Olympics Live: US, Canadian women face off for hockey gold

BEIJING (AP) — The Latest on the Beijing Winter Olympics:

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The U.S. and Canada are facing off for women's hockey gold at the Beijing Olympics.

One of international sports’ fiercest and longest-running grudge matches is playing out for the second time.

The U.S. is the defending Olympic champion after rallying to beat Canada 3-2 in a shootout at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

The Canadians are considered the favorites this time after steamrolling to a 6-0 record and outscoring opponents 54-8, including a 4-2 win over the U.S. in group play.

Canada also had the edge over its cross-border rivals since captain Marie-Philip Poulin scored the gold-medal-winning goal in a 3-2 overtime win over the U.S. at the world championships in August to end the Americans’ streak of five tournament titles.

Overall at the Olympics, which added women’s hockey in 1998, Canada is 6-3 against the U.S., with four gold medals to the Americans’ two.

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American John Shuster and the defending Olympic curling champions won a last-chance match to qualify for the playoffs at the Beijing Olympics. They beat Denmark 7-5 to keep their hopes of a repeat gold medal alive.

The Americans will play Britain in the semifinals later Thursday night. Reigning silver medalist Sweden will meet Canada, which finished fourth a year ago.

Four years after winning five straight elimination games to take gold -- just the second Olympic curling medal in U.S. history -- Shuster’s foursome was again in a desperate position.

This time there was a twist, though: Even with a loss, they could have made the playoffs if Italy beat Norway. (The Americans beat Norway 7-6 in the round-robin to claim the tiebreaker.)

In the end, Italy lost. The Americans needed to win, and they did.