Advertisement

Sochi Roundup: United States hockey stages impressive debut, American sweep in slopestyle skiing

Kevin Kaduk
Sochi Roundup: United States hockey stages impressive debut, American sweep in slopestyle skiing

• The United States men's hockey team had never scored more than six goals in an Olympic hockey game. That changed on Thursday when they scored six goals in the just the second period during a 7-1 victory over an aging and shallow Slovakia team. Not a bad confidence-building start for an American squad that's looking to erase some doubts in Sochi. Next up: The "hometown" Russians in a Saturday game that's proving to be Sochi's hottest ticket.

[Video: Big challenge awaits Team USA men's hockey]

• USA! USA! USA! The American swept their third podium in Winter Games history as Joss Christensen, Gus Kenworthy and Nick Goepper took gold, silver and bronze in slopestyle skiing. It was an emotional win for Christensen, who lost his father to cancer just six months ago.

[Photos: Five epic outfits of Evgeni Plushenko]

• American figure skaters Jason Brown and Jeremy Abbott are in 6th and 15th place, respectively, after Thursday's short program for the men. They were, however, a very minor story at the ice dome as Russian Olympic legend Evgeni Plushenko hurt himself in warmups, withdrew from competition and announced his retirement from the sport. Also big news: Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan set a world record with a score of 101.45. The men's free skate is scheduled for Friday.

• Two American skeleton racers are in good position after their first two runs on Thursday. Noelle Pikus-Pace is in second while Katie Uhlaender is fourth. The final two runs will be taken on Friday.

"I'm not in the least bit ashamed. I stood up and I finished that program and I'm proud of my effort and I'm proud of what I did under the circumstance."

— Jeremy Abbott, who fell on his first jump, but got up and turned in an otherwise good program

Men's Super Combined (2 a.m. ET): Ted Ligety won gold in this event in 2006. Bode Miller took the top spot in 2010. Both Americans face off in the event that includes downhill and slalom.

Women's skeleton (10:40 a.m.): Pikus-Price and Uhlaender try to take home a medal as the field takes its final two runs down the track.

Men's hockey: Canada vs Austria (Noon):  After a 3-1 win over Norway on Thursday, the Canucks look to move to 2-0 with another matchup that shouldn't pose too many challenges.

- - - - - - -

Kevin Kaduk

is a writer for Yahoo Sports.. Have a tip? Email him at kevinkaduk@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!