SOCHI, Russia - The home team is out of the Olympic men’s hockey tournament.
INTERACTIVE
Russia lost 3-1 to Finland in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, putting an abrupt end to the gold-medal designs of Alex Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk and a talented roster that had been expected to return the Russians to their previous Olympic heights.
Teemu Selanne and Mikael Granlund each had a goal and an assist for the Finns, who took a first-period lead and never let it go while the Bolshoy Ice Dome crowd watched disconsolately.
Finland’s strong play in front of 37-save goalie Tuukka Rask was too much for the Russians, who raised their sticks at center ice after the game to whistles and jeers. The result wasn’t shocking, given Russia’s inconsistencies and top-heavy roster, but many fans held out hope the Russians would figure it out before elimination.
Instead, they’ll rank among the biggest disappointments in Sochi for failing even to make it to the medal rounds. Russian players haven’t won Olympic gold in 22 years, and they haven’t won any medals at all in the last three Olympics.
Canada and the United States also booked places in the semifinals with entertaining quarterfinal victories.
The Canadians were pushed by tiny Latvia and goalie Kristers Gudlevskis, 21,who made 55 saves. But defenseman Shea Weber scored the tie breaking goal on a big slap shot with 6:54 to play, and the defending champions returned to the semifinals for the third time in four Olympics with a 2-1 victory.
They’ll be joined by the Americans, who have been arguably the most impressive team in Sochi during their unbeaten run. The U.S. team got goals from five players in a 5-2 victory over the Czech Republic, cruising into the semifinals with another exhibition of thrilling hockey.
WOMEN’S BOBSLEDDING Canadian queens
Canada’s team of Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse are again queens of women’s bobsledding, rallying past the U.S. duo of Elana Meyers and Lauryn Williams on Wednesday night to win gold.
It’s the second consecutive Olympic title for Humphries and Moyse, and it wasn’t decided until the final moment of the competition, and then only by a tenth of a second.
USA-1 hardly seemed dissatisfied with Sochi silver. After all, just a few days ago they needed their sled rebuilt after a crash and still almost won gold.
Jamie Greubel of Newtown, Pa., paired with brakeman Aja Evans of Chicago to grab the bronze in USA-2, giving the U.S. two Olympic women’s bobsled medal winners for the first time.
SPEEDSKATING Add another gold
Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic won her second consecutive gold in the women’s 5,000 meters. The Dutch added two more medals, with Ireen Wust winning silver and Carien Kleibeuker the bronze.
Wust now has won four medals at the games, including gold in the 3,000 and silvers in the 1,000 and 1,500. Dutch speedskaters have 21 medals overall.
GIANT SLALOM
Ligety takes second
Ted Ligety of the United States won gold in men’s giant slalom, the first American man to win two Olympic medals in Alpine skiing. Steve Missillier of France took the silver and teammate Alexis Pinturault the bronze.
Ligety was 21 when he won his first gold medal in the combined at the 2006 Turin Games. The only other American to win two Olympic golds in Alpine skiing was Andrea Mead Lawrence, who took the women’s slalom and giant slalom at the 1952 Oslo Games.
American-turned Russian snowboarder Vic Wild won the men’s parallel giant slalom, minutes after his Russian wife, Alexa Zavarzina, won bronze in the women’s competition. Nevin Galmarini ofSwitzerland finished second for silver, and Zan Kosir of Slovenia took the bronze.
In the women’s race, Patrizia Kummer cruised to victory - and Switzerland’s sixth gold medal of the games - when Japan’s Tomoka Takeuchi missed a gate midway through the second run of the finals.
MEN’S CROSS-COUNTRY Finland surprises
Finland surprisingly won the men’s cross-country team sprint Wednesday, taking advantage of a fall that slowed its two closest rivals in the final.
Sami Jauhojaervi was able to pull ahead after Germany’s Tim Tscharnke fell right behind him after the final downhill section into the stadium and nearly tripped up Russia’s Nikita Kriukov, who stayed on his legs but lost touch with the Finn.
Kriukov couldn’t catch up and Russia had to settle for silver. Sweden’s Teodor Peterson overtook Tscharnke to secure the bronze. That also gave Sweden’s Emil Joensson a second lucky bronze, after three rivals fell in front of him in the final of the individual event.
Iivo Niskanen also skied for Finland. Maxim Vylegzhanin was on Russia’s team.
FIGURE SKATING Kim in the lead
Yuna Kim of South Korea scored 74.92 points in the women’s short program ahead of Adelina Sotnikova of Russia by 0.28. Carolina Kostner of Italy was third with 74.12.
