The Wikipedia page for US goalie Maddie Rooney received an appropriate update following her gold medal performance at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
After teammate Jocelyn Lamoureux scored in the sixth round of the shootout to give the US the edge on Canada, Rooney stopped Meghan Agosta to clinch the gold medal, giving the US a 3-2 shootout win over rival Canada.
Afterwards, some clever folks updated Rooney’s Wikipedia page to change her position from goalie to “United States Secretary of Defense.”
In all, the 20-year-old made 29 saves to help the US beat Canada and avenge the overtime loss from the 2014 Winter Games. What a game.
It took 20 years, but the United States women’s hockey team got back that golden feeling.
The US women’s hockey team won the gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics with a 3-2 win over rival Canada in a shootout. This goal by Jocelyne Lamoureux in the sixth round of the shootout was the golden goal:
After Lamoureux scored, US goalie Maddie Rooney still needed to stop Meghan Agosta, who had beaten her for a goal earlier in the shootout. She stonewalled her to give the US the game and gold medal.
The win at PyeongChang gives the women’s hockey team its first gold medal since the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. They avenged an overtime loss to Canada at the 2014 Games in Sochi. Canada also beat the US in the gold medal game in 2010 and 2002.
Lindsey Vonn did not hide the fact that she did not prepare much for the slalom, and that showed in what was likely her final run in the Olympics.
Vonn entered the slalom portion of the super combined event as the leader after acing the downhill portion — her specialty. But very early on in her slalom run, she failed to clear one of the gates. She stopped her run after the mistake knowing that she would not medal and did not finish the course.
Vonn had said prior to the event that she had about three slalom runs since December. The lack of preparation for the event led her to acknowledge she needed a miracle.
“I think it’s going to come down to who can fight the hardest. I certainly know that I’m a pretty good competitor. I’m going to give it hell and maybe I can pull out a miracle,” Vonn had said prior to the event, via USA Today.
Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin took home gold in the combined, while Mikaela Shiffrin earned silver. Shiffrin’s time of 40.52 in the slalom ranked her third and helped her make up ground after she finished sixth in the downhill.
Sven Kramer is offering an apology for an unfortunate incident at a promotional event in PyeongChang.
The Dutch speed skater, who won gold in the men’s 5000m competition for a third straight Winter Olympics, tweeted an apology in Korean on Thursday.
“Hello fans from Korea, on behalf of the Heineken team I offer my sincere apologies to the fans who have been injured,” Kramer wrote, according to a rough translation of the tweet. “You came to encourage me, apologies for the inconvenience caused. We wish you a quick recovery.
“I’m going to do my best to show a better picture next time,” Kramer added. “I promise that. Thank you so much.”
Chang Dong-woo of Yonghap News Agency in South Korea relays that Kramer reportedly caused injuries to fans at a Heineken event by roughly throwing free gifts into the crowd.
Some on Twitter claimed that Kramer threw a bronze nameplate into the crowd, striking a woman and sending her to the emergency room. Footage also circulated of the supposed moment that he did.
The 31-year-old Kramer, who is a nine-time world champion and now an eight-time Olympic medalist, has become an icon of speed skating with his run of excellence dating back to the 2000s. But there is no excuse for that kind of reckless alleged behavior, and he seems to recognize that now.
Mikaela Shiffrin did not have the most optimistic outlook after completing the first portion of the women’s combined event at the Winter Olympics on Thursday in South Korea.
Lindsey Vonn blew away most of the field with a time of 1:39.37 on the downhill portion of the combined. Shiffrin finished 1.98 seconds behind her, which placed her sixth in the standings.
Asked after her run in the downhill whether she thought she could make up the time in the slalom run, Shiffrin was not so sure.
“We’ll see. Two seconds on Lindsey (Vonn), I’m not sure how much I can make up,” Shiffrin told NBC’s Heather Cox. “But I’m in a good position to fight for it and to do my best slalom skiing and see where it ends up.”
Shiffrin’s best event is the slalom, while downhill is Vonn’s specialty, so she certainly will have a chance to make up some time. But like she said, two seconds will be a lot to make up.
As if winning the first Olympic gold for America in cross-country skiing weren’t already thrilling enough, the tight margin by which Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall won added an extra level of drama to the matter.
Diggins chased down Sweden’s Stina Nilsson and outstretched her to cross the finish line first in the women’s team free sprint by 0.19 seconds:
Watching Diggins come from behind to overtake Nilsson was special.
