Men's hockey
After managing only two goals in two consecutive losses, the U.S. men’s hockey team broke out with three power-play tallies, yet still fell to Russia in an Olympic game that mattered only in the confidence department.

The Americans (1-3-1), the fourth-place team in Group B, were already locked into a quarterfinal matchup Wednesday with Group A-winning Finland (5-0). As the No. 2 team in Group B, the Russians (4-1) will face Canada (3-2) in the quarterfinals.

After scoring only nine goals in four games, the U.S. found its offense just as coach Peter Laviolette said his team would. This time, though, the Americans lacked the defense and goaltending they needed.

Brian Rolston, Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez all scored man-advantage goals but the U.S. allowed as many goals to Russia as it did in the three previous games of the tournament.

With the Americans scheduled to play again Wednesday in the medal round, goalie Rick DiPietro got the night off; Robert Esche started in his place.

Canada, which had lost back-to-back shutouts, got three first-period goals against the Czech Republic, then held on for the win. The Czechs (2-3), last year’s world champions, finished a disappointing fourth in Group A and are to play Group B winner Slovakia (5-0) in the quarterfinals.

The day after Team Canada executive director Wayne Gretzky promised one goal would lead to another and another following consecutive shutout losses, he was right. Brad Richards, Martin St. Louis and Pronger scored in a 12-minute span of the first to give the defending gold medalists a big lead.

Finland remained undefeated in Olympic play with a win over Germany (0-3-2) in which they rested first-string goaltender Antero Niittymaki and avoided injury. Niko Kapanen and Saku Koivu scored for Finland, who beat Canada, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Italy and the Germans by a combined score of 19-2 in preliminary play.

Also, Switzerland’s Ivo Ruthemann scored at 16:38 of the third period to pull out a tie with host Italy (0-3-2). The Swiss (2-1-2) finished with six points in Group A and will face Sweden (3-2), whose coach caused a stir when he said his team might be better off losing to Slovakia and matching up with Switzerland in the quarterfinals.

Switzerland earned its quarterfinals berth with surprise wins over the Czechs and Canada, but are still considered weaker than either of those teams.

The loss to Kazakhstan (1-4) by Latvia (0-4-1) put an end to that nation’s faint hopes of advancing to medal play. Latvia needed to win its last game, have the U.S. lose to Russia and make up a 16-goal differential.

Men's biathalon relay
Germany won the men’s 4x7.5km biathlon relay when star Norwegian Ole Einar Bjoerndalen got very little help from his friends.

The Americans took ninth, led by Jay Hakkinen, who dispatched his demons from his epic collapse in the 10km race by giving the United States the lead after the first of four legs.

Bjoerndalen gave the Norwegians a fifth-place finish by skiing a brilliant final leg for the pre-race favorites, but could not make up for his teammates’ poor performances.

The Germans — Ricco Gross, Michael Roesch, Sven Fischer and Michael Greis — covered the San Sicario course in 1 hour, 21 minutes, 51.5 seconds for their fourth Olympic gold in the event to go with wins in 1992, ’94 and ’98.

Russia was 20.9 seconds back, and France edged Sweden for the bronze in a photo finish when Carl Johan Bergman stumbled near the finish line, allowing Raphael Poiree’s skis to cross just ahead of his. Poiree’s teammates piled on top of him in the snow as he collapsed, exhausted from the thrilling sprint.

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