Krueger nails down silver in short track
GANGNEUNG, South Korea — Samuel Girard yelled and signaled No. 1 with both index fingers as he crossed the finish line first. Just behind him, John-Henry Krueger spread his arms in a can-you-believe-it gesture.
The Canadian and the American claimed gold and silver in the men’s 1,000-meter short track Saturday, upsetting the powerful South Koreans.
Girard and Krueger raced to celebrate with their coaches on the sideline. Krueger sank to his knees on the ice, head in hands, still stunned at winning the first U.S. speedskating medal of the Pyeongchang Olympics.
“There were so many thoughts rushing through my head,” Krueger said.
World champion Seo Yira of the host nation earned bronze.
Seo and teammate Lim Hyo-jun, who earlier won the 1,500, were taken out in the turn approaching the last lap by Liu Shaolin Sandor of Hungary.
Seo got up and kept going, but he was too far behind to catch the leaders. Girard and Krueger sprinted to the finish, with the Canadian keeping his lead.
DOWN GOES CANADA
The Czech Republic rallied twice to hand the Canadian men’s hockey team its first Olympic loss in eight years Saturday, riding goaltender Pavel Francouz to a 3-2 win in a shootout.
Canada had won 11 consecutive games at the Olympics — the first 10 with NHL players — dating to a loss to the United States in pool play in Vancouver in 2010. Canada opened these games with a comfortable 5-1 win over the Swiss that confirmed its status as one of the favorites in the tournament.
Still, Russia, the United States and now Canada have all lost in the preliminary round.
Mason Raymond and Rene Bourque scored first-period goals for Canada, which wraps up preliminary-round play Sunday against South Korea, but Dominik Kubalik and Michal Jordan answered for the Czechs, who used a successful forecheck. The Czechs tied it up 35 seconds into the second period. Ben Scrivens, who had mishandled the puck seconds earlier, stopped a Michal Birner shot but Jordan banged in the rebound.
The three-on-three overtime on the big ice was frantic entertainment with quality scoring chances. Canada’s Derek Roy made some nifty rushes but couldn’t finish it off, while Mat Robinson broke up a two-on-one before losing the puck on a breakaway.
Wojtek Wolski scored for Canada in the shootout while Maxim Lapierre, Roy and Bourque were all stopped by Francouz and Maxim Noreau hit the post on his attempt. Petr Koukal and Jan Kouvar scored for the Czechs against Scrivens.
Canada came into the game 13-13-1 against the Czech Republic in Olympic and world championship play but had won the last five meetings and eight of the last 10.
The three group winners and the best second-ranked teams advance directly to the quarterfinals. The remaining eight play, with the four winners advancing to the quarters.
—AP