Canada slips one by U.S. women

Canada’s Meghan Agosta-Marciano (left) celebrates a goal in a 3-2 victory as U.S. goalkeeper Jessie Vetter (right) and teammate Kendall Coyne (26) watch the shot Wednesday. The teams are favored to meet in the gold medal game.
Canada’s Meghan Agosta-Marciano (left) celebrates a goal in a 3-2 victory as U.S. goalkeeper Jessie Vetter (right) and teammate Kendall Coyne (26) watch the shot Wednesday. The teams are favored to meet in the gold medal game.

SOCHI, Russia - The puck trickled under Jesse Vetter’s pads and over the goal line, and then the whistle blew.

Or was it the other way around?

The Canadian women’s hockey team beat the United States 3-2 on Wednesday in a tense preview of the expected gold medal match, taking the lead on Hayley Wickenheiser’s controversial third-period goal. Meghan Agosta scored in the second period to tie the game 1-1, and then Canada added the go-ahead goal 93 seconds later on a shot that U.S. goalie Jesse Vetter seemed to have stopped, drawing a whistle from referee Anna Eskola of Finland.

But the puck slid through Vetter’s pads and over the goal line. A video - and presumably audio - review confirmed the puck went into the net before the whistle.

“You celebrate when you see the puck cross the line,” said Wickenheiser, who is participating in her fifth Winter Games. “It doesn’t matter how.”

But Vetter said she thought the whistle had blown before the puck came loose. American Coach Katey Stone was even more sure of it.

“I did hear a whistle blow before the puck went in,” she said. “But, more importantly, I said to our players, ‘Regardless of what happens, let’s be ready.’ ”

They weren’t.

The Americans allowed Agosta to break into the zone by herself and beat Vetter with just over five minutes remaining - the second goal of the game for the MVP of the 2010 Olympics - giving Canada a 3-1 lead. The U.S. pulled the goalie and cut the deficit to one on Anne Schleper’s goal with 65 seconds left, but even with a power play that gave them a 6-on-4 advantage they couldn’t tie it.

Hilary Knight also scored and Vetter stopped 28 shots for the United States, which also had secured a spot in the semis already. Charline Labonte made 25 saves for Canada, which had already earned a bye into the semifinals and now will take the No. 1 seed into the playoffs.

If they both win, they would meet again in the final.

FIGURE SKATING A Russian return

Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov won the Olympic gold medal in pairs figure skating as Russia took the top two spots to reclaim its dominance of the sport.

Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov had a near-flawless free skate to move up from third after the short program and capture silver in front of the ecstatic home fans.

Volosozhar and Trankov scored 152.69 points to finish with 236.86, 18.18 ahead of their teammates.

Four-time world champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany had to settle for bronze for the second consecutive Olympics.

Russia or the Soviet Union had won gold in 12 consecutive Olympics in the event before the streak ended four years ago, when the Russians failed to take home any pairs medal from Vancouver.

WOMEN’S DOWNHILL

Maze, Gisin in rare tie

The gold market got a rare boost Wednesday in the women’s downhill.

Tina Maze of Slovenia and Dominique Gisin of Switzerland were both declared winners when they finished with identical times. Lara Gut of Switzerland won the bronze.

On a day when temperatures approached 50 degrees (10 C), Maze and Gisin completed the 1.69-mile (2.7-kilometer) Rosa Khutor course in 1 minute, 41.57 seconds. Gut was 0.10 seconds back.

Two favorites, Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany and Julia Mancuso of the U.S., were out of contention. Hoefl-Riesch, eyeing a record-equaling fourth Olympic Alpine gold, finished 13th. Mancuso was eighth.

“It’s actually crazy that it comes down to one-hundredths [of a second] and there is not one-thousandths as a tiebreaker,” Mancuso said.

The last tie in Olympic skiing happened in men’s super-G at the 1998 Nagano Olympics. Didier Cuche of Switzerland and Hans Knauss of Austria both got silver behind winner Hermann Maier. Twice, two women have tied for second in Olympic giant slaloms.

NORDIC COMBINED Frenzel dominates

Eric Frenzel wasn’t about to have a letdown on his sport’s biggest stage.

The 25-year-old German led after ski jumping, worked with eventual silver medal winner Akito Wanabe on the 10-kilometer cross-country phase and then left the Japanese skier in a haze of snow to win the individual normal hill gold on Wednesday.

Frenzel won the World Cup last season, is a runaway leader this season after seven victories, and had a bronze medal with the German team from Vancouver in 2010.

Add an Olympic gold to that list of accomplishments,with the likelihood they’ll be a few more before he’s done.

Frenzel said he had read last week that his sport is ranked the most difficult discipline at the Olympics, and he agrees.

“You have to be healthy in mind and body,” he said. “I think Nordic combined athletes are the kings of winter sport.”

If so, Frenzel is the head of the royal family.

“I can’t describe this feeling, it’s so perfect,” said Frenzel. “I felt big pressure here but I managed it well.”

SKI JUMPING Two injured in practice

Gold medalist Kamil Stoch of Poland and Russian ski jumper Mikhail Maksimochkin crashed during landings Wednesday night while training for the individual large hill event.

Stoch, who won gold in the normal hill event Sunday, was the last jumper of the night when he fell and was attended to by medical staff. He walked off the hill after having a brace put on his left arm.

Paramedics earlier immobilized Maksimochkin with a neck and back brace and strapped him down on a stretcher before taking him away. The Russian was taken from the RusSki Gorki Jumping Center in an ambulance escorted by a police car.

Officials later quoted governing body FIS as saying that Maksimochkin had not suffered any serious injuries, but had no further details.

Maksimochkin attempted to stand up after falling, his skis separated by at least 10 meters. He then collapsed on the icy landing area, and medical officials rushed to his aid.

The incident came after high winds delayed the start of the first round of training and forced the cancellation of a third round.

The training jumps continued after Maksimochkin was taken from the hill. He was the 37th of 70 scheduled jumpers in the round.

Medal count Through Wednesday (32 total events)

NATION G S B TOT

Norway 4 3 5 12

Canada 4 4 2 10

Netherlands 4 2 4 10

United States 3 1 5 9

Russia 2 4 3 9

Germany 6 1 1 8

Austria 1 4 0 5

Switzerland 3 0 1 4

Slovenia 1 1 2 4

Sweden 0 3 1 4

France 1 0 2 3

Czech Republic 0 2 1 3

Japan 0 2 1 3

Italy 0 1 1 2

Belarus 1 0 0 1

Poland 1 0 0 1

Slovakia 1 0 0 1

South Korea 1 0 0 1

Australia 0 1 0 1

China 0 1 0 1

Finland 0 1 0 1

Britain 0 0 1 1

Latvia 0 0 1 1

Ukraine 0 0 1 1

Sports, Pages 21 on 02/13/2014

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