Olympics

Finland hockey had a monumental Wednesday at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

The women's team beat Switzerland 4-0 in the bronze-medal game. This marks the second consecutive third-place finish at the Olympics for the Finnish women's squad. 

Earlier in the day, the men's team clinched a berth in the semifinal with a 5-1 victory over Switzerland. After finishing sixth at the Pyeongchang Games in South Korea four years ago, they are assured of competing for a medal this year. 

On the other side of the spectrum in the men's tournament, Team USA and Canada will leave Beijing empty-handed. 

After earning the No. 1 overall seed with a dominant performance in the group stage, the Americans suffered a 3-2 shootout loss to Slovakia in the quarterfinals. 

Lucas Wallmark's goal midway through the third period opened the scoring for Sweden before Anton Lander sealed a 2-0 win over Canada. 

Women's Results 

Bronze-Medal Game: Finland 4, Switzerland 0

Men's Quarterfinal Results 

Slovakia 3, United States 2 (Shootout)

Finland 5, Switzerland 1

Russian Olympic Committee 3, Denmark 1

Sweden 2, Canada 0

Recap

Finland's defense stepped up in the women's victory over Switzerland. Viivi Vainikka gave her team a 1-0 lead in the first period. 

That score would stand until the third period, when Susanna Tapani was able to double it with a shorthanded goal early in the frame. 

Nelli Laitinen and Michelle Karvinen each scored a power-play goal in the final 10 minutes to turn a tense battle into an easy win for Finland. 

Switzerland goalie Andrea Brandli was under siege throughout the game. Finland got off 47 shots against her, compared to just 15 for Switzerland. 

Team USA's men's representatives picked an inopportune time to play its worst game of the tournament. The Americans had a 2-1 advantage after Sam Hentges' goal midway through the second period. 

That lead held until there was 44 seconds left in regulation, with Marek Hrivik putting a rebound shot past Strauss Mann. 

Goals proved difficult to come by after that point. After a scoreless overtime period, the U.S. and Slovakia went to a shootout. 

The first seven combined shot attempts by both teams were unsuccessful before Peter Cehlarik finally broke through. 

Andy Miele was the United States' final hope, but his shot attempt was saved by Patrik Rybar to seal the win for Slovakia. 

Canada finished an inconsistent tournament with a poor performance in a 2-0 loss to Sweden. The defense did a good job most of the game, including killing all three power-play chances for Sweden. 

Wallmark and Lander scored two goals in the third period to send Sweden into the semifinals. Lars Johansson recorded his first shutout of the tournament with 22 saves. 

This will mark the first Olympic tournament since 2006 that won't feature Canada or the United States competing for a men's hockey medal. 

Finland and the Russian Olympic Committee continued to roll in these Olympics. Finland had no problems in a 5-1 win over Switzerland. Miro Aaltonen and Mikko Lehtonen scored goals within the first 11 minutes of the opening period. 

Marko Anttila added a goal in the second period to put Finland up 3-0. Iiro Pakarinen and Teemu Hartikainen contributed single goals in the third. Andres Ambuhl's power-play goal in the second period got Switzerland on the board. 

Harri Sateri stopped 33 of 34 shots Switzerland managed against him in the win.

The Russian Olympic Committee beat Denmark for the second time in five days—they first met in group play, with the Russians earning a 2-0 win. 

With the stakes higher this time around, the Russian Olympic Committee got a 3-1 win over Denmark to reach the semifinals. The score was tied at one early in the second period thanks to goals from Vadim Shipachyov and Frans Nielsen. 

Nikita Nesterov put the Russians on top for good with 5:24 remaining in the second period. Vyacheslav Voinov's power-play goal in the third period sealed the victory. 

Denmark only managed to get 18 shots off against the Russian defense. 

The Russian Olympic Committee is two wins away from winning its second consecutive gold medal. They will have to get past Sweden in the semifinal on Friday at 8:10 a.m. ET. 

Finland and Slovakia will square off in the other semifinal. It will be played at 11:10 p.m. ET on Thursday. 

