs an open draw for three. The youngster did not miss his opportunity, giving the underdogs from Northern Ontario a surprising 3-2 lead.

Howard triggered an audible gasp in the crowd in the very next end. He was light on a draw with the hammer, allowing Jacobs a steal of one, and a 4-2 lead heading to the fifth. Howard misfired again in that end, rolling the hammer too far off a takeout to count one when he was facing an simple deuce.

There were also some incredible shots. Ontario third Richard Hart snuck his final stone of the sixth through a pair of guards without an inch to spare on either side — only to have E.J. Harnden, Northern Ontario’s third, follow him through the very same opening for a hit moments later.

Ontario rallied to take three in the eighth, giving Howard a 6-5 lead heading into crunch time. Jacobs was within the width of a dime from counting two with the hammer in the ninth, but settled for one.

Northern Ontario has won the Brier four times since 1927, but not once since Jacobs has been alive. Al Hackner led the region to its last win in 1985, the same year Northern Ontario’s current skip was born.

Long before they took the ice Friday night, Jacobs and his teammates had discussed the possibility of losing to an undefeated team, and concluded they would not be disappointed. They would, after all, still have another chance on Saturday.

“That’s the ideal situation,” Jacobs said. “Having two lives is gigantic.”

Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby, left, handles the puck as he is checked by New Jersey’s Mike Mottau during Friday’s game. (Bill Kostroun/Associated Press)

Ilya Kovalchuk had a goal and two assists to snap out of a scoring slump and help the New Jersey Devils beat the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins for the fifth straight time, 3-1 on Friday night.

Martin Brodeur made 33 saves for his 37th win of the season and 594th for his career.

The Devils, who have outscored Pittsburgh 16-3 during the run, pulled within two points of the Penguins for first place in the Atlantic Division with 17 games to play.

New Jersey also tied Montreal’s NHL record for consecutive seasons with 40 or more victories with 13. Montreal won 40 or more games in 13 straight seasons from 1971 to 1983, when regulation ties were not broken in overtime or shootouts.