Slovakia upsets Team USA in men's ice hockey with shootout victory

Slovakia beat the United States 3-2 in the men's ice hockey on Wednesday, with the team advancing to the semifinals after a dramatic penalty shootout.

The US held a 2-1 lead late in the third period, but a goal by Slovakia’s Marek Hrivik tied the game with 43.7 seconds left in regulation.

The game went to overtime, but no one scored in the extra period so it came down to a shootout.

Initially, no one was finding the back of the net in the shootout, either — until Peter Cehlarik got the puck by US goalie Strauss Mann.

Slovakia goalie Patrik Rybar was the hero

Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva will have an asterisk next to her result after the free skate program tomorrow, according to International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesman Mark Adams.

Adams told reporters Wednesday that as the doping case against Valieva remains open, her results will be preliminary and "pending further investigation."

It is also unlikely the teen skater would appear at the post-event news conference, Adams added.

On welfare: Asked what the IOC has done to help the 15-year-old skater, Adams said they are in touch with her team but "there’s only so much that we can do."

"It must be very tough for her," he said, adding there are about 60 IOC officers employed to safeguard and chaperone athletes.

"We are of course in touch with the team. Her welfare is the team’s first priority and obviously we are very careful of that, but there’s only so much that we can do ... We all need to be very responsible in the way that we discuss this issue, which just to remind you again has not even been concluded yet," Adams said.

On "double standard": Earlier this week, US sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson said she saw a double standard in the handling of her case and Valieva's. Richardson was barred from competing at the Tokyo 2020 Games after testing positive for cannabis.

"The only difference I see is I'm a black young lady," Richardson tweeted.

In response, Adams said every case was different and there "isn’t a great deal of similarity between the two cases.”

Richardson tested positive on June 19 last year before the start of the Tokyo Games, Adams added.

"The results came early in order for USADA to deal with the case on time, before the Games. Ms. Richardson accepted a one-month period of ineligibility, which began on June 28."

US freestyle skier Alex Hall said he kept "true to myself" to win gold in the men's slopestyle on Wednesday — his first Olympic medal.

"It definitely was the best slopestyle run I've ever done, mainly because it embodied everything I love about skiing and how I approach skiing and I didn't fade away from that to try and maybe get bigger scores or something," Hall said following the event at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou.

Hall said the Great Wall-inspired Olympic slopestyle course is a tough one to ride, especially because of the long rails.

"I would have loved to put down an even better run and up those rails a little bit, but I'm glad it worked out," he said.

Hall's final trick was a right side double 1080, which he attempted despite past difficulties nailing the move.

"That last jump was definitely maybe my hardest trick ... It's still a really, really hard trick for me just because it's hard to judge the rotation and really tough when I don't know my speed exactly and it's been a little tough with wind this week," Hall said.

"Coming into that last jump on that first round I remember I was freaking out and I was just trying to think, 'Stay calm'... and I'm glad it worked out."

Friends on the podium: Hall said he's "so stoked" to win gold and it's made even better winning alongside teammate Nick Goepper, who took silver, and Sweden's Jesper Tjader, who took bronze.

Two months ago, I called my grandma to tell her I'd be in Beijing for the Winter Olympics. She was thrilled.

But I explained that even thoughbubble, separate from the rest of China's population. My grandma said not to worry. Just focus on your work, she said.

I lived in Beijing before taking up a posting in Tokyo early in the pandemic. When I left, I wasn't sure when I'd see my grandma again. China's borders have been virtually closed for two years because of Covid, and the government has accepted limited visas for journalists.

The Winter Olympics offered a rare chance for me to return to the country.

Yet within the Olympic closed loop, it's as if I'm traversing the city in a glass box, unable to experience the Beijing I know. Hotels and venues are surrounded by temporary walls and security, workers in hazmat suits wait tables or take my Covid test.

So when I noticed a bridge near my hotel that allowed Beijing residents to look down into the closed loop, within the temporary walls, I saw a window of opportunity to see my grandma. I dropped a location pin to my relatives, and told them that unfortunately, this was the closest we could get.

Still, my grandma was delighted, arriving 20 minutes early in her nicest winter coat. I yelled Happy New Year in Mandarin as loud as I could, as she's hard of hearing, and jumped up and down. She took off her mask and smiled broadly, her face crinkling at the edges.

Our meeting was emblematic of the isolation the world has dealt with since the pandemic began.

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