VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Gold was the only option for both Canada's women's hockey team and South Korean figure skater Kim Yu-na. For the U.S. Nordic combined squad, any medal in any color would do.

All of them were quite pleased with the way things turned out Thursday.

The Canadian women beat the United States 2-0 for their third straight Olympic title, this one even sweeter because it was on home ice.

Expectations were sky-high for Kim, the reigning world champion known as the "Queen." She responded with one of the greatest performances figure skating has ever seen, drawing a score that shattered her own world record and even caused her to gasp when it was posted. This also was South Korea's first medal at the Winter Olympics in a sport other than speedskating.

Up in the mountains, Billy Demong and Johnny Spillane finished 1-2 in a Nordic combined race, a surprising medal haul in a sport that's been part of the Winter Olympics since 1924 but never had an American medalist until these games.

Demong's victory is the first gold and his second of these games. Spillane became the first medalist on Sunday, and now he has three, all silver.

"I think it has been building over the past five to 10 years," Demong said. "These Olympics are the combination of years of hard work and hard breaks."

Add silvers by the hockey women and Jeret "Speedy" Peterson in men's aerials, and the U.S. medal count is up to eight golds and 32 overall. The Americans are closing in on their record hauls of 10 gold of 34 total, both set at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

Germany had a 1-2 finish in giant slalom to reach eight golds and 26 overall medals.

Norway's Marit Bjoergen became the top medal-winner thus far, becoming the first with three golds and with four overall medals by leading the winning team in the women's cross-country relay.

Nordic CombinedThis race involved ski jumping on the large hill, then a 10K race. Weather was another obstacle.A driving, wet snow and tail wind late in the ski jumping portion ruined the distances for many of the top competitors, forcing them to start way back in the cross-country race. Demong and Spillane were among those to win the weather "lottery," as World Cup leader Jason Lamy Chappuis of France called it.

Giant SlalomJulia Mancuso was third fastest in Thursday's second run of the giant slalom, which wasn't enough to overcome a frustrating performance in the first run a day earlier. Her Vancouver Olympics ends with a pair of silver medals.Viktoria Rebensburg won the race, giving Germany a winner in it for the first time since 1956. She was highly unlikely to be the drought-buster as she'd never won a major event."Unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable," she said.

Men's HockeyIn the ongoing dispute over whether the NHL will let its players participate in the 2014 Sochi Games, the head of Russia's pro hockey league says it would be a serious mistake for the NHL to stand in their way.Alex Medvedev said he met three times in Vancouver with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. Bettman is concerned about shutting down the NHL season during the Olympics. He also has doubts about an Olympics in which the hockey would be played at a time when many North American fans would be asleep.

CurlingThe Norwegian men — and their popular, gaudy, diamond-print trousers — will meet Canada in the gold-medal final after beating Switzerland. Canada is attempting to become the first Olympic curling team to go unbeaten since 1998. It earned its own spot in the final by beating Sweden.In the women's final, it'll be Sweden vs. Canada.The defending gold medalists from Sweden KO'd the reigning world champion Chinese in one semifinal, and the hosts took out Switzerland.