x

Beijing Preview, Feb. 14: US vs. Finland for shot at hockey gold

The U.S. is playing for a shot at yet another gold medal hockey final against Canada.

BEIJING, China — It's a big day for rematches at the Beijing Olympics: The United States faces Finland in women's hockey, and Max Parrot takes on Mark McMorris in snowboarding.

The U.S. beat Finland 5-2 to start the tournament, and the teams will clash again in the semifinals. Parrot beat McMorris in slopestyle — McMorris took issue with the judging — and now they compete again in big air. 

Women's downhill could be quite a comeback story for defending champ Sofia Goggia of Italy. Also, the freestyle skiing slopestyle event featuring Eileen Gu was pushed back to Monday night because of the weather.

U.S. vs. Finland hockey semifinal

It was a slow start for Finland in the women’s hockey tournament. The 2018 bronze medalists had to open against the U.S. and Canada and lost those games by a combined 16-3. The Finns then lost to Switzerland.

Now, however, they enter the semifinals on the heels of a 7-1 rout of Japan.

The winner of this game faces Canada for the gold medal. The Canadians easily dispatched Switzerland on Sunday 10-3.

Eileen Gu: Take two

Gu is a U.S native who competes for China, where her mother is from. She’s become one of the stars of the Beijing Games, winning gold in big air already.

The first run of the final is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.

Big air snowboarding two-fer

After Parrot took the gold in slopestyle, McMorris said: “Obviously would have been nice to have a different shade of medal. But knowing that I kind of had the run of the day and one of the best rounds of my life and the whole industry knows what happened — pretty, pretty crazy.”

McMorris later apologized to Parrot, who said it was no big deal. The two both compete for Canada.

The men's final will air in late night while the women's final will be in primetime.

Mikaela Shiffrin in downhill

Mikaela Shiffrin is still seeking her first medal of these Games. The downhill is by no means the American star's strongest event.

Goggia is coming off a pre-Olympic crash that left her with a sprained left knee, a partially torn cruciate ligament, a fracture of the fibula bone in her leg, as well as some tendon damage. She still managed to make it to the Beijing Games and participate in training for the downhill.

“For me, Olympic Games are everything, the place that you want to be to achieve your childhood dream," Goggia said. "There is no place I’d rather be than here. I don’t care about my condition.”

Travis Pittman contributed to this report.

Before You Leave, Check This Out