I started Sunday afternoon at the Richmond Olympic Oval, in an attempt to get one ticket for the women's 3,000 m. speed skating race.

This was not a success. The asking prices for tickets ranged from $250 to $400. After giving up and walking back to the Lansdowne Skytrain station, there was a guy there trying to sell a ticket for $300, despite the fact that the event was already underway, and whoever ended up buying this ticket would have had a good 15 minute walk to the venue.

I also, unfortunately, have to report that the same professional scalpers that I saw at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer have shown up here.

I then went to Thunderbird Arena on the U. of British Columbia campus, where a women's ice hockey game between Finland and Russia was taking place. I had to hang around for about an hour, but my patience was rewarded; I bought a ticket with a face value of $50 (that's $45 plus a $5 "fee") for $40.

After the game started, there were at least 500 empty seats at a supposedly sold out event.

So, the lessons you can learn from this are:

• It's possible to get tickets here, if you're willing to pay about 20% over face value, and have some patience. Problem is, some of the events have very high face values.
• Don't even waste your time talking to professional scalpers, especially ones with thick English accents. Their sole objective is to cheat you.
• The empty seats prove what I've suspected all along, that there are significant numbers of corporate tickets out there, held by people who, at the very least, care nothing about women's ice hockey. If there's somebody you know at the Royal Bank, The Bay, or Bombardier that owes you a favour, make the phone call.