Sochi, Russia - The closing ceremony of the Sochi Games brought a flashy and tuneful end Sunday night to the most expensive Olympics in history. Most important, perhaps, it went off without a hitch. Organizers poked a little fun at the now-infamous opening ceremony gaffe that saw only four out of five snowflakes open up into rings, leaving the Olympics logo one ring short. They opted for human rings this time, the last one opening several seconds after the first four on the floor of the stadium. It echoed the hijinks from Vancouvers closing ceremony four years ago, when a leg of the cauldron that failed to come up during the opening ceremony was finally raised into place. Sundays ceremony at Fisht Olympic Stadium included a handoff from Sochi to Pyeongchang, South Korea, host of the 2018 Winter Games. Near the end, the cauldron that was lit 16 days earlier by Russian Olympic greats Vladislav Tretiak and Irina Rodnina was extinguished after one of the games mascots, an animatronic bear, blew out a flame in the center of the stadium, a single tear dripping from its left eye. Earlier, after a childrens choir conducted by Valery Gergiev sung the Russian national anthem, flag bearers for each country entered the stadium together rather than country by country like in the opening ceremony. The athletes who stuck around for the festivities also came in together, as is customary for the closing ceremony. American ice hockey forward Julie Chu, who competed in her fourth Olympics, carried the U.S. flag. "So proud to represent Team USA (and) our amazing athletes. Humbled," Chu tweeted as she waited to enter the stadium. Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse, who won their second womens bobsled gold medal in a row, were co-flag bearers for Canada. Figure skater Maxim Trankov, a dual gold medalist in Sochi, carried Russias flag. Pop music played, but the ceremony also included a heavy dose of classical music and ballet like the opening ceremony, and a nod to Russian novelists and poets. All of it was done as temperatures hovered in the 40s, a cool close to the so- called Spring Olympics, where the weather was famously mild, with temperatures even climbing into the 60s on some days. That led to some strange scenes, including cross country skiers cutting the sleeves off their uniforms and American skier Julia Mancuso filming a surfing video for NBC on the Black Sea. There was a serious side to the warmer weather, of course, which wreaked havoc on some courses for the snow events. Snowboarders complained about slushy conditions on the halfpipe and the New York Times detailed a clandestine operation by organizers to purchase more salt needed to keep some courses properly iced. Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen set the all-time Winter Olympics record during the games by winning his 12th and 13th medals, both golds. But Russia led the overall medal count with 33, including 13 gold medals to fall one short of the Winter Games record of 14 set by Canada four years ago at the Vancouver Olympics. The U.S. finished second with 28 medals, nine fewer than the Winter Games record 37 they captured in Vancouver. Norway was third overall with 26 medals and Canada won 25, including 10 gold -- the last secured by the mens hockey team on Sunday in a win over Sweden. The Russian anthem played for the last time at the closing ceremony during the medal ceremony for the mens 50-kilometer cross country race. Alexander Legkov led a Russian medal sweep of that event Sunday morning. Sochi organizing committee head Dmitry Chernyshenko called the games "a great moment in our history ... a moment that will never be forgotten." "This is the new face of Russia, our Russia," he said. "And for us, these games are the best ever." Russian President Vladimir Putins $51 billion Olympics were the subject of snickers early on when media and athletes arrived to find some accommodations lacking. Journalists relayed stories of unfinished rooms, broken door handles, missing shower curtains and even stray dogs in their media villages. One was told not to use the water in her bathroom, which was said to contain a dangerous chemical. U.S. bobsledder Johnny Quinn became an Internet sensation after tweeting a picture of his bathroom door, which he had broken through after becoming locked inside. The Twitter account SochiProblems had more than 330,000 followers by the time of Sundays closing ceremony, but the criticism so prevalent in the first days died down, giving way to wide praise of Sochis venues. IOC President Thomas Bach, presiding over his first games, said the athletes left a legacy of "peace, tolerance and respect" and urged, as IOC heads often do, that countries around the world follow the example. Bach thanked Putin for what he said was the Russian presidents "personal commitment to the extraordinary success" of the games. "We leave as friends of the Russian people," said Bach. News broke during the opening ceremony that a plane had been diverted to an airport in Turkey after a passenger on board allegedly issued a bomb threat and tried to have the aircraft redirected to Sochi. The incident further raised fears that Russias first Olympics in 34 years could be the target of a terrorist attack, but the games passed without any such incident. The host country faced criticism in the run-up to the games after passing laws last year aimed at keeping gay "propaganda" away from children, and officials remained adamant throughout that political protests should be kept away from Olympic venues. In the highest-profile incident of its kind, two members of the punk band Pussy Riot were among several people detained for several hours as they planned to film a protest video in Sochi. They set up a day later to film again, but were interrupted by Cossacks who attacked them with whips. The games went without a positive doping test until the final weekend, when there were six. In the last case, Swedish hockey star Nicklas Backstrom was scratched from the gold medal game Sunday after testing positive for a banned substance found in allergy medication his NHL team said he has been taking for seven years to combat severe allergies. The Washington Capitals said the medication was approved by the Swedish national team. 