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Canada Beats US in Men's Hockey


For the second straight day, a Canadian ice hockey team has spoiled any dreams of gold for its North American rivals.

In a semifinal game Friday in Sochi, the Canadian men beat the United States, 1-0, at the Bolshoi Ice Dome with a dominant performance that stifled the Americans' offensive attack.

Canada's Jamie Benn scored early in the second period, and teammate Carey Price, who was rarely challenged, stopped 31 shots.

Canada will now play in the gold medal game Sunday against Sweden, which defeated its own heated rival, Finland, 2-1, in Friday's other semifinal.

On Thursday, the Canadian women overcame a late two-goal deficit and beat the United States in overtime to win the gold medal.

Four years ago, at the Vancouver Olympics, Canada's men's and women's hockey teams also eliminated the United States.

Friday also was a big day for Canadian athletes in other sports. The men's curling team won gold for the third straight Olympics, defeating Britain, 9-3. The Canadian women curlers , as well.

The Canadians won their third straight Olympic gold medal in men's curling, beating Britain, 9-3. And Canada's Marielle Thompson edged out teammate Kelsey Serwa for the women's ski cross title. The two ski racers gave their country its third gold-and-silver-medal double in freestyle skiing events.



Elsewhere, Russian short-track speed skater Viktor Ahn won the men's 500-meter final, becoming the first short-track speed skater to capture five Olympic gold medals. He won the 1,000-meter gold in Sochi last week.

The 28-year-old Ahn also won three gold medals at the 2006 Turin Olympics, when he competed for South Korea. After he was not chosen for Korean team at Vancouver in 2010, he switched allegiances to Russia and changed his name after being granted citizenship.

South Korea did collect a gold in the women's 1,000-meter final at Sochi, when Park Seung-hi skated to victory.

Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States made alpine skiing history by becoming the youngest athlete, male or female, to win an Olympic slalom gold medal. The 18-year-old American showed impressive balance and agility on the Rosa Khotur course, beating Austrian veteran Marlies Schild by 53 seconds.

Ukraine edged out Russia to win gold in the women's team biathlon relay, an emotional victory that comes as Ukraine is struggling with political crisis and unrest. Norway took bronze.

In other news, athletes from Italy and Germany have tested positive for drugs in the first announced doping cases of the Sochi Olympics.

Italy's Olympic committee said bobsledder William Frullani was told to leave Sochi after testing positive earlier this week for a banned substance (dymethylpentylamine).

German officials say one of their female athletes tested positive for drugs in two samples. A German ski federation official said biathlete Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle did not test positive for the blood-booster EPO, but for a stimulant sometimes found in nutritional supplements.

Meanwhile, Russian coaches responded to criticism that Olympic figure-skating judges unduly favored Russia's Adelina Sotnikova. The 17-year-old won the women's figure-skating gold Thursday, ahead of South Korea's Kim Yuna and Italy's Carolina Kostner, even though Sotnikova fell during her routine. Her coaches said Sotnikova deserved to win because she included difficult moves in her free-skate performance to raise her score.

With two days of competition left at the Sochi Games, the United States leads in the overall medal count with 27. Russia has 26 and Canada 24, and Norway and the Netherlands are tied with 22 apiece. In gold medals, Norway leads with 10. Russia, Canada and the United States have nine, and Germany has eight.
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