In a battle of bordering nations, the United States women’s ice hockey team lost to the aggressive Canadian team 3-2 early Wednesday morning.

Hilary Knight gave the U.S. a 1-0 lead as she notched a goal in the second period; however, Canada responded by scoring two third-period goals, both by Meghan Agosta-Marciano.

This game between the North American powerhouses could be a potential preview of the gold-medal game.

Russia skates away with gold and bronze

In mixed pairs figure skating, Russia seized three out of the top six spots, including gold and silver.

Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov tallied 236.86 points to edge out fellow Russians Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov by nearly 20 points.

The United States finished in ninth place in the mixed pairs competition, as Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir only received 187.82 for their performance.

Switzerland stuns Latvia in hockey

Latvia and Switzerland challenged each other in men’s hockey on Wednesday.

After almost an entire hour of scoreless playing, Switzerland’s Simon Moser fired a shot on goal that deflected off a Latvian defender right in front of the net and ended up in the back of the goal with 7.9 seconds left, to give his team the victory. Despite the last-second goal, Latvia’s goaltender Edgars Masalskis stopped 38 of the 39 shots on goal.

Sweden’s offense overpowers Czech Republic

Sweden beat the Czech Republic 4-2 in men’s hockey on Wednesday.

Swede Erik Karlsson, a member of the Ottawa Senators, scored two goals in his Olympic debut. Oliver Ekman-Larsson of the Phoenix Coyotes assisted two of Sweden’s goals. Marek Zidlicky and Jaromir Jagr were responsible for the Czech Republic’s two goals.

On Friday, the Czech Republic will take on Latvia, and Sweden will challenge Switzerland.

Matthew Zackman can be reached at [email protected]