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Patty Mills scored 15 points, Tim Duncan had 10 points and 11 rebounds in limited minutes, and San Antonio trailed for only 11 seconds late in the first quarter of a 103-90 victory over Portland on Wednesday night. Black Friday Shoes Free Shipping . Brad Malone had the other goal for the Monsters (1-1-0), while Elliott chipped in an assist for a three-point night and the games first star. Bryan Lerg also had two assists. Corban Knight and Max Reinhart scored for the Heat (1-1-0), who opened their season Friday with a 5-2 win over the Monsters in Cleveland. ABBOTSFORD, B.C. -- Abbotsfords Sven Baertschi is feeling confident now that the points are starting to come. Baertschi extended his point streak to five games and scored the winner in a shootout as the Heat defeated the Texas Stars 3-2 in American Hockey League action Saturday night. The Bern, Switzerland native was assigned to the Heat by the Calgary Flames on Dec. 12 and had struggled to put up points, but since being matched with Corey Locke and Josh Jooris, things have changed. "Its nice to have points and everything but in the end you just want to play well," said Baertschi. "There were nights before where I felt I was playing really, really well but the points werent there. In the end, if you get in that groove, you feel well and your game is going, then the points come automatic." The Flames 2011 first round choice had just four points in his first 14 games with the AHL affiliate, but has a goal and four helpers during his current streak. "I think hes getting to that point in life . . . where its time to make hay," said Heat head coach Troy Ward. "Theres some resiliency in his game, theres a little bit of swagger in his step, and theres a little bit of confidence. But I also think it comes to a point where every player down here in the American league has to have the ability to say, Thats enough. Its time for me to step forward." With the shootout tied after six shooters apiece, Baertschi beat goalie Cristopher Nilstorp five-hole to give his team a 3-2 edge. "When I looked at the goalie, he has really long legs," said Baertschi. "The move I try most of the time is to go between the legs and it worked out perfect, especially a goalie with big legs (because) they have to be very, very quick. I took advantage of that there." Olivier Roy stopped Brett Ritchie to clinch the win. Roy made 36 saves through overtime for his third victory in five days. "He was huge for us tonight and has been great the last few games," Baertschi said of his goalie. "Its awesome to see him come here, a new organization, and he was in the (ECHL). He gets a chance to come here and hes doing so well so were all proud of him and were glad hes playing so well." Jooris and Derek Smith scored in regulation for Abbotsford (31-14-4), who has won five straight and is on a 6-0-2 run. Hubert Labrie and Brett Ritchie replied for Texas (28-15-6), and Nilstorp made 27 saves. The Heat crowded the front of ttheir net and held the Stars offensive leaders to one assist combined.dddddddddddd Travis Morin and Colton Sceviour have an AHL-high 27 goals apiece and Chris Mueller is sixth with 21. "They have some of the most skilled players in the league," said Smith. "When you can get a chance to pressure them, take away time and space, we did that. You cant let guys like Travis Morin and the best players in the league make plays." The Stars have dropped their last three contests and trail first-place Abbotsford by four points in the Western Conference standings. "Weve had a good stretch the last two weeks and passed them in the standings," said Smith. "Now we want to make sure theyre looking up at us for the rest of the year." Corban Knight was issued a penalty for a face-off violation with three seconds to go in regulation and the Stars carried that power play into overtime. Sceviour had the best chance to end it quickly but Roy stayed square to extend the extra frame. "Its an awful feeling, you dont want to be there," said Baertschi of the overtime penalty kill. "But our guys did a great job and our goalie was outstanding there so in the end it was a huge team effort to make sure it went to a shootout." The game marked a battle of the leagues top power-play units with Texas at 27.7 per cent efficiency with the man advantage. The Stars finished 0 for 5 and Abbotsford was 1 for 6. "Guys were getting into shot lanes and blocking shots and when Roy had to he came up big," said Smith. "That save he made in overtime was obviously a game saver. But we did a good job clearing pucks too and when we got a chance to get it down we made sure it went the full 200." Ritchie opened the scoring for the Stars at 10:22. After taking a feed from Jamie Oleksiak, Ritchie fired a wrist shot from the left face-off dot, beating Roy stick side for his 10th of the season. The Heat scored twice in 57 seconds to take the lead early in the second period. First, Ben Street won the draw back to Smith on a power play, and his shot beat Nilstorp top corner. Then Baertschi stole the puck at centre and fed Locke, who in turn found Jooris for a one-timer at 5:30. "Playing with Locke and Josh has been a lot of fun," said Baertschi. "Locke made a great play today." The Stars evened the game at 8:25. Maxime Fortunuss point shot was deflected by Labrie for his first goal of the year. ' ' '