[Isak]

Figure Skating - Ice Dancing Contest

Dmitri Soloviev & Ekaterina Bobrova (OAR)

FIGURE SKATING – ICE DANCING CONTEST
Gold - Scott Moir & Tessa Virtue (CAN)

[pjmpjm]

U.S. women's hockey coach Robb Stauber said he doesn't expect captain Meghan Duggan to face disciplinary action that would keep her out of the Olympic gold medal match after a collision in the semifinals that required two people to virtually carry Finland's Ronja Savolainen off the ice.

Duggan and the Finnish defenseman banged legs in the faceoff circle nearest the Finland bench, and Savolainen went crashing face-first into the boards. A couple of teammates gathered around her, the medical staff came out to tend to her and for several minutes the Gangneung Hockey Center remained quiet awaiting a positive sign.

Savolainen was eventually helped off, with one person under each arm, her legs dangling almost uselessly beneath her. But she returned in the second period and said after that she had no symptoms more serious than cold legs from being on the ice so long.

"I'm OK, so it's good," she said after the Americans won 5-0 to advance to the gold medal game. "I play all the time, no matter what happens."

Women's hockey doesn't allow checking like the sport familiar to NHL fans. Duggan was not penalized for the hit, and Stauber said the referee told him it was an unavoidable collision.

"She came over right away, the ref came over and said, 'Hey, it's a collision,'" said Stauber, who was unable to see the hit from the U.S. bench. "Based on everything they said, it looked like a collision. Two players going hard at a puck. It happens."

[anna1561]

Yeeeaaahh baby!

Gold for Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir!!!

Now that I've gotten over my excitement...kinda Here are the standings:





Go Canada!

[13Ice]

woohoo GO CANADA

** and my first Sports Center win

[jychung93]

FIGURE SKATING – ICE DANCING CONTEST
Gold - Scott Moir & Tessa Virtue(CAN)

Please ignore if I'm too late.

[johngriffen]

OLYMPIC CONTEST #11, FIGURE SKATING - ICE DANCING IS NOW COMPLETE

Yes jychung93... you are a "tad" late on this one. But please, enter the next contest

As always, a special thanks to Anna for posting the winners. I was watching the event, and when it ended I thought to myself, TIME TO POST THE RESULTS. But after thinking about it, I knew Anna would do me the favor by posting it. THANKS!
And by the way, both the Canadians and French had INCREDIBLE performances. It was tough for me to decide who was better.

On to the winners.
23 people played in the event, and only 3 teams were picked.

17 had the winners Scott Moir & Tessa Virtue
13Ice
anna1561
rchhuon99
melim
BrightEyes4evr
goldie0608
flawlessdreamer
WordDiva
Angel Sardar
Alcibiades
TigerToLily
accountant1usa
johngriffen
Alessa9
EmpressReece
jen23nifer
lucidusgirl

4 had Cizeron/Papadakis
hija
bookworm
9trogue
NeneJa

And one had Soloviev/Bobrova
Isak

So congratulations to the winners. Each has earned 59 WRZ$
I will be making the donations shortly.
We look forward to you all joining the next contest!

SPORTS CENTER

[pjmpjm]

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — The Russian athlete who won a bronze medal in curling at the Winter Olympics has traveled to the South Korean capital, Seoul, to await the results of a second drug test and will depart the country should his failed test be confirmed.

Alexander Krushelnytsky’s failed preliminary doping test puts in jeopardy his medal and Russia’s efforts to move past a vast state-backed cheating scheme that left it nominally barred from the Games.

Krushelnytsky competed in mixed doubles curling with his wife. He is the first athlete from Russia to come under investigation for using a banned substance in Pyeongchang.

Traces of meldonium, a heart medicine that increases blood flow and has been banned from most sports since 2016, were found in a routine urine sample. A second test will be conducted to confirm the finding, according to a statement from an organization representing Olympic Athletes From Russia, the designation given to more than 160 Russian athletes who had been cleared to compete at the Games under that name.

Just one other athlete — the Japanese short-track speedskater Kei Saito — has failed a doping test at these Games. He tested positive for the masking agent acetazolamide in an out-of-competition doping test on the day of his arrival. Representatives of Olympic Athletes From Russia confirmed one of their athletes was under investigation, and an official with knowledge of the case but who was not authorized to publicly speak about it confirmed it was Krushelnytsky.

[johngriffen]

THE HOCKEY BRACKET CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

TWENTY PEOPLE HAVE SIGNED UP AND PAID THEIR ENTRY FEE
That means the total pool is 2,000 WRZ$
The Winner will get 1,500 WRZ$
Second place will get 500 WRZ5
And 3rd – 5th place will get their 75 WRZ$ back

HERE ARE THE 20 PLAYERS AND THEIR PICKS FOR THE FIRST ROUND




The games for the first round are ongoing.

The first hockey game is complete.
FINAL SCORE
USA 5 – Slovakia 1

After a slow first period with no goals, it then heated up. USA scored 3 goals in the second period and 2 goals in the third to win this one easily.

