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2022 Winter Olympics: U.S. men's hockey team stunned in quarters
It was a triumphant day for some United States athletes at the 2022 Winter Games on Wednesday, but not so much for the U.S. men's hockey team.
The top-seeded Americans were ousted in the quarterfinals in stunning fashion, blowing a late lead in regulation before falling to Slovakia in a shootout for a final score of 3-2. The U.S. has not won a medal in men's hockey since taking silver at the 2010 Games in Vancouver.
But it wasn't all gloom and doom for the U.S. athletes, who also produced some bright spots on Wednesday's Day 12 (Tuesday night U.S. time). Of particular note was the dominant 1-2 finish for Alexander Hall and Nicholas Goepper in the men's freeski slopestyle event.
As of Wednesday afternoon ET, Norway leads all countries with 28 medals, followed by the Russian Olympic Committee (24) and Germany (20).
The U.S. is fourth in total medals with 19: eight gold, seven silver and four bronze.
Here are some of the biggest moments and highlights from Day 12:
Team Slovakia, ice hockey
The U.S. faced Slovakia in the quarterfinals — a win would give the top-seeded Americans a shot at a medal, a loss would send them packing. As the final seconds of regulation ticked down, it looked like the U.S. was heading to the semifinals.
But the Slovakians pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker to play 6-on-5, and with 43.7 seconds left, team captain and former NHL player Marek Hrivik tied it 2-2.
That sent the contest to a 10-minute overtime, and despite some chances for both teams, including this one from the U.S.'s Matt Knies, the score remained tied.
In the shootout, the Americans were shut out by Slovakian goalie Patrik Rybar, and they were eliminated when former Boston Bruin Peter Cehlarik scored with Slovakia's fourth shot.
The U.S. had gotten accustomed to playing tight games in the tournament, beating Canada by two goals and Germany by one. But blown coverage in front allowed Hrivik to knock a loose puck past goalie Strauss Mann, who was impressive until that point.
Coming up empty on four power plays, including three in the third period, came back to bite the Americans. Matty Beniers hit the post on one of the best scoring chances the U.S. had in the third, but the team could not crack Rybar, who was playing a second consecutive day in net for Slovakia.
The U.S. is still guaranteed some hockey hardware, however, as the women's team faces Canada on Thursday in the gold medal game (Wednesday night U.S. time).
Team USA, snowboarding
Alexander Hall made sure his first Olympic medal was the best there is to offer, a gold one, with his showing in the men's freeski slopestyle final.
Hall led a 1-2 American finish with a trick on his first run in which he stopped his rotation midair and went the other direction. That resulted in a score of 90.01, which held up for first place.
Hall's teammate, Nick Goepper, turned in a creative run on his second pass to earn silver. Jesper Tjader of Sweden took home bronze.
The Americans have earned six of nine Olympic medals since the event made its debut in 2014. Goepper has three of them, including silver from the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and bronze from the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Mikael Shiffrin, Alpine skiing
Mikaela Shiffrin was the fastest in a downhill training session ahead of Thursday’s Alpine combined race at the Beijing Olympics.
The American skier finished 0.93 seconds ahead of Wendy Holdener of Switzerland and 0.94 ahead of Ester Ledecka, who is attempting to win a second event at a second straight Olympics after successfully defending her gold in snowboarding’s parallel giant slalom.
Shiffrin was second in the combined at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics and won the event at the world championships last year.
Defending Olympic champion Michelle Gisin was a second slower than Shiffrin.
The 26-year-old Shiffrin is still seeking her first medal at the Beijing Games. The two-time Olympic champion didn’t finish the giant slalom or the slalom, was ninth in the super-G and was 18th in Tuesday’s downhill.
Only 14 skiers trained Wednesday, with 12 of those on the start list opting out.
Team USA, cross-country skiing
Victoria Carl and Katharina Henning of Germany won gold in the women’s team sprint. Their time was 22 minutes, 9.85 seconds, outpacing Swedish skiers Jonna Sundling and Maja Dhalqvist by just .17 seconds.
Natalia Nepryaeva of Russia crossed the line .71 seconds behind Sundling. She and Yulia Stupak won the bronze medal.
Finland finished fourth, and the U.S. women, the reigning team sprint Olympic champions, were fifth.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
