Canada down US in ice hockey semi
Defending champions Canada reached their second-straight Olympic final, spoiling the USA's perfect record and smothering their high-powered offence at the Sochi Games to set up a gold medal clash with Sweden.
Jamie Benn scored early in the second period and goaltender Carey Price stopped all 31 shots he faced for the shutout as Canada defeated the United States 1-0 in a re-match of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic final.
Canada's semi-final victory in the men's ice hockey tournament means they will face Sweden in Sunday's championship game after the Swedes topped Finland 2-1 in an all-Nordic semi.
"It is another opportunity," said Canadian captain Sidney Crosby. "We all worked hard a long time to get to play in the gold medal game."
Finland and the United States will square off for the bronze medal on Saturday.
Benn scored on a nice give-and-go with defenceman Jay Bouwmeester with 1:41 gone in the second for Canada who are trying to win their first gold medal outside of North America since 1952 in Oslo.
"We wanted to stay on them and control the play in their end," said Benn, who wasn't invited to the first tryout camp for Team Canada but was added to the team later on.
"When we did turn it over, we were on them right away. We found a way to win."
Benn passed the puck back to the point to Bouwmeester who immediately fired it back to Benn in front of the goal for the deflection.
"(Ryan) Getzlaf found me in the middle," Benn said. "I saw Jay open back there and he made a great pass back to me. I found a way to get it into the back of the net."
Bouwmeester also had a strong game for Canada. He was left off the last Olympic team in Vancouver after being chosen to represent Canada in the world championships in Halifax.
Canada beat the USA in the gold medal game four years ago in Vancouver when Crosby scored in overtime. Canada and the USA also met in the gold medal match of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games which was also won by Canada.
The loss was the first of the tournament for the USA in five games and it kept their record intact of never have won a gold medal outside of North America.
The Americans had been the most explosive team on offence in the 2014 tournament, having scored a tournament-leading 20 goals heading into Friday's semi.
But they managed few quality scoring chances on Price and when they did get in close Price shut the door.