USA earns to right to play the Czech Republic in the next round.

In the second game, it is still in the second period.
Slovenia leads Norway 1 to 0.

More updates when they become available.

SPORTS CENTER

[pjmpjm]

FRENCH alpine skier Mathieu Faivre’s Olympics came to an end earlier than any of his compatriots after remarks landed him in hot water.

He was sent home for being a bad sport — saying he couldn’t care less about his teammates’ performance and that he was there to “race for myself only.”

Mathieu Faivre, who’s dating American Olympic gold medallist Mikaela Shiffrin, made the heated comments after finishing seventh Sunday in the men’s giant slalom in PyeongChang.

[johngriffen]

The second hockey game is complete.
FINAL SCORE
Norway 2 - Slovenia 1

This game went to over time after being tied 1 each after 3 periods.
What an exciting game

As a reminder...
The first game's Final Score
USA 5 – Slovakia 1

Two more games to go... the third and fourth games both start in less than 2 hours.

SPORTS CENTER

[WordDiva]

That’s great news JG phew I was conflicted about this match a lot actually and now I am well relieved I picked Norway x

[pjmpjm]

If you think the Olympics is all about getting a spot on that podium, think again. Some just want to be there.

Meet Elizabeth Swaney from the US, who made it to the Winter Olympics with a spectacularly mediocre performance, slipping through a loophole in international qualifying.

When she took to the halfpipe in freestyle skiing in Pyeongchang on Monday, she got through the same way she'd done in competitions before: she managed to not fall off her skis.

Meandering from one side of the pipe to the other, with no tricks en route and displaying skills many amateurs could lay down without much training, she came a glorious last - but did at least achieve her dream of becoming an Olympian.

With what was easily the most original performance of the Games so far, she divided social media into two camps, describing her either as the "best" or the "worst" Olympian of all time.

[johngriffen]

That’s great news JG phew I was conflicted about this match a lot actually and now I am well relieved I picked Norway x

Well... it was touted as going to be close one... and it did go to overtime. Too bad I took Slovenia, but it was a great game.

The other two games are still in progress. Once they end, I'll do a recap of the next games so people can make their picks. We will only have 12 or so hours to make our next picks, so I'll try to post it ASAP after the games.

Currently...
Game 3
Finland leads South Korea 3 - 2 in the second period.

Game 4
Switzerland and Germany are tied 1 each in the second period.

[johngriffen]

The final two games have finished.
In game 3, Finland easily handled South Korea and won 5 to 2
In game 4, Germany needed overtime to handle Switzerland and won 2 to 1

STANDINGS AFTER ROUND ONE



As a reminder
Round 1 - 4 Playoff Games – 1 point for each correct pick (4 possible points)
Round 2 - 4 Quarter Final Games - 2 points for each correct pick (8 possible points)
Round 3 - 2 Semifinal Games - 4 point for each correct pick (8 possible points)
Round 4 - 1 Bronze Medal Game - 6 points for picking the winner (6 possible points)
Final Round 5 - 1 Gold Medal Game – 8 points for picking the winner (8 possible points)

XiLeXi was the only person to predict all four games correctly, so he is in the lead (for the moment)

ROUND TWO GAMES

GAME 1
USA vs. Czech Republic
Current Odds – From two different sites
Czech Republic is a 8/5 favorite (65%) or
Czech Republic is a 23/20 favorite (54%)
Going into the Olympics, both teams had the identical odds for winning a Gold Medal.
Most experts have the Czech Republic winning this game. However, the US team has been improving with each game they play together. This will probably be the closest of the 4 games in this round.

GAME 2
Norway vs. Russians
Current Odds
No current odds have been posted yet. I will post them when they become available.
Going into the Olympics, the Russians were big favorites to win the Gold Medal and nothing they have done on the ice so far is changing any opinions. I expect the Russians will be heavy favorites in this one.

GAME 3
Finland vs. Canada
Current Odds
No current odds have been posted yet. I will post them when they become available.
Going into the Olympics, Canada had FAR better odds than Finland for winning the Gold Medal.
This will probably be the second closest game of the four, but Canada should win.


GAME 4
Sweden vs. Germany
Current Odds
No current odds have been posted yet. I will post them when they become available.
Going into the Olympics, Sweden was one of the top three teams and Germany was a long shot.
Sweden shouldn’t have much problem with Germany

So remember… the deadline for making or editing your picks for the second round is:
Chicago (UTC-6) Tues 9 PM – GMT (UTC+0) Wed 3 AM – S. Korea (UTC+9) Wed Noon

HOWEVER, due to the short turn around time for this round, even if you are a little late in making your picks, still do so. Only the Czech/USA game starts early. The next game doesn’t start for 3 ½ hours after the first one. I will count any pick for the first game up until the first goal is scored. And even if you miss that, you can still score points for the other games as long as your picks are made prior to the first goal scored in those games. So you might lose out on some points, but you can still score them for the later games. So make your picks as soon as you can… and if late, do it anyway and I’ll look at the time stamps.

MAKE YOUR PICKS FOR ROUND 2



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