#olympic-mens-hockey

#olympic-mens-hockey

MILAN - The contrast after it was over - after your stomach did quadruple axels for three hours, after gold seemed won for Canada and won for the United States and back again - stood as the perfect representation not only for what had just played out, but for what it meant. To two countries. To two teams. To an arena that had long since gnawed its fingernails to the nub.

The Canadian men's Olympic hockey team will play for gold after a heart-stopping 3-2 comeback win against Finland in a semifinal matchup that had fans sweating. Canada and the United States battle for gold in men's hockey at 8:10 a.m. ET. The two teams have only faced each other in the Olympic final twice in the years NHLers have taken part. Canada won both times. A big question hangs over today's game: Will Sidney Crosby be in the lineup?

Jordan Binnington has faced so many questions over the past year. Then again, so has the state of Canadian goaltending. Binnington's performances have been consistent, and he has played well enough to help keep Canada in the games in which the offense has had slow starts. Now it is a matter of seeing if he can parlay what he's done so far -- along with what he did in the 4 Nations Face-Off against the U.S. -- in the gold medal game.

I'm not sure I thought I'd ever see the day when an American hockey player who has only worked in Vancouver and St. Paul would be getting covered by E! News, or serve as the lure in catfishing attempts. Quinn Hughes, mainstream celebrity? What a world. Being the subject of memes that allege he's haunted by the ghost of a Victorian child, and acknowledging said meme, helps. Being the best defenseman in the world doesn't hurt.

The US and Canadian women are headed for yet another gold-medal clash, Wilson is beloved by all people far and wide, and more in today's Caps Clips. Your savory breakfast links: The American women defeated Team Sweden 5-0 yesterday, and for the seventh time in Olympic history will face Team Canada in the gold medal game on Thursday. [AP, NPR, Olympics] Meanwhile, after earning first-round byes, the US and Canadian (and Slovakian and Finnish) men will have to wait until the end of today's games to see who they'll face in the quarterfinals. [Olympics]

Facing a France team with limited NHL talent beyond Montreal Canadiens forward Alexandre Texier and former NHLer Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, it was expected that Canada would win by a sizeable margin. Despite a close game early on, that lasted until just over halfway into the second period before Canada opened the floodgates. Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson opened the scoring in the first period before France tied it up 13 seconds later with a goal from Floran Douay.