Kamila Valieva went through several days of not knowing whether she would be allowed to continue competing at the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned substance prior to the Games. But after the 15-year-old figure skater was cleared on Monday, she took the ice for the Russian Olympic Committee on Tuesday.

As expected, Valieva put together a strong performance in the short program and showed why she's still the favorite to capture the gold medal in the women's figure skating event in Beijing. She had a score of 82.16 points in Tuesday's event, which has her in first place. She will now look to capture the gold on the back of a strong showing in the free skate, which is scheduled for Thursday.

Here's everything you need to know heading into the women's free skate competition.

Women's Free Skate Info

Date: Thursday, Feb. 17

Start Time: 5 a.m. ET

TV: USA Network

Live Stream: Peacock, NBC Sports app and NBCOlympics.com

Re-air: 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC

Preview

Although Valieva impressed again in the women's short program, she wasn't as dominant as she was during the team event earlier in the Olympics. In that competition, she had significantly bigger scores than the rest of the field in both the short program and free skate to help the Russian Olympic Committee win gold.

This time, Valieva's 82.16 points were solid and good enough for the lead, but it isn't unassailable heading into the free skate. And that could make things interesting Thursday.

Valieva has a slim advantage over one of her ROC teammates. Anna Shcherbakova posted a score of 80.20 points, which has her in a position to potentially overtake Valieva with a strong performance in the free skate. Fellow Russian Alexandra Trusova placed fourth in the short program with 74.60 points.

A pair of Japanese figure skaters also had strong showings in the short program. Kaori Sakamoto placed third with 79.84 points, while Wakaba Higuchi was fifth with 73.51 points.

Valieva's lone mistake during the short program came on an early triple-axel attempt, as she stumbled and nearly fell. However, she recovered to deliver a solid performance that the judges deemed to be the strongest of the day.

Because of the controversy surrounding Valieva's failed drug test, the International Olympic Committee announced there won't be a medal ceremony for the women's figure skating event in Beijing if Valieva places in the top three.

This is Valieva's first time participating at the Winter Olympics, and it's highly probable she will earn a medal following the free skate. Shcherbakova and Trusova are also making their debuts at the Games, and it's possible the Russian trio could comprise the medal places.

Sakamoto will try to prevent that from happening, and she's off to a strong start considering she was only 2.32 points behind Valieva in the short program. The 21-year-old helped Japan win the bronze medal in the team event, and she's looking for her first individual Olympic medal.

Of the three American figure skaters in the event, Alysa Liu performed the best in the short program, placing eighth. Mariah Bell was in 11th, while Karen Chen ended up 13th. It seems unlikely that any of the three will come away with a medal from the competition.

While there were 30 figure skaters who competed in the short program, 25 entered for the free skate. They will perform in descending order from the short-program scores, so Valieva will be the final skater to take the ice as she aims to secure the gold.  

Alex Hall and Nick Goepper produced the second one-two finish for the United States at the 2022 Winter Olympics in the men's skiing slopestyle. 

Hall picked up the eighth gold medal for the Americans at the Beijing Games, while Goepper produced his third medal in three Olympic slopestyle events. 

Hall put down a run that earned the only score of over 90 points in the 12-man final to secure the second American gold in the event since it was introduced to the Olympic program in 2014.

The slopestyle duo joined the women's bobsled pair of Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers Taylor as Americans to finish first and second in an Olympic event. 

The two medals kept the United States in fourth place in the overall medal table. Norway still owns a commanding lead in the overall medal table and the gold-medal race with a few days of competition left. 

Medal Count Top 5

1. Norway (13 gold, 7 silver, 8 bronze) - 28

2. Russian Olympic Committee (4 gold, 8 silver, 12 bronze) - 24

3. Germany (10 gold, 6 silver, 4 bronze) - 20 

4. United States (8 gold, 7 silver, 4 bronze) - 19

5. Canada (3 gold, 4 silver, 11 bronze) - 18 

Full medal table can be found on NBCOlympics.com.

