Russia beats Sweden in men’s hockey to set up the final against Finland
“We believed in each other, and we believed in the guys who were involved in the shooting,” the captain said Vadim Shipachyov sa.
The favorites before the tournament are in the gold medal game as expected, although it has not been a dominant run up to this point. The semifinal against Sweden was another methodical achievement by a team that is built to outperform opponents but has shown that it can also bring about victories.
“We play our game”, defender Nikita Nesterov sa. “We are not expected to be a defensive team. We play aggressively, so we have to score more goals.”
The Russians do not have to score many goals when Fedotov is at stake. The 25-year-old Philadelphia Flyers prospect who could be in the NHL as soon as next season made 34 saves in regulation and overtime before the penalty shootout.
In the penalty shootout, Yakovlev scored in the fifth round when he needed to convert to keep going. Fedotov was perfect from the moment it became sudden death, and Gritsyuk beat Sweden’s goalkeeper Lars Johansson to start a Russian celebration.
Gritsyuk blamed himself Anton Landers equalizer in the third period, so it was a bit of redemption that he made the winner.
“It weighed on my soul that my mistake could hurt my team and I wanted to go out and fix it,” he said. “I’m really glad Vanya Fedotov played well. He gave us a chance.”
Anton Slepyshev scored the Russians’ only goal in the regulation, 15 seconds into the second period. Johansson made 39 saves through the 3-on-3 overtime.
After beating Germany in overtime in the final in PyeongChang, the Russians will face a more formidable opponent this time in Finland, who defeated Slovakia 2-0 in the second semifinal.
Finland scored a goal from the tournament’s MVP candidate Sakari Manninen and 28 saves from Harri Sateri to move within a victory of the nation’s first Olympic hockey gold. The closest Finland has come were silver medals in 2006 and 1988.
“It’s huge for everyone individually, as a team and as a hockey country,” said Sateri. “It’s a big thing.”
Slovakia will play against Sweden for bronze and go for their first hockey medal of any kind since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia.
“It would be a huge achievement, but it will be a tough match,” said the 17-year-old forward Juraj Slafkovsky, which is a draw for the tournament management with five goals. “If we do our best, I’m not worried we can not win the match.”
Chinese couple leads the Russians after short program
Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China broke its own world record for a short program on Friday night, giving them the smallest lead over Russian rivals Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov on his way to the skating rink to decide the Olympic champion.
Sui and Han, who won the short program at the 2018 PyeongChang Games before settling for the silver medal, scored 84.41 points for their orchestral suite from the movie “Mission: Impossible 2.” It topped the record of 82.83 points they set during the short program for the team competition earlier this month.
Tarasova and Morozov, who are trained in part by the controversial Eteri Tutberidze, would also have broken records with their short program. Instead, fourth places in PyeongChang were 16-100 points behind.
British men, women curlers in the final
The British will have two chances to win a gold medal in curling, a sport that is Scottish in every way – apart from the Olympic results.
One day after the British men took part in the final, Eve Muirheads foursome joined them with a 12-11, extra-end victory over defending Olympic champion Sweden.
The British women – in fact, every player on all of Britain’s curling teams is from Scotland, and so are the stones they use in competitions – will play against Japan in Sunday’s gold medal match.
Bruce Mouats men play against Sweden in the final on Saturday, when the matches will once again be announced by sackers in full Highland regalia. If they win, it would be Britain’s first men’s curling medal since 1924; The women won everything in 2002, when the sport returned to the Winter Games after a 78-year absence.
The British relay team was stripped of silver from Tokyo
In one of Britain’s biggest Olympic doping scandals, the 4 x 100 meter relay team was deprived of its silver medal from Tokyo after CJ Ujahs Doping offenses were confirmed by the sports court on Friday.
Ujah was part of the quartet on the side Zharnel Hughes, Richard Kilty and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake who finished second after Italy in a close race with 0.01 seconds in August. However, a sample taken from Ujah after the race in the Japanese capital was found to contain the banned substances ostarine and S-23, which are muscle-building selective androgen receptor modulators.
Canada will be upgraded to silver with China taking bronze.