Canada edges U.S. in power matchup
Meghan Agosta and Sara Nurse each scored in the second period and defending Olympic champion Canada clinched the top spot in pool play by edging the United States 2-1 on Thursday in an early matchup between the dominant powers in women’s hockey.
Genevieve Lacasse made 44 saves, including stopping Hilary Knight at the post inside the final 90 seconds. Brianne Decker hit two posts, the second time coming in the final seconds, before the two teams ended up in a scrum. Officials reviewed the final play and ruled no goal. The Canadians also had two goals disallowed.
Kendall Coyne scored the lone goal for the Americans.
The Americans won gold in 1998 when women’s hockey joined the Olympics. Canada is looking for a fifth straight gold medal for the country that created the sport.
They played eight times last fall through a pre-Olympic exhibition tour and the Four Nations Cup. The United States won two of the first three, but Canada has won five straight against its biggest — and only — rival in the sport.
The United States certainly had plenty of chances, including Knight being stopped on a breakaway.
After missing on a penalty shot and hitting a post late in the second, the Americans got on the board when Coyne raced through four Canadians and scored 23 seconds into the third period.
Canada thought briefly it had the first goal of the game with 3:15 left in the first period, but Melodie Daoust and captain Marie-Philip Poulin were in the crease with the play blown dead. The official immediately signaled no goal.
Agosta put Canada up 1-0 at 7:18 of the second on the power play. With Megan Keller in the box for interfering with Poulin, Natalie Spooner spun and hit Agosta in the slot with a backhanded pass. Agosta’s shot went off Rooney’s glove and in for the goal.
Nurse scored at 14:56 with a shot from the left circle that went off Rooney’s elbow. Laura Stacey appeared to be offside as Canada brought the puck into the zone, but the United States did not challenge.
Norwegian 1-2: Aksel Lund Svindal became the oldest Olympic gold medalist in Alpine skiing by winning the men’s downhill.
The 35-year-old Norwegian was 0.12 of a second faster than teammate Kjetil Jansrud down the 14⁄5-mile course in Jeongseon. Beat Feuz of Switzerland took bronze, 0.18 behind Svindal’s winning time of 1 minute, 40.25 seconds.
In what he said was most likely his last Winter Games, Svindal finally got the only downhill honor missing from his resume.
“That’s probably my last Olympics, so it’s a good thing I could be fast,” said Svindal, who had season-ending surgery the past two years. “It’s basically the first year I have skied in February in four years.”
The highest of four American finishers was Bryce Bennett, nearly two seconds behind in 16th place.
The race started in nearperfect calm and cold conditions four days after it was postponed because of fierce winds that made racing unsafe. It was 34 degrees under sunshine and blue skies with only a few wispy clouds.
In a race that often has a surprise winner, the new Olympic champion has been the most consistent downhill racer over the past decade despite a series of severe injuries. In fact, the three medalists were the most touted pre-race favorites. Jansrud took downhill bronze four years ago and Feuz is the current world champion.
Svindal got silver in downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, where he won a medal of each color, and was fourth at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Frenchman defends gold: Pierre Vaultier retained his title in men’s snowboard cross.
Vaultier barely qualified for the final after crashing during the semifinals but recovered to win his second Olympic gold medal with relative ease.
Jarryd Hughes of Australia took silver, with Spain’s Regino Hernandez earning a rare Winter Games medal for his country by taking bronze.
Americans Nick Baumgartner and Mick Dierdorff advanced to the final, but both washed out on a jump and finished well back.
Dancing around White: NBC avoided any awkwardness in its prime-time telecast Wednesday about the sexual-misconduct allegations against snowboarder Shaun White by staying away from a subject that hits close to home.
The gold-medal winner from the night before effectively didn’t exist. A lawsuit by the female former drummer in White’s rock band accusing him of crude behavior came back into the news after White’s win.
Christine Brennan of USA Today wrote, “Why in the world aren’t we talking about this?” White was asked about it during a Wednesday news conference in which no female journalists were called upon, and said he didn’t want to talk about “gossip.”
His hole dug deeper, it fell to the “Today” show’s Savannah Guthrie — whose former cohost, Matt Lauer, was dismissed in November because of an improper workplace relationship — to ask more. She did, twice, prefacing one question by saying, “I take no pleasure in asking it.”
During a pre-taped interview that aired during Tuesday night’s Olympic coverage, NBC’s Mike Tirico asked White about coming back from his loss in Sochi and an injury he suffered in New Zealand, but the accusations by Lena Zawaideh in the lawsuit settled in May were not mentioned.
Perhaps it would remind viewers of Tirico’s history: He was suspended for three months in the early 1990s while at ESPN for lewd and unwanted advances on women.