As of yesterday’s Olympic competition, Norway still leads with 13 medals, but the United States stepped it up and has 12, as does the Netherlands. 

Paul Stastny scored twice during a six-goal barrage in the second period, and the United States got off to a spectacular start in the Olympic men’s hockey tournament with a 7 to 1 victory over Slovakia on Thursday.  Ryan Kesler, David Backes, Phil Kessel and Dustin Brown also scored as the Americans battered Slovakia for six consecutive goals in a 13:51 span, turning what was expected to be a tough matchup into a laugher.  Jonathan Quick made 22 saves in his Olympic debut for the U.S., which hopes to improve on its silver-medal finish in Vancouver despite a roster that isn’t thought to have the offensive power of Canada, Russia or Sweden.  Blues netminder, Jaroslav Halak had a rough game for Slovakia, giving up 5 goals on 25 shots, but didn’t stand a chance of stopping most of those.  Meanwhile, Blues players T.J. Oshie had 2 assists and Kevin Shattenkirk had 1 assist for the U.S.

The U.S. has swept the podium in men’s slopestyle skiing.  Joss Christensen soared to gold in the sport’s Olympic debut, posting a score of 95.80 to beat teammates Gus Kenworthy and Nick Goepper.  The gold was the fourth for the U.S. in Sochi, all won on the slopes of the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park.  In conditions better suited for a spring break in the mountains than the Winter Olympics, the 22-year old Christensen was by far the best.  Each of his four runs scored in the 90s. H is two runs in the finals would have been good enough to win gold and silver.  The sweep is the third for the U.S. in Winter Olympic history, joining men’s figure skating in 1956 and men’s halfpipe snowboarding in 2002.

Here’s a look at men’s curling so far this Olympics.  Sweden ended Norway’s unbeaten start in men’s Olympic curling by defeating its Nordic rival 5 to 4 on Thursday.  Canada and Britain also won on a good day for the gold-medal favorites.  Canada scored a point in the final end to beat Denmark 7 to 6, the second straight win for the two-time defending champions.  The Canadians have now won three and lost two.  Like Sweden, Britain is 4 and 1 after beating the Unites States 5 to 3.  The Americans are 1 and 3 and have little room to manoeuver in their final five games of the tournament.  The biggest cheer of the afternoon session at the Ice Cube came when Switzerland overran a simple draw shot with its final stone and gifted Russia three points, giving the host nation a 7 to 6 win.

And here’s a look at women’s curling so far.  Canada moved to the brink of the semifinals in women’s Olympic curling by beating Denmark and Switzerland on Thursday to remain undefeated after five games of round-robin play.  Sweden is just one win behind the Canadians after stealing a point in the final end to beat Denmark 7 to 6.  The United States stayed alive in the tournament by picking up an 8 to 6 win over Japan in another evening session game, their first of the Olympics.  Erika Brown’s rink is 1 and 4 and still could qualify by winning its final four games.  World champion Britain was under pressure after losing two of its first three games but beat China 8 to 7 in the morning session to revive its chances of reaching the semifinals.  Canada won both of its matches 8 to 5 to top the standings outright.