Day 12 Medal Winners

Alpine Skiing

Men's Slalom

Gold: Clement Noel (France) 

Silver: Johannes Strolz (Austria)

Bronze: Sebastian Foss Solevaag (Norway) 

Biathlon

Women's 4x6-kilometer Relay

Gold: Sweden

Silver: ROC 

Bronze: Germany

Cross-Country Skiing

Men's Team Sprint

Gold: Norway

Silver: Finland

Bronze: ROC 

Women's Team Sprint

Gold: Germany

Silver: Sweden

Bronze: ROC 

Freestyle Skiing

Men's Aerials

Gold: Guangpu Qi (China)

Silver: Oleksandr Abramenko (Ukraine)

Bronze: Ilya Burov (ROC)

Men's Slopestyle

Gold: Alex Hall (USA)

Silver: Nick Goepper (USA)

Bronze: Jesper Tjader (Sweden)

Short Track

Men's 5000m Relay

Gold: Canada

Silver: South Korea

Bronze: Italy

Women's 1500m

Gold: Choi Min-jeong (South Korea)

Silver: Arianna Fontana (Italy)

Bronze: Suzanne Schulting (Netherlands)

Alex Hall, Nick Goepper Finish One-Two In Skiing Slopestyle

Alex Hall sat on top of the skiing slopestyle standings for most of the final round. 

Hall's first of three runs in the 12-man final turned out to be his best. He delivered a score of 90.01 points that no one would match over the next two sets of runs down the slopestyle course. 

Hall called the gold-medal-winning run the best one he has ever produced in a competition, per Yahoo's Jack Baer.

"It definitely was the best slopestyle run I've ever done, mainly because it embodied everything I love about skiing and how I approach skiing and I didn't fade away from that to try and maybe get bigger scores or something," Hall said.

Goepper joined Hall on the medal podium after he earned an 86.48 on his second run down the course at the Genting Snow Park. 

Goepper's score kept him above the rest of the competition throughout the third run. Only four of the 12 finalists completed their final runs as they went big to try and land on the medal stand.

The silver medal made Goepper the only athlete to medal in every iteration of the skiing slopestyle contest. He took third in an American sweep in 2014, and he landed a silver medal in 2018. 

The two medals gave freestyle skiing the lead in the sport with the most medals won by Americans. The United States won gold in the mixed team aerials, silver in women's moguls and men's big air and bronze in women's aerials. 

Snowboarding and figure skating are the only other sports that produced three medals for the Americans at the Beijing Games. 

Canada Lands 3rd Gold In Beijing

Canada picked up its third gold medal in China from one of the most exciting events on the Olympic program.

The team of Charles Hamelin, Steven Dubois, Pascal Dion and Jordan Pierre-Gilles won the men's 5,000-meter relay on the short track speedskating rink. 

The 5,000-meter relay is a 45-lap race in which teammates pass off to each other about every two laps. The margin of difficulty is high, and it sometimes does not end well for teams that are not organized. 

Canada beat out South Korea by four-hundredths of a second to claim its first gold in the event since 2010. 

Hamelin was the only member of both relay teams, and at 37, Wednesday's race was the last of his Olympic career. 

Hamelin finished his Olympic career with six overall medals. He earned two individual golds, one from the 500 meters in 2010 and the other in the 1,500 meters in 2014. 

Short track has been the second-most successful sport for Canada at the Olympics. It has earned six snowboarding medals and four from short track as part of its overall haul of 18 medals. 

The Sweden men's hockey team has advanced to the semifinals at the 2022 Winter Olympics with a 2-0 win over Canada on Wednesday. 

Lucas Wallmark broke the stalemate with an unassisted goal midway through the third period. Anton Lander put the icing on the cake with his team-leading third goal of the Games with less than two minutes left to play. 

There were plenty of question marks about how good this Canada team was leading into the knockout stage of the tournament. All three of their wins came against Germany and China, who combined to go 1-0-7 in Beijing. 

Canada's only significant test in group play was against Team USA in a game the Americans won 4-2. 

In the playoff game to reach the quarterfinals, Canada looked sloppy early against China. The latter had two breakaways and a penalty shot in the first period. The Canadians eventually got on track to earn a 7-2 win.

