Sochi Winter Olympics Recap – Saturday – USA Hockey Loses

Canada continued its dominance over the U.S in Olympic men's hockey on Friday. Here's a recap of all the week's action in Sochi:

Canada Shuts Out U.S., 1-0

Jamie Benn scored the game's only goal in the second period, and goalie Carey Price made 31 saves as Canada beat the United States, 1-0, Friday night in the semifinals of the Olympic men's hockey tournament in Sochi.

The U.S. never made a serious threat to tie the game, even when pulling netminder Jonathan Quick for an extra attacker late. The Canadians advanced to the gold-medal game on Sunday against Sweden.

Earlier on Friday, Sweden beat Finland, 2-1, on Erik Karlsson's go-ahead goal late in the second period. Henrik Lundqvist finished with 25 saves for the Swedes.

Finalnd will play the Americans for the bronze medal on Saturday.

Charlie White and Meryl Davis Win Ice Dancing Gold Medal

Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White won the gold medal in the ice dance event on Monday in Sochi and became the first U.S. pair to win the event at an Olympic competition.

Davis and White won the silver medal in Vancouver in 2010, but they seized an early lead at the Sochi Games and claimed the title. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada won silver, and Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov of Russia earned the bronze.

Canada's women's hockey team beat the United States in overtime in the gold medal game on Thursday. Here's a recap of all the day's action in Sochi:

Canada Wins Women's Hockey Gold, 3-2

Marie-Philip Poulin scored a power-play goal at 8:10 of overtime, and Canada beat the U.S., 3-2, to win the gold medal in women's hockey at the Winter Olympics in Sochi on Thursday. Down 2-0 with more than 3 minutes remaining in regulation, the Canadians rallied to tie on Poulin's goal with 54.6 seconds to play.

Up 2-1, the Americans nearly tallied an empty net goal that could have clinched the victory, but Kelli Stack's clearing shot missed by inches late in the third period.

Instead, the U.S. was forced to watch their rivals tie, win and celebrate their fourth consecutive Olympic gold. Shannon Szabados made 27 saves for Canada, allowing goals to Meghan Duggan and Alex Carpenter before her team rallied.

Switzerland beat Sweden, 4-3, to claim the bronze medal.

 Steven Holcomb and Steven Langton Break U.S. Bobsled Medal Drought

Russians Alexander Zubkov and Alexey Voevoda won the gold medal in the two-man bobsled event at Sochi on Monday, and the U.S. team of Steven Holcomb and Steven Langton won their nation's first medal in the two-man sled since 1952.

Zubkov and Voevoda finished 0.66 seconds ahead of silver medalists Beat Hefti and Alex Baumann of Switzerland. Holcomb of Park City, Utah, and Langton of Melrose, Mass., earned the bronze medal by finishing just 0.88 off of the lead.

Fog Delays Biathlon and Snowboardcross

Fog delayed the men's 15-kilometer mass-start biathlon race and the men's snowboardcross on Monday. Officials separately decided that the visibility was too poor for either of the competitions to commence on Monday. Each event was rescheduled for Tuesday.
A U.S. skier won a new Olympic event, and the Dutch skated back to the top of the medal table. Here's a recap of Tuesday's action in Sochi:

David Wise Claims First-Ever Skiing Halfpipe Gold for U.S.

American David Wise scored a 92 on his first run at the Sochi Games, and the tally led him to win the first-ever gold medal awarded in the ski halfpipe on Tuesday. The 23-year-old Reno, Nev. skier topped the field by leaning on the moves which have made him a three-time Winter X-Games champion.

Mike Riddle earned the silver for Canada, and Kevin Rolland claimed bronze for France.

American Alex Deibold Takes Bronze in Snowboardcross

France's Pierre Vaultier held off Nikolay Olyunin of Russia to win the gold medal in the men's snowboardcross at Sochi on Tuesday afternoon. Alex Deibold of the U.S. beat teammate Trevor Jacob in the semifinals of the snowboard racing event for the bronze.

The medal was undoubtedly special for Deibold, who spent the 2010 Vancouver Olympics as a board technician for the American team, but he did not compete as a member of the squad.

Mikaela Shiffrin Wins Gold in Slalom

American Mikaela Shiffrin won the gold medal in women's slalom at Sochi on Friday. The 18-year-old skier became the youngest-ever winner of an Olympic slalom gold medal. Schiffrin dominated the Rosa Khotur course with a two-leg combined time of 1 minute, 44.54 seconds. Austrians Marlies Schild and Kathrin Zettel won silver and bronze respectively.

Russia Edges U.S. in 5,000-Meter Relay

Olympic veteran Viktor Ahn led Russia to a gold medal in the 5,000-meter speedskating short track relay. Ahn passed American J.R. Celski with eight laps left, and Russia held on for the win.

Teammates Vladimir Grigorev, Semen Elistratov and Ruslan Zakharov joined Ahn on the medal podium. The American team of Celski, Eddy Alvarez, Chris Creveling and Jordan Malone took silver. The Chinese team of Chen Dequan, Han Tianyu, Shi Jingnan and Wu Dajing earned the bronze.

Earlier in the evening, Ahn won the 500-meter race. His two gold medals tied retired U.S. skater Apolo Anton Ohno for the most career Olympic medals in the sport with eight.

Canada Wins Men's Curling Gold

Canada trounced Britain, 9-3, in eight ends on Friday to win the country's third consecutive Olympic title in men's curling. Coupled with the Canadian women's win earlier in the week, the North American nation swept the gold medals in the sport at the Sochi Games. Sweden beat China, 6-4, to earn the bronze medal.

Medal Count

The United States maintained its lead in the overall medal count with 27. Russia was a close second with 26 total medals.

United States (27)
9 gold; 7 silver; 11 bronze

Russia (26)
9 gold; 10 silver; 7 bronze

Canada (24)
9 gold; 10 silver; 5 bronze

Norway (22)
10 gold; 4 silver; 8 bronze

Netherlands (22)
6 gold; 7 silver; 9 bronze

Overall Medal Table

[NBCOlympics.com]