American champion Gracie Gold was fourth.
Julia Lipnitskaia, 15, who helped Russia win the team gold on Feb. 9, fell on a triple flip and finished fifth. She was too tearful to speak after her worst performance in months.
The competition finishes today.
MEN’S CURLING
Canada beats China
Canada maintained its grip on the men’s curling title by beating China 10-6 in the semifinals Wednesday, setting up a gold-medal game against Britain.
The British defeated Sweden 6-5, sealing victory with a two-point last rock. Britain is assured of its first medal in men’s curling since the sport returned to the Olympic program in 1998.
The final will be played Friday.
TODAY’S TV All times Central (Subject to change)
TODAY
NBC 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Women’s Hockey - Gold Medal Final (LIVE IN ALL TIME ZONES); Men’s Freestyle Skiing - Ski Cross Competition 7-10:30 p.m. Ladies’ Figure Skating - Gold Medal Final; Women’s Freestyle Skiing - Halfpipe Gold Medal Final; Men’s Freestyle Skiing - Ski Cross Gold Medal Final midnight-1 a.m. Men’s Nordic Combined - Team K-125 Large Hill Gold Medal Final 1-3:30 a.m. Primetime Encore
NBCSN 6-8:30 a.m. Women’s Hockey - Bronze Medal Game (LIVE) 8:30-9 a.m. Ladies’ Figure Skating - Gold Medal Final Preview 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Ladies’ Figure Skating - Gold Medal Final (LIVE) 1-2 p.m. Ladies’ Figure Skating - Gold Medal Final Postgame; Men’s Freestyle Skiing - Ski Cross Competition 2-4 p.m. Hockey Encore 4-6 p.m. Game of the Day: Hockey CNBC 4-7 p.m. Women’s Curling - Gold Medal Final
Medals table Through Wednesday, Feb. 19 (75 of 98 events)
NATION G S B TOT
United States 7 5 11 23
Russia 6 9 7 22
Netherlands 6 7 9 22
Norway 9 4 7 20
Canada 5 9 4 18
Germany 8 3 4 15
France 3 2 6 11
Sweden 2 5 4 11
Switzerland 6 3 1 10
Austria 2 6 1 9
Czech Republic 2 4 2 8
Slovenia 2 1 4 7
Japan 1 4 2 7
Italy 0 2 5 7
Belarus 5 0 1 6
China 3 2 1 6
Poland 4 0 0 4
South Korea 2 1 1 4
Finland 1 3 0 4
Australia 0 2 1 3
Latvia 0 1 2 3
Britain 1 0 1 2
Slovakia 1 0 0 1
Croatia 0 1 0 1
Kazakhstan 0 0 1 1
Ukraine 0 0 1 1
On the podium
Wednesday’s medalists in Sochi, Russia
ALPINE SKIING Men’s Giant Slalom GOLD Ted Ligety, United States SILVER Steve Missillier, France BRONZE Alexis Pinturault, France
BIATHLON Mixed Relay GOLD Norway (Tora Berger, Tiril Eckhoff, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, Emil Hegle Svendsen) SILVER Czech Republic (Veronika Vitkova, Gabriela Soukalova, Jaroslav Soukup, Ondrej Moravec) BRONZE Italy (Dorothea Wierer, Karin Oberhofer, Dominik Windisch, Lukas Hofer)
BOBSLEIGH Women GOLD Canada (Kaillie Humphries, Heather Moyse) SILVER United States (Elana Meyers, Lauryn Williams) BRONZE United States 2 (Jamie Greubel, Aja Evans)
CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING Men’ Team Sprint Classic GOLD Finland (Iivo Niskanen, Sami Jauhojaervi) SILVER Russia (Maxim Vylegzhanin, Nikita Kriukov) BRONZE (Emil Joensson, Teodor Peterso)
Women’ Team Sprint Classic GOLD Norway (Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg, Marit Bjoergen) SILVER Finland (Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, Kerttu Niskanen) BRONZE Sweden (Ida Ingemarsdotter, Stina Nilsson)
SNOWBOARD Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom GOLD Vic Wild, Russia SILVER Nevin Galmarini, Switzerland BRONZE Zan Kosir, Slovenia
Women’s Parallel Giant Slalom GOLD Patrizia Kummer, Switzerland SILVER Tomoka Takeuchi, Japan BRONZE Alena Zavarzina, Russia
SPEEDSKATING Women’s 5000 GOLD Martina Sablikova, Czech Republic SILVER Ireen Wust, Netherlands BRONZE Carien Kleibeuker, Netherlands
Sports, Pages 24 on 02/20/2014