A lack of consistency has been the defining trait for Canada. Head coach Claude Julien has been trying to find the right answers. Matt Tomkins stopped 77 of 80 shots in three games, including Wednesday, after taking over for Edward Pasquale. 

Canada's power play resulted in four goals on eight chances against China in the playoff. 

Sweden was a significant step up in competition from that game. The European side won two of three games in Group C, with their lone defeat coming in overtime against an excellent Finland squad. 

The Swedes also had plenty of rest for this game because they secured a bye into the quarterfinal as the highest-ranked second-place finisher coming out of group play. 

Lars Johansson and Sweden's defense did a fantastic job of limiting Canada's opportunities. Johansson only had to stop 22 shots to record his first shutout of the tournament. 

Canada had three power-play chances in the game but was unable to convert on any of them. Julien's squad only managed four shots in the third period. 

The Canada defense was able to match Sweden for most of the game. Wallmark finally got Sweden on the board when he forced a turnover and got a shot off that was deflected by a Canada player before getting past Tomkins. 

Lander sealed the win with an empty-net goal. The victory sends Sweden into its first Olympic semifinal since 2014 when it lost to Canada in the gold-medal game. 

This marks the first time Canada's men's hockey team won't medal at the Olympics since 2006. 

Sweden will take on the Russian Olympic Committee in the second semifinal on Friday at 8:10 a.m. ET. 

Finland rolled to a 4-0 victory over Switzerland on Wednesday to capture the bronze medal in the women's hockey tournament at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Viivi Vainikka, Susanna Tapani, Nelli Laitinen and Michelle Karvinen scored for the Finns, who dominated the Swiss in the shot battle, 47-15, and tallied three of their goals on special teams (two on the power play and one shorthanded).

Finland has now captured four bronze medals in women's hockey at the Olympics. It also took third place at the 1998 Nagano Games in Japan, the 2010 Vancouver Games in Canada and the 2018 Pyeongchang Games in South Korea.

Vainikka opened the scoring midway through the first period to cap a slick sequence of passes by the Finns:

After a scoreless second frame, Finland started to pull away in the third beginning with a strong individual effort and wicked wrister by Tapani:

Laitinen and Karvinen added power-play goals inside the game's final six minutes to end any thought of a potential Switzerland comeback.

Anni Keisala recorded the shutout between the pipes for Finland. Elisa Holopainen (two assists) was the only player to record more than one point as part of a well-balanced offensive effort.

Wednesday's win also avenged a 3-2 loss to the Swiss during the group stage earlier in this year's Games.

Looking ahead, the women's hockey tournament will wrap up Thursday in Beijing (Wednesday night at 11:10 p.m. ET in the U.S.) as the rivalry between Team USA and Canada takes center stage once again.

The Americans and Canadians faced off in five of the previous six Olympic finals. Canada holds a 3-2 edge in those prior goal-medal meetings and also scored a 4-2 win when the sides battled to close out group play last week.

Four years ago, however, the U.S. won in a shootout to land atop the podium for the first time since 1998.

The 2022 Winter Olympics haven't gone as expected for Mikaela Shiffrin.

The 26-year-old skier from the United States headed to Beijing as the favorite in several events, but she hasn't placed better than ninth so far, including not finishing in the slalom and the giant slalom.

However, there's still one opportunity for Shiffrin to earn a medal at the Winter Games. She'll be among those participating in the women's combined event, which will air live on Wednesday night/early Thursday morning in the U.S.

At the 2018 Winter Olympics, Shiffrin won the silver medal in the combined event, which features one downhill run and one slalom run on the same day. So it's possible she'll bounce back from her early struggles in China and have a strong performance.

Here's everything else you need to know about the combined event, which will be the final women's alpine skiing competition at this year's Games.

Women's Combined Event Schedule

Wednesday, Feb. 16

Downhill run, 9:30 p.m. ET, NBC

Thursday, Feb. 17

Slalom run, 1 a.m. ET, USA Network

Coverage can be streamed live on Peacock, the NBC Sports app and NBCOlympics.com.

Preview

Shiffrin isn't used to the type of results she's had during the 2022 Winter Olympics. Prior to this year, she had competed in five Olympic events and never placed worse than fifth while capturing two gold medals and one silver.

