Olympic gold medal hockey game will be live in all U.S. time zones

NBC confirmed what most U.S. hockey fans hoped.

The Olympic gold medal game that will almost certainly feature the U.S. (up 6-0 over Finland in the third period Friday) will be telecast live in all U.S. time zones Sunday. The game (which will have as the other finalist the winner of Friday's game between Canada and Slovakia) begins at noon PST.

On NBC's original Olympic schedule, the game was slated to be tape-delayed until 3 p.m. PST and live only in the Eastern and Central time zones.  

-- Diane Pucin

Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! U.S. men's hockey team leads Finland 6-0 after first period

Can you say "He shoots, he scores!" six times real fast? The U.S. men's Olympic hockey team can.

In the semifinals on Friday, the U.S. scored six goals in the first period and lead Finland, 6-0 after one period.

The U.S. chased Finland goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff with four goals on the team's first seven shots.

Kiprusoff, who plays for the Calgary Flames, skated toward the bench after the fourth goal 10 minutes into the game. He then walked toward the dressing room and later rejoined his teammates on the bench.   

Niklas Backstrom replaced him and didn't fare much better. He allowed two goals on the first four shots he faced.   

Scoring the goals: Ryan Malone, Zach Parise, Erik Johnson, Patrick Kane, Patrick Kane again and Paul Stastny.

If the U.S. wins, it advances to the gold medal game on Sunday.

-- Houston Mitchell in Vancouver

Photo: Patrick Kane celebrates a U.S. goal with his teammates. Credit: Bruce Bennett, Getty Images.

Hockey Canada apologizes for its women's team's gold medal celebration [Updated]

If the Canadian men's hockey team goes on to win gold, expect a pretty subdued celebration (at least from the players).

Hockey Canada apologized Friday for the women's hockey team's on-ice celebration following their gold-medal victory over the United States. Canadian players drank beer and champagne and pretended to smoke cigars on the ice following the game. The display drew the ire of at least one International Olympic Committee official.

"The members of Team Canada apologize if their on-ice celebrations, after fans had left the building, have offended anyone," Hockey Canada posted in a statement. "In the excitement of the moment, the celebration left the confines of our dressing room and shouldn't have. The team regrets that its gold medal celebration may have caused the IOC or the COC any embarrassment.

"Our players and team vow to uphold the values of the Olympics moving forward and view the situation as a learning experience."

The IOC's executive director, Gilbert Felli, criticized the celebration.

"It's not what we want to see. I don't think it's a good promotion of sports values. If they celebrate in the changing room, that's one thing, but not in public."

Beery gold-medal celebration could get Canada's women's team in trouble

After Canada's women's hockey team defeated the U.S., 2-0, to win the gold medal Thursday at Canada Hockey Place, they decided to do some celebrating.

More than half an hour after they clinched their third consecutive Olympic title, they came back onto the ice. Beer was involved in their festivities.

The International Olympic Committee plans to investigate the matter and whether the players' celebration outside the locker room is harmful to their image and the game's.

More photos of the festivities after the jump...

Canada defeats U.S., 2-0, to win gold in women's hockey

Canada defeated the U.S., 2-0, on Thursday to win the women's hockey gold medal in a third straight Olympics.

Marie-Philip Poulin scored both goals and Shannon Szabados made 28 saves before a raucous Vancouver crowd.

After Poulin's two first-period scores, the Canadians dominated every aspect of the game.

When the puck went to center ice and time expired, the Canadians skated into a massive pile-up near their goal. Cheering fans threw flags to the players, and they raised the banners or wrapped them around their shoulders as capes.

 “I looked up in the stands and saw a sign that said, 'Proud to be Canadian,' and that's what I am today,” Szabados said. “My teammates were unbelievable today. We played a great game, and this is an incredible moment.”

Jessie Vetter made 27 saves for the Americans, whose offense evaporated in front of Szabados and the Canadian defense. The potent power play that produced 13 goals in the last four games went 0-for-6, and the Canadians consistently won most of the battles in a physical, grinding game.

-- Houston Mitchell in Vancouver, Canada

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Photo: Canada celebrates its gold medal. Credit: Guy Rhodes, U.S. Presswire.

Finland defeats Sweden to win bronze medal in women's hockey

 
Karoliina Rantamaki scored 2:33 into overtime, and Finland beat Sweden 3-2 at the Vancouver Winter Olympics on Thursday to win the bronze medal in Olympic women's hockey.

Heidi Pelttari and Michelle Karvinen also scored for Finland, which hadn't won a medal since women's hockey's first joined the Olympics in 1998.

-- Houston Mitchell in Vancouver, Canada

Photo: Finland celebrates its victory. Credit: Harry How, Getty Images.

Final four: Men's hockey tournament

How teams advanced in the men’s hockey tournament at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Jacques Rogge (part 2): Women's hockey gets more time, so does NHL

At the Thursday breakfast interview with a group of international journalists who focus on the Olympics, International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge was optimistic about the future of both women's hockey and of NHL involvement at the Winter Games.

Many NHL owners have already made clear that the distance and time difference between North America and Sochi, Russia, site of the 2014 Games, minimizes the value of having their players participate.  But some players, including Russian NHL superstar Alex Ovechkin, have made it just as clear they intend to play.

