Sochi 2014: Hockey semifinals, women’s slalom the top events to watch Friday

The Winter Olympics are starting to wind down, but that means the competition gets even bigger, as most of the marquee events reach their final rounds. We got the men’s hockey semifinals, featuring the hotly-anticipated USA-Canada match, the women’s slalom, the medal rounds in men’s curling, and a handful of important speed skating events. Everything is on the line as we head into the weekend.

Here are the top events to watch on Friday:

This is the game everyone is waiting for. The United States and Canada resume their grudge match at noon (ET) on NBCSN. Many people were anticipating a rematch of their classic gold medal clash in 2010, but this one is coming a round earlier than expected, meaning that one team will have to settle for no better than a bronze. Team USA will try to restore morale among American fans after the women’s team suffered a crushing overtime loss to the Canadians. With so much at stake and national pride on the line, take a long lunch break; this game is not to be missed.

Oh yeah, there’s another game that needs to be played first. Finland and Sweden will face off at 7 a.m.

Can Tina Maze complete the hat trick? The Slovenian star will try to grab a third gold medal this year in the women’s slalom run. Maze took the gold in giant slalom and shared first place in downhill. She won’t have easy competition, though. Germany’s Maria Hofl-Riesch has two medals of her own and is out to defend her Vancouver gold in the slalom. Meanwhile, America’s Mikaela Shiffrin has one last chance to deliver on her hype after a sixth place finish in the giant slalom.

All good things must come to an end, and Olympic fans will bid a sad goodbye to curling on Friday with the men’s medal rounds. They still have some pretty good games to look forward too, though, as Great Britain try to finish off an incredible run against the Canadian powerhouse. The Brits made it this far after intense nailbiting wins over Norway and Sweden, while Canada is looking to make it three gold medals in a row in the event. Sweden and China will play for the bronze.

Short track reaches its conclusion with the men’s 500m, women’s 1000m and men’s 5000m relay. J.R. Celski is the lone American left in the 500m quarterfinal as the U.S. limp to a colossal disappointment in speed skating this year, having yet to reach the podium. Russia’s Viktor Ahn has two medals already and is looking for his second gold. In the women’s 1000m quarterfinal, Emily Scott and Jessica Smith are the only hope left for Team USA. China’s Li Jianrou is one of the favorites after winning gold in the 500m.