Olympic Update: Feb. 15th

Canada's only medal of the day came courtesy of Denny Morrison, who captured bronze in the men's 1,500 metre long-track speedskating. The medal was Morrison's second of the games after he won silver in the 1,000 metre race on Thursday. Morrison, who fell during Olympic qualifiers in Canada and wasn't supposed to compete until teammate Gilmore Junio gave him his spot in the race. The campaign is already on for Junio to be the flag-bearer for Canada at the closing ceremonies next Sunday.

Elsewhere, it was also a busy day on the ice for men’s hockey. Switzerland surprised the Czech republic while Sweden pulled out a win over Latvia and the US and Russia went eight rounds in the shootout before a winner was decided. Anze Kopitar and Slovenia also pulled out a surprising victory over Zdeno Chara and Slovakia in men’s hockey.

Switzerland vs. Czech Republic:

Anaheim Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller made 26 saves and Swiss foward Simon Bodennman, who was a healthy scratch in Switzerland’s last game, scored to stun the Czech Republic 1-0 on Jaromir Jagr’s 42nd birthday.

Ladislav Smid played 18:01 and had one shot on goal with two penalty minutes.

USA vs. Russia:

Pavel Datsyuk scored to tie the game for the Russians in the third period of what was a very close game between the two teams. The US outshot Russia 34-31, but a shootout was needed to resolve this contest, and it turned into a competition between T.J. Oshie for the Americans and Pavel Datsyuk and Ilya Kovalchuk for the Russians. After Oshie and Datsyuk both missed in the seventh round, Kovalchuk failed to score in the eighth round, leaving the game on Oshie’s stick. The St. Louis Blues star made no mistake, using his trademark slow approach that frustrated the CBC commentators to wait out Sergei Bobrovsky. The Americans were victorious by a score of 3-2.

Sweden vs. Latvia:

After losing Henrik Zetterberg to a back injury, Sweden built off of its 4-2 victory over the Czechs on Thursday and scored on four of five powerplay opportunities to beat the Latvians 5-3 in a game that was tied 1-1 in the early stages. Buffalo’s Zemgus Girgensons scored for Latvia, which converted two of its four powerplay opportunities in this game, and Henrik Lundqvist made 20 saves for Sweden, who are also missing forwards Henrik Sedin and Johan Franzen.

With the win, Sweden finished the round robin undefeated atop Group C.

Slovenia vs. Slovakia:

Slovenia stunned Jaroslav Halak and the Slovaks with three goals in the third period to defeat them 3-1. Anze Kopitar, Tomaz Razingar and Rok Ticar all scored for Slovenia while goalie Robert Kristan made 27 saves to hold off Slovakia.

Upcoming Games

Tomorrow will see Austria take on Norway, Russia vs Slovakia, Slovenia vs. the USA, and Canada take on Finland in another busy day for men’s hockey. Finland announced today that Aleksander Barkov will not play because of a knee injury.

On the women's side of things, Finland will play Germany while Russia takes on Japan for spots five through eight. Team Canada will take on Switzerland in the semi-final on Monday after the Swiss defeated Russia 2-0 today.

by Hayley Mutch