"I would hope [the NHL will continue to participate] because they add a lot to the quality of the hockey tournament,'' Rogge said.  "I have had a meeting with [NHL commissioner] Gary Bettman and [International Hockey Federation President] Rene Fasel.  This was not a final discussion.  We still have plenty of time to find a solution.''

Is there any pressure the IOC can exert or anything you can do to entice Mr. Bettman to make this happen?

"It's not my style in negotiations to pressure people.  I would like to persuade, and the persuasion is two-fold:

"One, the players want to participate.  Mr. Ovechkin has said that whatever happens, I will be be present in Sochi, and he has the power to do so, of course, being allegedly the best ice hockey player -- together with [Canada's] Sidney Crosby -- of the whole NHL.

"Secondly, it is the best promotion for the NHL and for hockey.  Don't forget the [TV] ratings of the Olympic final are way higher than the Stanley Cup final.  This is fantastic promotion for the NHL in North America.''

Bobby Ryan: I'm glad Jonas Hiller is usually on my side

Hi again everyone

I think I’ve had about enough of seeing Jonas [Hiller] as an opponent. He was so good against  us on Wednesday and almost got us off our game. It was getting frustrating on the bench, which Jonas can do to a team  sometimes. We almost got trapped into the game that Switzerland wanted us to play, that high-risk type of game. But [Zach] Parise got rewarded with kind of a cheesy goal after playing so well in the game, and that’s the way it goes sometimes. You feel bad for Jonas because he played so well. But nobody ever lost faith on our side, and it feels great to prevail.

It’s very surreal to be this close to a medal. I’m trying not to look too far ahead, but when we are this close, it’s pretty amazing.

The game against the Finns is going to be fun. I talked to Teemu [Selanne] a few days ago and told him I’d see him in the semifinals because we saw how the pool could work out. I’d like to lay a few hits on Teemu and Saku [Koivu] for all the times they missed me backdoor this year when I was wide open in front of the net (I’m joking). I can’t wait to play them.

It’s so odd when you see a friend that’s on an opposing team around the village. I saw Luca Sbisa [Ducks prospect playing in Portland] before the game against the Swiss. He’s one of my best friends (he actually lives at my place in Orange County during the summer), and we chatted for 10 minutes in the cafeteria. So here we are, used to eating with each other often, and now we aren’t supposed to. We each got our food and sheepishly walked to opposite tables to eat with our “other” teammates. So weird.

The people here are so passionate. Funny story … the night before the Canada game, we had a team meal at a local Italian restaurant. As we were leaving, all the fans actually applauded us, but then they broke out into a chorus of “Oh Canada,” singing it right at us. … We didn’t really know what to do. But the next night after we beat Canada, we went back to the same place, and nobody said a word. It was stunned silence.

-- Bobby Ryan

Winger Bobby Ryan of the Ducks and the U.S. Olympic hockey team is joining The Times' Olympic blog and will be posting his thoughts periodically during the Vancouver Games. Ryan, 22, is playing in his first Olympics.

Top photo: Bobby Ryan hugs Swiss goalie Jonas Hiller after the U.S.-Switzerland game on Wednesday. Credit: Bruce Bennett  / Getty Images. Bottom photo: Bobby Ryan and Ryan Whitney in the Olympic Village. Credit: Bobby Ryan

 

Slovakia upsets defending champion Sweden, 4-3, in hockey quarterfinals

Remember all those Canadian fans chanting “We Want Sweden” in anticipation that Canada would face the defending Olympic champions in the hockey tournament semifinals on Friday?

If they went to bed early and missed Slovakia’s 4-3 quarterfinal upset Wednesday night they’re in for one huge surprise.

Slovakia, though outshot by 29-14, held off the tired-looking second-seeded Swedes thanks to power-play goals by Marian Gaborik and former King Pavol Demitra and even-strength goals by Andrej Sekera and Tomas Kopecky. Sweden pulled within a goal at 9:39 of the third period but couldn’t get the equalizer against Jaroslav Halak, the Montreal Canadiens’ goaltender.

“We beat the last gold medal team,” defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky, another former King, marveled afterward. “We play very simple hockey. Nothing special….

“We are so happy. We enjoy this moment and then we start thinking about another game.”

That other game happens to be against home-country favorite Canada, at 6:30 on Friday. “For our country this is a big moment, the first time Slovakia hockey play for an Olympic medal,” Visnovsky said. “Canada start playing much, much better. They play great hockey and have lots of confidence.

“It’s for Canada the big pressure. For us nothing maybe. We’ll see what happens. You never know.”

How true.

“It’s awesome. We are dreaming,” Kings center Michal Handzus said. “We knew we had a good team. Obviously we knew we had to play a certain way and we did today. Everybody play as a team. We battle for each other.

“It’s huge. It’s great for us and we just have to keep going.”

He acknowledged that Canada will be tough. “For sure. They’re favored for gold, as Sweden was, too,” he said. “We’ve got to regroup. We’ve got to refresh. Very big battle but we are going for every game to win. We’re pretty confident in that game.”

Defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom of Sweden and the Detroit Red Wings generously praised Slovakia.

“It’s a big disappointment. But we lost to a good team. You’ve got to give them credit. Their special teams were good,” said Lidstrom, who had a rough game and a -2 defensive rating.

The game could be the end of an era for a great generation of Swedish players such as Lidstrom and Peter Forsberg. “It could be. I’m not going to be part of any more Olympics as a player,” Lidstrom said.