Winter Olympics 2014, Day 5: Curling begins, USA women’s hockey hits ice

It was another day of skiing in 40-plus-degree weather, which worked out well for the Europeans. The women’s super-combined, men’s biathlon and men’s moguls were on the docket in Sochi on Monday, the Winter Olympics’ fifth day.

Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany took gold in the women’s super-combined (a combination of downhill and slalom alpine skiing) with a time of 2:34.62, less than half a second faster than Nicole Hosp of Austria (2:35.02); the United States’ Julia Mancuso finished with a time of 2:35.15 and grabbed the bronze medal.

North America continued its dominance in the 2014 Winter Olympics women’s ice hockey tournament on Monday with two very different games.

The United States and Canada will play in a winner-takes all scenario for the final Group A game on Wednesday. But to get there, they had to first deal with two European foes that presented interesting challenges.

Curling officially began on Monday morning, with both the men’s and women’s teams getting underway in round-robin action.

For those unfamiliar, curling is a sport in which competitors slide a stone toward a target on the ice while teammates attempt to steer the stone with brushes. It may not be the most pulse-pounding sport, but those flashy uniforms sure keep viewers entertained.

With the NHL on hiatus and the hockey Olympians all settled in Sochi, the Olympic hockey teams held their first practices on Monday. It was the first chance for the new teammates to get acquainted and the first chance for fans and media to get an idea of what the line combinations will be throughout the tournament.

After sifting through tweets from media in Sochi, we’ve compiled a full list of line combinations for each team that practiced on Monday. We’ll update throughout the afternoon as more information becomes available.

Julia Mancuso of the USA meets her sister after winning bronze in the super combined. (Clive Rose/Getty Images)

Russia’s pants: can they rival Norway? (Clive Mason/Getty Images)

It took almost a full hour of hard-fought hockey, but the Canadian women’s ice hockey team eventually prevailed in a 3-0 group stage win over Finland.

With the win, Finland is now winless in 21 games all-time against Canada. For awhile, it looked like they would finally break the streak.

We’ve mentioned it time and time again since the tournament started, but it’s really a two-team race in women’s hockey between the United States and Canada. The two will battle for the first time on Wednesday, but as they face off against similar opponents, can we get clues into where each team stands?

Canada beat Switzerland 5-0 in their opening game. It took the USA just 20 minutes to match that same output, as they scored five times in the first period en route to a huge 9-0 win. Amanda Kessel, who might be better at hockey than her brother Phil, had a hat trick.

Julia Mancuso represented Team USA’s best chances in the Womens’ Super Combined skiing on the slopes of the Rosa Khutor Alpire Center, and she backed up the belief by winning her third consecutive Winter Olympics medal with a bronze.

Mancuso got out to a quick start by posting a blistering 1:42.15 in the downhill portion, leading the field by almost half a second following the first run. The course proved difficult for men’s favorite Bode Miller or Sunday, but Mancuso did not fall into the same trap, managing the sheer drops and breakneck speeds. She was unable to follow up with a quick slalom time, finishing 13th in the discipline and seeing her lead evaporate.