Although the Vail, Colorado native placed 18th in the women's downhill event earlier this week, it was the first time she had participated in that competition at the Olympic level. And even though she didn't earn a medal, she got some experience on the downhill course, which will be used again in the combined event.

But if Shiffrin is going to fare well in the combined event, she'll also need to do better on the slalom course. There won't be much time for her to prepare for that, either, as the skiers will hit that course shortly after their downhill runs.

"It's just important to be able to compartmentalize the downhill run, be fully focused on the downhill run and then start the slalom portion of the run as if it's a new day," she said, per AFP's Luke Phillips (h/t Yahoo Sports). "That's really hard to do—combined days are long and the events could not be more opposite; it's like doing two different sports in one day."

This is the third time Shiffrin has competed at the Winter Olympics, and she earned gold at each of the previous two (the slalom in 2014, the giant slalom in 2018). She'll be competing in the combined event for the second time, after winning the silver in 2018.

She could fare much better than she has during her previous events in Beijing, but there's some strong competition in the field that could prevent her from winning gold and perhaps even keep her from ending up on the medal stand.

Michelle Gisin and Wendy Holdener, both of Switzerland, have had success in the combined event in the past. The former won the gold medal in 2018, while the latter captured the bronze that year.

At this year's Games, they have each won a bronze medal. Gisin placed third in the super-G event, while Holdener was third in the slalom. Holdener has never won individual gold in Olympic competition, but that could change in the combined event.

Another skier to watch in the combined event could be Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic. She has competed in both snowboarding and skiing events at each of the past two Winter Games, and this year, she won the gold in the parallel giant slalom for women's snowboarding.

The 26-year-old has never previously competed in the combined event at the Olympic level, but she won the gold medal in the super-G event in 2018 and placed fifth this year.

However, many eyes will be on Shiffrin, who won the gold medal in the combined event at the 2021 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships. If she can do the same in Beijing, it will be a strong finish to what has been a tough Winter Games for the American.

The Russian dominance was expected in Tuesday's short program. So, too, was the Americans' lack thereof. But if you haven't followed U.S. figure skating in a while, you might wonder, what happened? 

The American figure skaters Alysa Liu, Mariah Bell, and Karen Chen were in eighth, 11th, and 13th place, respectively, following the women's short program Tuesday. All will proceed to the final Thursday, though none are considered favorites to medal. 

Liu skated the cleanest routine of the three Americans and held onto third place following the fourth rotation, in which she and Chen performed. Bell, who skated in the second rotation, fell during her routine, as did Chen. 

But after Kamila Valieva, the 15-year-old Russian at the center of a doping investigation, performed in the fifth rotation, she soared to first place and was followed by her compatriot Anna Scherbakova in second. Kaori Sakamoto of Japan is in third place, and Alexandra Trusova, the third Russian teenager in this event, was in fourth after she fell during her performance. 

An American woman last medaled in the individual event in 2006, when Sasha Cohen took home a silver. Sarah Hughes won the last gold medal for the U.S. in 2002. Since then, the number of Americans watching figure skating has steadily declined. 

In 1998, 6.8 million Americans watched the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on television. Twenty years later, heading into the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, only 4.5 million Americans watched the national championship. 

In January, only 2.34 million viewers tuned in for the 2022 U.S. Figure Skating Championship. 

In 1994, the year Tonya Harding's ex-husband hired a man to hit Harding's competitor Nancy Kerrigan in the right kneecap with a baton at that year's national championship, the Olympic short program in Lillehammer, Norway, featuring Harding and Kerrigan became, at the time, the third most-watched sporting event in television history, behind two Super Bowls. It is still the most-watched Winter Olympic event, with 126.6 million viewers tuning in to watch Kerrigan take the silver medal (Oksana Baiul of Ukraine won gold) and Harding's skate laces break as she sobbed to the judges for another chance. 

Meanwhile, the Beijing Games are likely to become the least-watched Winter Olympics ever. NBC, which airs the Games in the U.S., warned advertisers in January to prepare for the ratings decline. 

