Day 13 - February 16, 2022
So, the much-anticipated women's hockey gold medal game arrived, and it was exciting. After a Canadian goal was waived off for offsides, Canada took a 3-0 lead behind 2 goals from Marie-Philip Poulin, and 1 goal and 1 assist from Sarah Nurse. Nurse's two points gave her a tournament-leading, and Olympic record, 18 points in Beijing. Poulin, who has scored the gold medal winning goal in three separate Olympics (2010 Vancouver, 2014 Sochi, and 2022 Beijing), finished the tournament with 17 points. The Americans did not quit after being down 3-0, as a frantic 3rd period ended with two US goals, Hilary Knight's with 3:21 left in the game and Amanda Kessel's with 12.5 seconds left. The US could not score the tying goal in that last ten seconds, for Canada's 5th gold medal in the last 7 Olympics, 4 coming against the United States.
On the men's side, the Canadian team had just as much success as the men's, losing in the quarterfinals by falling to Sweden. Sweden's Lucas Wallmark scored the winning goal - Sweden ultimately won 2-0 - and has scored a goal in every game Sweden has played in this Olympics.
Staying on skates, shortrack featured two events, the women's 1500 meters and the men's 5000m relay. In the former, Korea's Choi Mingjeong won gold, defeating multi-medalists Araianna Fontana from Italy (silver), and Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands (bronze). In the latter, the Canadian team of Charles Hamelin, Pascal Dion, Jordan Pierre-Gilles, and Steven Dubois won gold, out-skating South Korea (silver) and Italy (bronze). This race was even more crowded as China was advanced from the semi-finals for no actually announced reason. No penalties were given in the semi-final, China was just advanced; only so one of its skaters fell during the race to finish 5th.
In the biathlon, the women's 4x6km relay was held, with Sweden winning gold, anchored in the 3rd and 4th legs by the Oeberg sisters, Hanna and Elvira. The Russian Olympic Committee finished 2nd and Germany won the bronze. With Norway's 4th place finish, its anchor Marte Olsbu Roieseland loses out on a chance of winning 6 medals in one games. She has a chance for her fifth tomorrow in the women's 12.5 km mass start.
The Women's Alpine combined was completed as Swiss teammates Michele Gisin (gold) and Wendy Holdener (silver) finished 1-2. Italy's Frederica Brignone finished third. American Mikaela Shiffrin skied out early in her first slalom run to not finish. This was the second medal in Beijing for Gisin, Holdener and Brignone.
A couple of freestyle skiing events were conducted on this day. In the men's slopestyle finals, two Americans topped the podium with Alexander Hall winning gold and Nicholas Goepper earning silver. (Jesper Tjader of Sweden finished third). In the men's aerials, Qi Guongpu of host China won the gold, easily defeating Oleksandr Abramenko of the Ukraine (silver) and Illia Burov of the Russian Olympic Committee (bronze).
Athletes of the Day: Marie-Philip Poulin and Sarah Nurse, Canada, Hockey
One scored the gold medal-winning goal and had 17 points in the tournament, and the other scored 18 points in the tournament and had 1 goal and 1 assist in the gold medal game.
Teamwork/Sportsmanship Moment of the Day: Oleksandr Abramenko, Ukraine and Illia Burov, Russian Olympic Committee, Freestyle Skiing
Abramenko and Buriv, shown here hugging after their runs, shows that sports brings people together, even when one country is threatening to invade the other!
Olympic Term of the Day: Alpine Combined - An Alpine skiing event in which each athlete skis a downhill and 2 slalom runs, with the winner being the athlete with the fastest composite time.
Olympic Events Watched: Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, Freestyle Skiing, Hockey, Short Track Speedskating,
USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer(s): Nick Baungartner, Nathan Chen, Kaillie Humphries, Erin Jackson, Lindsey Jacobellis, Chloe Kim, Elana Meyers Taylor
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