Hello from Milan and Cortina, where we are heading to the wider area of these Winter Games. Today in the quarterfinals of the men’s hockey tournament, three of the four games went into overtime. In the last game of the day, Quinn Hughes scored the game-winning goal Team USA won 2-1 against Sweden.
Our reporters are all included below and at NBC News. Catch it all streaming Peacock.
Live from Milan Cortina
The quarterfinal round of the men’s Olympic hockey tournament today could not have been closer. After Slovakia beat Germany 6-2, the next three games went to extra time.
First, Team Canada barely survived against Czechia, as Jordan Binningtonthe oft-criticized Canadian goalkeeper, made a key save in the long run in a 4-3 win. Then reigning Olympic champions Finland made a late comeback to defeat Switzerland 3-2 in overtime.
But the nightcap was just as fun. The Americans held one goal for most of the game, until Sweden Mika Zibanejad score with less than two minutes left in regulation. By then, hockey fans were familiar with the rules of overtime: sudden death, 10 minutes, 3-on-3.
In a few minutes overtime, Quinn Hughes he found an open space and unleashed a wicked shot that hit the post and into the net. The rest of Team America joined him in celebration.
The USA will now play Slovakia in the semifinals on Friday, and Canada will play Finland for a trip to the gold medal game.
At the beginning of the day, Mikaela Shiffrin he had approved his own time of victory. For all his dominance throughout Alpine skiing, Shiffrin in recent years had failed on the sport’s biggest stage.
She has missed out on medals in her last eight Olympic events: six at the 2022 Beijing Games and two at the Milan Cortina Games. His last chance for a medal in Italy came today in the slalom, his strongest event.
Shiffrin appeared to be up for the challenge. He raced to first place with a combined time of 1:39.1 — 1.5 seconds ahead of silver, and 1.71 seconds ahead of bronze.
It was the largest margin of victory in any Olympic Alpine skiing event since 1998.
“Skating is what I was focused on and, the medal and (winning) the gold, I mean, that’s a dream come true,” Shiffrin told NBC. “But sometime this week, I just said, ‘Stop dreaming, just ski.’ … And I’m very happy to be able to do the right thing at the right time.” (For more on Shiffrin, read on This is Tim Layden’s place posting on the NBC Olympics and these eight figures on how he made history.)
Number of medals
Norway has taken the lead in the medal race, thanks to the young athletes Johannes Høsflot Klæboa Norwegian cross-country skier who won another gold medal today in the men’s team race. He has now won five gold medals at the Games and has joined the ranks of American swimmers Michael Phelps as the only Olympians ever to win 10 or more gold medals.
Klæbo could win a sixth gold medal, in the 50 kilometer mass starting on Saturday.
The highlight of the athlete
Ahead of tomorrow’s USA-Canada gold medal hockey game, Hilary Knight he proposed to his longtime girlfriend, an American speedskater and fellow Olympian Brittany Bowe.
Knight and Bowe got to know each other at the 2022 Beijing Games, which were still under severe pandemic restrictions. “Having the human connection, and being able to travel outside, it was really cool,” Knight told Olympics.com.
In an Instagram post announcing the engagement, Knight wrote, “The Olympics brought us together. This one made us forever.”
Tomorrow, Knight and Team USA will face Canada for the fifth straight time in the gold medal game. In the last four Olympic finals, the Americans have won only once, in 2018.
What is a skimo?
A new Olympic sport will debut tomorrow – a brutal, high-level sport called ski mountaineering. Or skimo, for short.
In skimo, skiers paddle uphill wearing carpet-like skins on their skis or in their hard boots, then back down the barrel on ungroomed terrain.
Three skimo events will be held in Bormio, Italy: a men’s sprint, a women’s sprint, and a cross-country race.
The United States will compete in the relay, which begins with the skins section – essentially an uphill race with a free heel and climbing skins attached to skis. Athletes then rip off skins and ski a short downhill section before returning to the ascent, this time with a combination of skinning and bootpacking (running uphill in their ski boots, with the snowpack secured in a bag). Finally, they went down the hill.
When to watch?
If you were planning to call off work sick to watch the Olympics, Thursday is the day to do so. We have semifinals, finals in both women’s and men’s skimo, bronze and gold medal games in women’s hockey, and Jordan Stolz to another gold in speedskating.
On top of all that? The final figure skating medal of the Olympics will be awarded in a single event for the women, and the Americans Alysa Liu in the race for the medal.
All times are in the East, and an asterisk indicates a medal event:
Thursday, February 19
- 3:05 am: Curling, men’s round robin (Sweden vs. Czechia, Italy vs. Switzerland, China vs. Germany, Norway vs. Canada)
- 3:10 am: Nordic combined, team running trial cycle
- 3:50 am: Snow climbing, the women’s athlete is hot
- 4 a.m.: Nordic combined, competitive cycle for team running
- 4:30 a.m.: Freestyle skiing, men’s freeski halfpipe qualifying run 1
- 4:30 a.m.: Climbing mountains in the snow, the male athlete is hot
- 5:27 am: Freestyle skiing, men’s freeski halfpipe qualifying runs 2
- 6:55 a.m.: Ski mountaineering, women’s sprint semifinal
- 7:25 a.m.: Ski mountaineering, men’s sprint semi-final
- 7:55 a.m.: Ski mountaineering, women’s sprint finals*
- 8 a.m.: Nordic combined, cross country running team*
- 8:05 a.m.: Curling, women’s round robin (Switzerland vs. USA, Canada vs. Korea, Japan vs. China, Great Britain vs. Italy)
- 8:15 a.m.: Ski mountaineering, men’s sprint finals*
- 8:40 a.m.: Women’s hockey, bronze medal match, Switzerland vs. Sweden*
- 10:30 a.m.: Speedskating, men’s 1,500-meter*
- 1 p.m.: Figure skating, women’s singles, free skate*
- 1:05pm: Curling, men’s semi-finals
- 1:05pm: Curling, men’s semi-finals
- 1:10 p.m.: Women’s hockey, gold medal game, USA vs. Canada*
- 1:30 pm: Freestyle skiing, freeski halfpipe for women
That’s it for now! We will be back tomorrow.