Why are fewer people tuning in to what used to be a marquee event and must-see TV? 

Turns out figure skating is actually harder to understand than it used to be, thanks to changes in the judging system that went into effect in 2004 and was fully implemented in 2006. A judging scandal at the 2002 Olympics, when two French skating officials fixed the pairs skating competition, allowing a Russian duo to win gold in exchange for Russian judging support of the French in the ice dancing event, forced that change. The International Skating Union (ISU), figure skating's international governing body, wanted to make that kind of cheating more difficult. They eliminated the old 6.0 scale for ranking skaters after their difficulty and presentation were independently assessed. 

Now, under the International Judging System (ISJ), skaters receive a base score for each element performed—the gravity-defying jumps, spins, and step sequences for which the sport is known. Then they are assessed separately for how well they perform each element, and for the quality of their skating and of the performance. And don't forget the bonuses! A 10 percent bonus is awarded to any jump element performed during the second half of a skater's routine. 

All of this can be deeply perplexing for a four-year fan trying to keep up with an Olympic broadcast—even with its color-coded system designed to show when elements are landed and rewarded thusly. Dick Button, the former figure skater and skating analyst, blamed the sport's dropping ratings on the new system in a 2018 interview with CNN's Ahiza Garcia. "One could hear folks in a bar cheer and argue about whether someone should have had a 5.7 or 5.8," Button said of the old system. "Now a 'personal best' of 283.4 points is confusing!" 

Button also criticized the ISJ for rewarding difficulty at the expense of clean execution. And indeed, with the rise of quad jumps and quad combinations, the most difficult skills currently competed, it is theoretically possible for a skater who falters, or even falls, on one of these to win over an athlete with better execution but no quad, according to Alex Abad-Santos in Vox earlier this month. 

When skating got harder to understand, viewers quit trying. And with no one watching, the sport had less incentive to grow in America. Fewer athletes stuck with the sport, and those who did were not pushing its limits. 

Tara Lipinski, the surprise 1998 gold medalist who now works as one of NBC's figure-skating analysts on prime-time broadcasts, wrote in a New York Times op-ed in 2018 that the judging system's rewards for risks in terms of difficulty are what enabled Russian women to overtake Americans in the event. Young American skaters, said Lipinski, "were rewarded not for innovating … but for skating cleanly" in domestic competitions, but not internationally. Meanwhile, Russian skaters took advantage of the points system, "up[ping] the technical difficulty at a very young age," Lipinski wrote.

While membership in U.S. Figure Skating has been steady for the past few decades, with spikes in Olympic years, nearly half its members are under 12. Americans tend to train individually, with no government support unlike in Russia or high-level development camps as in Japan. The sport is hugely expensive for Americans, who might spend $50,000 or more per year at the top levels. 

Compared to Russia, where there is a deep pipeline of junior skaters who have trained difficult skills in a centralized system on the state's dime for years, there are comparatively few skaters sticking it out through puberty and beyond in the U.S. But as Dvora Meyers, writing for FiveThirtyEight, observes, it is largely only by racing puberty that the current crop of young Russian skaters are able to do quads. 

Valieva, 15, and Trusova and Scherbakova, both 17, all train under Eteri Tutberidze in what Daniel Victor of The New York Times termed "a skating factory." Before her positive doping test came to light, Valieva became the first woman to land a quad in Olympic competition last week. 

All three Russian skaters utilize a technique called pre-rotation, twisting their upper bodies in preparation before their feet leave the ice, which allows them to complete the quad (and many also use the same technique for triples). The technique is hard on the back and blamed for many Russian skaters' early retirements from the sport, said Meyers, who also writes that no skater over 18 has landed a quad. (Lipinski, who wrote that she was "proud to have played a small part" in pushing skaters toward more difficulty versus cleaner execution, was the first woman to land a triple loop-triple loop combination in competition, trained a quad, but retired after winning the Olympics at 15 and needed hip surgery before the age of 20.) 

