Men’s Hockey

Petr Svoboda scored with 11:52 to play and Dominik Hasek remained impregnable in goal as the Czech Republic defeated Russia 1-0 Saturday night (PST) to win the first Olympic hockey competition featuring NHL players.

The Czechs (5-1) got to the gold-medal game by defeating co-favorites United States 4-1 in the quarterfinals and Canada 2-1 in a semifinal shootout. Before Czechoslovakia split, it won four silver medals and three bronzes but could never get the gold.

Earlier, Finland’s 3-2 victory gave the underdogs the bronze medal over a Canadian team stocked with 23 NHL players.

The matchup pitted former teammates Jari Kurri of Finland against Wayne Gretzky of Canada. The two eventual Hall of Famers were linemates during the Edmonton Oilers’ Stanley Cup dynasty in the 1980s. Kurri scored Finland’s first goal and Gretzky assisted on Canada’s second goal.

Kurri, 37, playing his final game for his national team, found the moment slightly bittersweet.

“It’s ironic that I played that last game against Gretzky,” he said. “I feel a little bit sad about that because I like to see Gretzky win. But it’s nice to add this bronze medal to my career. It means a lot to me.”

Cross country

Bjorn Dahlie, the Norwegian cross country skiing great, extended his all-time Winter Olympics record in the last race of Nagano by picking up his 12th medal - a gold in the 50-kilometer. It was his record eighth gold medal, too.

Dahlie, who also owns four silver medals, collapsed in the snow after finishing his trek through the course in Hakuba. Dahlie’s Nagano performance - three golds, one silver - put him two medals ahead of the old record-holder, Soviet cross-country skier Raisa Smetanina.

The silver medal went to Niklas Jonsson of Sweden; Christian Hoffmann of Austria won the bronze.

Speedskating

America’s best hope at a medal in short-track speedskating went out early Saturday as Andy Gabel skidded into a wall during a heat of the men’s 500 meters. But three gold medals were captured during the last night of short track.

In the 500 meters, Takafumi Nishitani of Japan was the winner, followed by An Yulong of China and Hitoshi Uematsu of Japan. Chun Lee-kyung of South Korea won the women’s 1,000 meters; Yang Yang S of China won the silver and Won Hye-kyung of South Korea the bronze.

And in the men’s 5,000-meter relay, Canada won, while South Korea took the silver and China the bronze.

Bobsled

The U.S. four-man bobsled team came close - painfully close - to ending the United States’ 42-year Olympic medal drought, winding up two-hundredths of a second out of a bronze medal. Driver Brian Shimer shouldered all of the blame.

“It’s nobody else’s fault other than mine,” Shimer said. “Every guy on the sled did his job.”

Making it worse, four medals were awarded: gold to Germany, silver to Switzerland, bronze to both Britain and France.