What you missed last night at the Paralympics: U.S. sled hockey is semifinal bound

The U.S. sled hockey team continued to impress in PyeongChang as they won their third straight game. Playing against South Korea in today's match, Team USA's offensive attack showed no sign of slowing down and they were able to take down the host nation 8-0. The U.S. will now advance to a semifinal matchup with Italy, while South Korea’s path to a medal must now go through a semifinal meeting with the heavily favored Canadian team.

On the snow, Team USA’s Dan Cnossen won his third Nordic medal in PyeongChang, taking silver in the men’s para biathlon 12.5km – sitting. Cnossen’s U.S. teammate, Andy Soule, won bronze, his first medal in PyeongChang.

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In women’s para biathlon, Kendall Gretsch and Oksana Masters both struggled and finished off the medal stand. U.S. Alpine skiers also fell short of the podium in the super combined race, which consists of a super-G run and a slalom run. 

Sled hockey: Preliminary games

USA vs. South Korea round-robin game, Group B

Final: USA 8, South Korea 0

It took Team USA just 11 shots to score six goals on South Korean goalie, Yu Man-Gyun. And that was just the first period.

Declan Farmer led the first period scoring with a hat trick while Josh Misiewicz added two of his own. But it was Brody Roybal who found the back of the net for the game’s opening goal for Team USA.

After a scoreless second period, Travis Dodson made it 7-0 in the third period for the U.S. Roybal tallied his second goal of the game, ahead of the final buzzer, giving the U.S. the 8-0 win.

With the prelims now complete, the U.S. will face Italy for a trip to the gold medal game. South Korea and Canada will meet in the second semifinal.

Norway vs. Sweden round-robin game, Group A

Final: Norway 3, Sweden 1

Czech Republic vs. Japan round-robin game, Group B

Final: Czech Republic 3, Japan 0

Para Alpine skiing: Men's and women's super combined, all classes

The super combined results combine each skier's times from two runs, the first down a super-G course and the second down a slalom slope. However, many skiers were taken out of competition halfway through when they failed to reach the super-G finish line. The biggest surprise came when France’s Marie Bochet, already a double gold medalist in PyeongChang who also won this event in Sochi, spun out on her super-G run. 

Women's super combined – Visually impaired gold medalist: Henrieta Farkasova with guide Natalia Subrtova, SLO

  • Team USA's Danelle Umstead finished eighth. Staci Mannella lost her edge and skidded out early in her super-G run of the super combined, and posted a "did not finish."

Women's super combined – Standing gold medalist: Mollie Jepsen, CAN

  • Team USA's Stephanie Jallen finished fifth and Melanie Schwartz finished eighth.

Women's super combined – Sitting gold medalist: Anna-Lena Forster, GER

  • Team USA's Laurie Stephens finished fourth. Out of eight athletes entered in this division, only four successfully finished both runs.

Men's super combined – Visually impaired gold medalist: Miroslav Haraus with guide Maros Hudik​, SLO

  • Team USA's Kevin Burton finished seventh with guide Brandon Ashby.

Men's super combined – Standing gold medalist: Aleksei Bugaev​, NPA

  • Team USA's Jamie Stanton finished fourth.

Men's super combined – Sitting gold medalist: Jeroen Kampschreur​, NED

  • Team USA's Josh Elliot and Andrew Kurka finished sixth and seventh, respectively.

Para Biathlon: Men's 12.5km and women's 10km, all classes

Women's 10km – Visually impaired gold medalist: Oksana Shyshkova with guide Vitaliy Kazakov, UKR

  • No Team USA athletes

Women's 10km – Standing gold medalist: Ekaterina Rumyantseva, NPA

  • No Team USA athletes

Women's 10km – Sitting gold medalist: Andrea Eskau, GER

  • Team USA: Kendall Gretsch and Oksana Masters both struggled in the 10km event. Gretsch, winner of two Para Nordic gold medals in PyeongChang, never seemed comfortable on course. The trouble was first visible when she dropped one of her ski poles while leaving the first shooting stop, where she hit four of five targets. Once she recovered her pole, Gretsch still had to take a trip around the penalty loop. Gretsch also fell twice on the course on a day with the snow softening under temperatures in the mid-40s. Even with all the adversity, Gretsch was able to finish in 4th place.

    Oksana Masters’ troubles were most felt on the shooting range. Masters failed to hit 6 of her 20 targets, but a fall during the race reportedly caused her to reinjure her right elbow, the same elbow she dislocated in training two weeks before leaving for PyeongChang. Masters left the race before finishing for evaluation.

Men's 12.5km – Visually impaired gold medalist: Yury Holub and guide Dzmitry Budzilovich, BLR

  • No Team USA athletes

Men's 12.5km – Standing gold medalist: Benjamin Daviet, France

  • Team USA's Ruslan Reiter finished in 11th place.

Men's 12.5km – Sitting gold medalist: Taras Rad, Ukraine

  • Team USA's Dan Cnossen shot clean to win silver, while Andy Soule captured bronze. It was the third time in PyeongChang that the U.S. had occupied two spots on a Para Nordic podium. So far, eight Nordic medals have been won by Team USA in PyeongChang. Also for the U.S., Aaron Pike finished 5th, Sean Halsted was 12th, while Bryan Price ended the race in 16th.

Wheelchair curling: Preliminary matches

USA vs. China round-robin

Final: USA 4, China 6

The U.S. wheelchair curling team pulled even with China near the end of the game, and the teams entered the final end tied at 4-4. But China, holding the hammer, was able to score two in the eighth end to claim the win.

USA vs. Canada round-robin

Final: USA 5, Canada 6

Canada just barely beat out the U.S. in a tight match that went to an extra end. Team USA had a one-point lead going into the eighth end, but Canada took advantage of the hammer to score one and tie the match. In the ninth end, the U.S. wasn't able to outshoot Canada, and Canada stole a point to win the game. The U.S.' record is now 1-6.