Liu, now 16, was the first American woman to land a quad jump in competition, in 2019. She was a junior at the time, subsequently endured a growth spurt, and has not landed one in a senior competition. If Liu tries a quad at the Olympics, she could challenge for a medal. Bell, 25, the reigning national champion, and Chen, 22, do not attempt them. While their comparative longevity in the sport is impressive, the lack of quads likely means neither will win a medal.

Between dwindling numbers of mature skaters at America's rinks and dwindling numbers of viewers for the sport at home, the sport of figure skating is beginning to feel a bit like a cultural relic in the U.S. Our competitors, particularly Russia, produce medalists who keep the sport looking fresher, but at what cost? Neither system wins, and the viewers lose the most. 

There are only five days of events left in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, and Wednesday offers a packed slate. 

In the morning, there's a men's hockey quarterfinal game between Sweden and Canada, as well as the women's bronze-medal game between Finland and Switzerland.

There is also plenty of curling action, including the United States versus Japan in women's round-robin play. U.S. viewers who aren't up early enough to watch the morning's play can catch a repeat of the drama in the early evening. 

In freestyle skiing, the men's aerials finals will take place at 7 a.m., and men's and women's halfpipe qualifiers get underway as the day draws to a close. In alpine skiing, Mikaela Shiffrin will compete in her fifth individual event at these Games, the combined downhill, at 9:30 p.m. ET. 

It all leads up to the day's premier offering: the United States takes on Canada in the women's hockey gold-medal game at 11:10 p.m. ET with primetime NBC coverage. So make sure to drink that extra coffee this afternoon!

There are a few medals on the table for the U.S. on Wednesday. Let's take a closer look at the schedule, with TV repeats for the early events also listed. 

Wednesday Olympics Schedule and TV Coverage (all times ET)

Curling: Women's round-robin play, Canada vs. China (7:05 a.m.)

Curling: Women's round-robin play, Japan vs. USA (7:05 a.m.; 5 p.m., CNBC)

Curling: Women's round-robin play, Korea vs. Denmark (7:05 a.m.)

Curling: Women's round-robin play, ROC vs. Sweden (7:05 a.m.)

Men's Hockey: Sweden vs. Canada quarterfinal (8:30 a.m., USA Network)

Biathlon: Women's relay 4x6-kilometer (2:45 a.m; 11 a.m., USA Network)

Freestyle Skiing: Men's aerials finals (7 a.m.; 12 p.m., USA Network)

Women's Hockey: Bronze-medal game, Finland vs. Switzerland (6:30 a.m.; 1 p.m., USA Network)

Curling: Men's round-robin play, Great Britain vs. ROC (1:05 a.m.; 3 p.m., USA Network)

Curling: Men's round-robin play, Canada vs. Great Britain (8:05 p.m.)

Curling: Men's round-robin play, Denmark vs. USA (8:05 p.m., CNBC) 

Freestyle Skiing: Women's halfpipe qualifying (8:30 p.m., USA Network)

Alpine Skiing: Women's combined downhill (9:30 p.m.)

Freestyle Skiing: Women's ski cross qualifying (10:30 p.m., USA Network)

Women's Hockey: Gold-medal game, Canada vs. USA (11:10 p.m., NBC primetime)

Freestyle Skiing: Men's halfpipe qualifying (11:30 p.m., USA Network)

All events can be found on NBCOlympics.com and Peacock.

Mikaela Shiffrin Defends 2018 Combined Downhill Silver Medal

Shiffrin has already competed in four individual events at these Games; participating in her fifth, the women's combined downhill on Wednesday night (Thursday morning in China), makes for the most individual events she has participated at in any Olympics.

She's not stopping there. Shiffrin confirmed to Eurosport she plans to compete in the team parallel slalom competition on Feb. 19, her first time participating in that event.

Shiffrin heads into Wednesday's combined event hoping for her most successful turn yet at these Games. So far, she's had DNFs in giant slalom and slalom, finished ninth in the super-G and finished 18th in downhill, her first finish outside the top 10 in her three Olympic appearances. 

The 26-year-old is the defending silver medalist in the combined event from the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and a favorite to make the podium this time around—her potential first medal of these Games. 

