With apologies to hockey fans outside North America, the Olympic gold medal men’s matchup everyone wanted to see has materialized: The United States will play Canada on Sunday in the final event of the Winter Olympics.
In Friday’s first semifinal, the amazing run of breathtaking hockey finishes in Milan continued. After five consecutive games (three men’s quarterfinals Wednesday and both women’s medal-round games Thursday) went to overtime, Canada defeated Finland on a goal in the final minute of regulation. The second semifinal was a relative letdown on the excitement scale, as the United States cruised past Slovakia.
The U.S. added to its gold medal total (check out the medal count here), as freestyle halfpipe skier Alex Ferreira, who had a silver and bronze in his first two Olympic appearances, took the lead on his final run to snatch the gold.
Here are some of the highlights from Friday’s Olympic action:
The puck shot by Nathan MacKinnon for the go-ahead goal heads toward Finland goaltender Juuse Saros. (Alexander Nemenov / AAFP via Getty Images)
U.S., Canada to play for gold in men’s hockey
The rematch that has been eagerly anticipated since their 4 Nations meetings last year is set. The United States and Canada will play Sunday for the gold medal.
Canada defeated Finland 3-2 in the first of Friday’s semifinals, rallying from a 2-0 deficit as Finland seemed to play not to lose instead of playing to win. Canadian captain Sidney Crosby, who left Wednesday’s semifinal, did not play.
Sam Reinhart and Shea Theodore scored Canada’s first two goals, and Nathan MacKinnon lasered in a power-play tally with 36 seconds left in regulation for the winner.
The United States had a far easier time in its 6-2 victory over Slovakia. Dylan Larkin put the United States up 1-0 just 4:19 into the game, and Jack Hughes scored twice in the second period as the U.S. built a 5-0 lead.
The U.S. men haven’t won an Olympic gold medal in hockey since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” team. Canada has won the last two (2010, 2014) and three of the last four gold medals in Olympics that featured NHL players.
Finland and Slovakia meet Saturday for the bronze medal.
Alex Ferreira climbed from second place to first on the strength of his final run in the freeski halfpipe. (Millo Moravski / Agence Zoom / Getty Images)
Ferreira completes Olympic set with gold
U.S. freestyle skier Alex Ferreira earned his third medal in his third Olympic appearance, winning the men’s freestyle skiing halfpipe with a strong third run. Ferreira earned a silver medal in the 2018 halfpipe and bronze in the 2022 event.
Ferreira was second to Estonia’s Henry Sildaru after the second of three runs, with a best of 90.50 to Sildaru’s 92.75. After Ferreira improved to 93.75 on his final run, Sildaru followed and also improved — but not enough, finishing 0.75 points behind.
Brendan Mackay of Canada took the bronze, 2 points behind Sildaru. For the United States, Nick Goepper was fourth, Birk Irving finished fifth and Hunter Hess, who faced backlash for his comments about having “mixed emotions” representing the U.S., finished 10th.
Nick Goepper of the United States landed hard on the deck in his final jump on his final run of the freeski halfpipe competition. (Adam Pretty / Getty Images)
Goepper and New Zealand’s Finley Melville Ives endured violent crashes.
Goepper landed hard on the deck in his final jump on the final run. Goepper’s fiancée, Corinn Childs, said via text message to The Athletic: “He’s good. He’ll be sore but he’s a trooper (sic).”
Melville Ives, 19, was taken out of the halfpipe on a sled.
U.S., Canada to vie for curling bronze
The United States and Canada will meet on ice in another medal-round game after each lost in the women’s curling semifinals. They face off Saturday at 8:05 a.m. ET for the bronze.
The United States has not medaled in women’s curling in any of the previous seven Olympics that featured the event.
Switzerland (a 7-4 winner over the U.S. on Friday) and Sweden (6-3 over Canada) will play for the gold Sunday.
Dutch women continue reign in 1,500m speedskating
Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong of the Netherlands won the women’s 1,500 meters, becoming the fifth consecutive Dutch skater to win the event. U.S. skater Brittany Bowe, who turns 38 next week, finished fourth in her final Olympics, 0.61 seconds behind the winner. Bowe competed in four Olympics and earned two bronze medals.
Other notes and highlights
U.S. Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn posted images of her surgically repaired knee. She said her surgery lasted more than six hours. … In the men’s 15-kilometer mass start biathlon, Norway’s Johannes Dale-Skjevdal and Sturla Holm Lægreid (he of the cheating confession heard ’round the world) took gold and silver, respectively. Quentin Fillon Maillet, who already won three biathlon golds for France at the Milan Cortina Games, earned bronze. It was his ninth medal in the last two Olympics. The gold was Norway’s 17th in the Milan Cortina Olympics, breaking the record for the most by one nation at one Winter Games (previous record: 16, Norway in 2022). … Corinne Stoddard of the United States earned bronze in the 1,500-meter short track speedskating event.