“In the final stretch I was just thinking, Go, go, go, I’m giving it everything I had and I’ve got someone who I really love and care about waiting for me at the finishing line and I just want to make her proud,” Diggins said, via the New York Times.
Diggins and Randall combined for a gold medal-winning time of 15:56.47. They were 0.19 seconds ahead of Sweden and 2.97 seconds ahead of Norway’s team to win gold.
Not only was it the first Olympic gold for the U.S. in cross-country skiing, but it was the first cross-country skiing medal for the country since 1976. And while the finish wasn’t quite as tight as one we saw in speedskating, the comeback victory was one heck of a way to get it done.
A pair of Scandinavian players on the Toronto Maple Leafs are paying up on a friendly Olympic wager.
Center Leo Komarov, who is part Finnish, and right wing William Nylander, who is Swedish, wore Team Canada sweaters to practice on Wednesday after losing a bet with their coaches. Here is footage, via Mark Masters of TSN.
Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun provided more context about the bet.
For reference, Canada defeated Finland 1-0 in their men’s hockey quarterfinal on Wednesday in PyeongChang. Meanwhile, Sweden did not cross paths with Canada, but also got eliminated in the quarterfinal with a 4-3 loss to Germany.
While the Leafs’ bet definitely made for a classic moment, it is probably only the second funniest storyline we have seen involving Canadian hockey at this year’s Games.
Lindsey Vonn said on Twitter Thursday in South Korea that she will need to race with new skis during the combined event at the Olympics after burning hers out the day before in the downhill.
Vonn shared the following photo on Twitter and said that her skis got burnt out in the downhill race on Wednesday:
Some may view this as an excuse for not winning gold in the downhill, but it’s pretty impressive that Vonn still won a medal in the event despite an equipment failure.
It sounds like she was going so fast on the slopes that there was enough friction to melt part of the base of her skis. That sort of damage could be enough to have slowed her down to finish behind Sofia Goggia or Ragnhild Mowinckel. Vonn ended up 0.47 seconds behind Goggia and 0.37 seconds behind Mowinckel.
Evgenia Medvedeva is drawing inspiration from a seemingly unlikely source in PyeongChang.
The Russian figure skater, who broke her own world record with a score of 81.61 in the women’s short program on Wednesday, revealed that she is a big K-Pop fan and credited her favorite group EXO for her strong showing.
“It’s unreal inspiration and it really improved my mood,” said Medvedeva of listening to the group’s music before her performance, according to the Associated Press. “I feel more confident because of them.”
Medvedeva, 18, finished the short program in second place, putting her in position for a medal ahead of the free program event on Friday. Interestingly enough, she has also been known for her Sailor Moon-themed routines.
As luck would have it, EXO will be performing in the closing ceremony on Sunday. Thus, Medvedeva has an opportunity for a very special weekend in a women’s figure skating field full of awesome storylines.
For the first time since 1994, a full slate of NHL players are absent from the men’s ice hockey tournament at the Winter Olympics. That has inspired mixed feelings among current players, who are enjoying the tournament but would prefer to be playing in it.
“It’s fun, it’s the Olympics,” said Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson, via Bill Beacon of the Canadian Press. “It’s different to be on the other side of the TV, but at the same time it’s exciting and you know how much it means for the guys that are there and what’s at stake.”
New York Rangers forward Rick Nash, a two-time gold medalist, said he ultimately felt it would be better for the game if NHL players were involved.
“I think it’s pretty cool that the guys that went have that opportunity,” Nash said. “They look like they’re having fun. The hockey is fast. It’s pretty good checking hockey. But I think what everyone looks forward to every four years is NHLers to be in the Olympics, especially in the States — how much it grows the game when you have a Canada-U.S. match-up. So I think it’s unfortunate NHLers aren’t there.”
American forward Blake Wheeler of the Winnipeg Jets admitted that he didn’t mind not having to travel away from his family to play in the Games.
“You always love representing your country,” Wheeler said. “I had a great experience in Sochi. That being said, it is a sacrifice. I’ve got three young kids and I don’t mind spending the extra time with them either. Had we gone and I was invited, I would have been thrilled about it. But to be here with my family, I’m not all that disappointed about it either.”
The NHL didn’t get the financial return they requested to release NHL players to go to the Olympics, but haven’t ruled out returning to previous policy in 2022. That said, while the tournament may not be of as high quality as it has been in years past, it has allowed for a lot of great moments from some players who wouldn’t otherwise get an opportunity to play on a stage like this.
