U.S. team settles for tie with Latvia

With a full roster of National Hockey League players, it took a late goal by Jordan Leopold Wednesday to salvage a 3-all tie against Latvia in an opening game for the U.S. hockey team at Turin, Italy, that felt more like a loss.

When the final horn sounded, the Latvian players raised their arms in triumph while the Americans slowly gathered around goalie John Grahame.

Canada had less trouble with host Italy. The gold medal favorite was locked in a surprising 1-all tie early in the second period, but Dany Heatley scored and the 7-2 rout was on, with four more goals to follow in the next 13 1/2 minutes.

Also, Marian Gaborik scored twice late in the third period to help Slovakia upset Russia 5-3.

In other openers, Finland defeated Switzerland 5-0; Sweden stopped Kazakhstan 7-2; and the Czech Republic toppled Germany 4-1.

Freestyle skiing

Jeremy Bloom’s skiing adventure came to a less-than-satisfying close. The two-sport star finished sixth in Olympic moguls at Sauze d’Oulx.

Dale Begg-Smith of Australia won the event, and Mikko Ronkainen took the silver. American Toby Dawson finished third.

American Travis Mayer, the silver medalist in 2002, finished seventh and announced his retirement afterward.

Bloom has bigger things on his radar now – starting with a trip to the NFL scouting combine next week.

Bloom won an unprecedented six straight races and the World Cup title last season, positioning himself as the man to beat.

Alpine skiing

Austria’s Michaela Dorfmeister won the women’s downhill for the Olympic gold medal that had eluded her for so long with a dominant run through windy, gloomy conditions at San Sicario in the Italian Alps.

Martina Schild of Switzerland won the silver and Anja Paerson of Sweden the bronze.

American Lindsey Kildow, skiing 48 hours after a horrific crash in a training run put her in a hospital overnight, tied for eighth with Austrian Alexandra Meissnitzer, 1.29 seconds behind the winner. Julia Mancuso was the top U.S. finisher, in seventh.

Speedskating

Chad Hedrick’s hope of matching Eric Heiden’s record five gold medals in a Winter Olympics ended when the Americans were eliminated in the quarterfinals of team pursuit at Turin.

Hedrick, KC Boutiette and Charles Ryan Leveille lost to the Italian team of Matteo Anesi, Stefano Donagrandi and Enrico Fabris by nearly a half-second after leading through the first four laps.

“Wang Meng gave China an expected gold medal in the women’s 500-meter short track, holding off Bulgaria’s Evgenia Radanova by about the length of a skate blade at Turin.

Anouk LeBlanc-Boucher of Canada took the bronze.

Miscellany

At Cesana, Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin crashed, ending their run for the luge gold in an unexpected tangle of arms, legs and tears. Seeking the one medal that has eluded them, Grimmette and Martin wrecked on their first run, ending perhaps the final chase for the most decorated doubles luge team in U.S. history. Austrian brothers Andreas and Wolfgang Linger won the gold, finishing the two-run event in 1 minute, 34.497 seconds. Germany’s Andre Florschuetz and Torsten Wustlich won the silver. … In men’s curling, Italy, not a traditional power, shocked the United States 6-5 in the opening round at Pinerolo. The U.S. team is 2-2. … The U.S. women earned their first Olympic curling victory, defeating Denmark 8-3. The Americans will probably need to win four of the next five games to have a chance at the medal round. …The Nordic combined will resume today after the ski jumping portion was halted because of wind at Pragelato.