Hello hello! Canada scored its fourth gold medal in Beijing when the Canadian women’s hockey team reclaimed Olympic victory in a 3-2 win against the United States. Plus, Marielle Thompson won silver in women’s ski cross – earning Canada its 20th medal of the Winter Games.
Team Canada celebrates with their gold medals after defeating the United States in women's hockey gold medal game action at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022.Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
Here’s what happened overnight:
- The Canadian women’s hockey team took Olympic gold by beating the United States, 3-2. Captain Marie-Philip Poulin led Canada with two goals and an assist. Sarah Nurse contributed a goal and an assist, with goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens making 38 saves for the victory.
- Canada’s Marielle Thompson has won the silver medal in women’s ski cross. It was Canada’s first trip to the podium in the event since since capturing ski cross gold at the 2014 Sochi Games.
- Canada’s Jennifer Jones missed out on women’s curling playoffs despite winning her final match of the preliminary round. But losses by Russia and South Korea sent Canada packing. Jones placed fifth in the 10-team standings with a 5-4 record.
- Canada’s men’s curling team closed out its round robin schedule with a 5-2 loss to Britain on Thursday. Brad Gushue’s squad finished third in the preliminary round at 5-4, then fell to second-place Sweden in a semi-final and will now play for bronze.
- Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva placed fifth in Thursday’s women’s free skate, which dropped her fourth place overall, amid controversy surrounding her doping scandal. Meanwhile, the doping case has led to many more questions than answers, including: Should a 15-year-old be in the Olympics at all?
Marielle Thompson of Canada shows her silver medal for the women's cross final during the medal ceremony at the 2022 Winter Olympics on Thursday in Zhangjiakou, China.Kirsty Wigglesworth/The Associated Press
- Freestyle skier Jon Sallinen’s first run in the halfpipe qualifying on Thursday wasn’t picture perfect. He drifted out of the halfpipe and collided with a cameraman, in the latest crash in a dangerous event. The 21-year-old from Finland picked himself up and tried it again in run No. 2 – only to fall once more and have to make the walk up the pipe to retrieve one of his ski poles.
- The players of Canada’s men’s hockey team share their disappointment after a quarter-final defeat. “We tried our best,” said David Desharnais, a 35-year-old former NHLer playing in Europe. “Just wasn’t enough.”
- International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach has offered U.S. figure skaters Olympic torches as holdover gifts while they await a resolution of the Russian doping case that is preventing them from receiving their medals. The U.S., which placed second in the team event, told the president that they would have liked to leave Beijing with their medals.
- Mikaela Shiffrin came to Beijing as one of the biggest stars of alpine skiing – or any sport. She will leave without any individual medals after managing to finish just two of the five women’s races.
- Eileen Gu recorded the top score not once but twice in a competitive women’s ski halfpipe qualifier as she chases her third medal at the Beijing Olympics.
- Where are the Black and Hispanic American athletes at the Winter Olympics? The U.S. alpine skiing team in Beijing is entirely white. The U.S. snowboarders and freestyle skiers include Asian-American riders, but none who are Black or Hispanic. “It’s incredibly unfortunate,” said Ryan Cochran-Siegle, an American silver medalist in super-G at Beijing. “We all want to figure out ways to close those gaps between different minorities and their access to skiing.”
- Kaysha Love and Sylvia Hoffman have waited a couple of weeks to make their debut at the Olympics, but their wait is just about over. They’ll finally and officially become U.S. Olympians on Friday when the women’s bobsleigh competition starts.
- International Ice Hockey Federation president Luc Tardif says he is optimistic NHL players will participate in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy’s Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, though he wants an agreement reached further in advance than this time around.
- Eric Staal, the captain of Canada’s Olympic men’s hockey team, is unsure of his playing future after Canada’s quarter-final loss. The 37-year-old jumped at the chance to both wear the Maple Leaf and also hopefully boost his chances for a contract back in North America after making it all the way to last season’s Stanley Cup final with the Montreal Canadiens.
- How many other enthused young Olympic wannabes could emerge from the African continent of 1.3 billion people, and from the African diaspora spread around the world, if they only had more than a handful of Olympic pioneers leading the way?
- Fascinated by quadruple jumps at Beijing Games? Quadruple jumps have become standard in the men’s figure skating competition since Canadian Kurt Browning landed the first one in 1988. For women, Japan’s Miki Ando achieved the feat in 2002. Here’s a look at how figure skaters achieve these jumps.
- China’s stance on questions about its politics and policies during the Winter Olympics changed on Thursday at the Beijing 2022 organizing committee’s last regularly scheduled daily news conference. The persistent and polite refusal to answer such questions gave way to “calibrated answers” about the country’s most sensitive situations, including Taiwan and the Uyghur population of the Xinjiang region.
Globe on the ground
The Globe’s Rachel Brady reports that the Canadian women’s hockey team thrived in Beijing because everybody mattered. Canada was superbly talented, but also unique in other ways. They bought in to a different style of play – all five players working interchangeably regardless of position.
After waiting 1,460 days to get their revenge, Canada won an Olympic gold in women’s hockey. Afterward, they celebrated like maniacs. Every glove and helmet thrown celebratory in the air was immediately scooped up by a small army of Chinese volunteers on skates. Canada whooped it up, Chinese volunteers circled, and the Americans stood at a non-respectful distance staring at them both, writes The Globe’s Cathal Kelly.
Marie-Philip Poulin of Canada, Emma Maltais of Canada, Renata Fast of Canada with teammates celebrate with their gold medals during the medal ceremony.ANNEGRET HILSE/Reuters
Remember when it was a blow to our national self-worth whenever Canada’s men’s hockey team lost at the Olympics? Neither does Cathal Kelly. He writes: Olympic men’s hockey doesn’t matter if the NHL isn’t there.
The Globe’s James Griffiths reports that Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was in first place going into Thursday’s Olympic final, but she finished the event in fourth place – falling twice in an error-strewn program. Her teammates Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova took gold and silver, respectively, with Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto in bronze position.
Where Canada stands
What’s on today and tomorrow
Thursday Feb. 17
8:30 p.m. ET Freestyle skiing, women’s halfpipe, final 🥇
11:10 p.m. ET Ice hockey, men, Finland vs. Slovakia, semi-final
Friday Feb. 18
1:05 a.m. ET Curling, men, bronze medal game
2:10 a.m. ET Freestyle skiing, men’s ski cross, final 🥇
3:30 a.m. ET Speed skating, men’s 1,000 m, final 🥇
4 a.m. ET Biathlon, Men’s 15 km mass start, final 🥇
5:30 a.m. ET Figure skating, mixed pairs, short program
7:05 a.m. ET Curling, women, semi-final
8:30 p.m. ET Freestyle skiing, men’s halfpipe, final 🥇
11:37 p.m. ET Alpine skiing, mixed team, final 🥇
COVID-19 and the Games
- Beijingers are largely experiencing the Games on their smartphones, not much different from fans thousands of kilometres from the venues. Only a select few can watch the competitions in person, and strict COVID-19 protocols are keeping the 16,000 athletes and other participants completely separated from the local population. The small number of Beijing residents who do get to attend Olympic events must take four coronavirus tests – two before and two afterward.
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As seen at the Games:
Canadian bobsledder Dawn Richardson Wilson poses with teammate Cynthia Appiah ahead of their first Beijing Olympics competition in the two-woman bobsleigh race on Friday at 7 a.m. ET.
Which event are you waiting for at the Winter Games? Email us at audience@globeandmail.com and let us know.