Per NBCOlympics.com's Eric Goodman, only one woman, Slovakia's Petra Vlhova, has entered six Alpine skiing events at a single Games, at Pyeongchang 2018, where the mixed team event made its debut.

United States takes on Canada in Women's Hockey Gold-Medal Game

The U.S. women will take on Canada in the women's gold-medal game on Wednesday for the seventh time in Olympic history. Canada has won gold four times, but the U.S. is the defending champion from the Pyeongchang Games. 

Still, Canada won't make it easy for the United States to retain its crown. 

Per ESPN, Canada's 54 goals in the Beijing Games are an Olympic record for a single tournament. That's an improvement on the previous record of 48, which Canada set at its home Games in Vancouver in 2010.

Canada is coming off a 10-3 rout of Switzerland in the semifinals, while the U.S. defeated Finland 4-1. 

Team USA's Hilary Knight is one of eight Team USA members competing in their fourth Games. She leads the team in scoring with nine points overall.

Since women's hockey made its debut at the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan, the U.S. and Canada have met in every final but one. The United States had not won gold since Nagano until its shootout victory over Canada four years ago. 

The United States women's hockey team's decades-long rivalry with Canada will have a new chapter written Wednesday night when the teams face off in the gold-medal game of the 2022 Winter Olympics.

The U.S. and Canada were on a collision course for the championship match since the bracket was released prior to the start of the Beijing Games.

In the group stage, Canada gained the upper hand on the United States by way of a 4-2 victory. That result placed the North American rivals on opposite ends of the knockout-round bracket.

Canada reeled off 21 goals in its past two games to prepare for its second matchup with the Americans. The United States, meanwhile, netted four times in each of its elimination games.

Wednesday night's meeting is repeat of the past three Olympic gold-medal games. Canada won gold in 2010 and 2014, and the United States is the reigning champion.

USA vs. Canada Info

Date: Wednesday, February 16

Start Time: 11 p.m. ET 

TV: NBC

Live Stream: NBCOlympics.com and Peacock

Preview

The expected final of the women's hockey tournament was United States vs. Canada.

The North American rivals have dominated the competition for the past 12 years. Canada has two golds and the United States owns one from the past three Winter Games. In total, Canada is in possession of four gold medals, while the Americans have two. No other nation has won gold in women's hockey since it was introduced to the Olympic program in 1998.

Canada comes into the latest gold-medal showdown as the favorite since it won the Group A meeting and its offense has been on fire in Beijing.

Brianne Jenner and Sarah Fillier have combined for 17 goals in the tournament. The scoring leaderboard is loaded with Canadian players.

Jenner noted in her discussions with reporters that Canada needs to turn in a strong performance separate from the other games to win gold:

"I think we know that history, but we're going to give ourselves a blank slate. We've got to go out and have a gold-medal performance, whether it results in a gold medal (or not). We want to make sure we go out and get the best performance we possibly can."

Jamie Lee Rattay has five goals, while Sarah Nurse and Marie-Philip Poulin have four apiece for the deepest offense in the tournament.

The United States did its best to contain the Canadian goal-scorers in the first meeting. Canada scored four times, but that is a significantly lower total compared to the rest of its games. Canada has hit double figures in four of its six contests in Beijing.

The American defense must contain the Canadian attack to have any shot of repeating as the Olympic winner.

Team USA is excited for the chance to face Canada for gold once again, as captain Kendall Coyne Schofield noted, per John Wawrow of the Associated Press:

"These are the the games that we live for. Everyone's been so resilient through the pandemic with the ups and downs, the cancellations, postponements and finding ways to train, and it's for this moment. We're going to empty the tanks, and this is what we came here to do."

Coyne Schofield and Co. need to be cleaner than they were in the first two knockout-round games to match Canada's level.

The Americans did not put away the Czech Republic until the third period in the quarterfinals and they faced a fight for 40 minutes from Finland in the semifinals.

If the United States plays cleaner on both ends and can keep Canada under five goals again, it will have a shot at repeating as Olympic champion.

Canada's primary key is to pepper the American net with shots, and if it converts on a handful of those chances, it could run away with the contest.