It's part of the routine now, as much a staple of the Winter Games as the medal ceremonies, the doping scandals or the sequins on the figure skating costumes.

The United States playing Canada for the Olympic women's hockey gold medal.

Jennifer Wakefield scored twice and Shannon Szabados stopped 14 shots on Monday night to lead the Canadians to a 5-0 victory over the Olympic Athletes from Russia and earn the four-time defending Olympic champions a spot in another gold medal game.

Monday’s Winter Olympics TV schedule. All times Pacific.

6:30 a.m.: Ski Jumping (men’s team large hill). NBCSN

8 a.m.: Bobsled (two-man), Speedskating (men’s 500 meters, women’s team pursuit qualifying). NBCSN

After another weather-related change to the Alpine skiing schedule at the Pyeongchang Olympics, American Mikaela Shiffrin has dropped Wednesday's downhill. 

With winds expected to increase later in the week, organizers shifted the women's combined from Friday to Thursday. 

Skipping the downhill allows Shiffrin to avoid back-to-back races and focus on the combined. She will contend for a gold medal in the event. 

A power-play goal by Kirill Kaprizov in overtime has lifted the Olympic Athletes from Russian to the gold medal in men's hockey with a 4-3 win over Germany at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

It's the first gold in men's hockey for Russians since 1992.

Kaprizov also had three assists Sunday. He scored on a one-timer from the right circle off a pass from Nikita Gusev.

All that held Gabriella Papadakis’ costume together were a few frayed threads and the prayers of her partner, Guillaume Cizeron.

The top of her dress came loose while the French couple warmed up for the short dance portion of the ice dance competition on Monday at Gangneung Ice Arena but they had no time to fix it.

Her desperate efforts to keep it from slipping off hampered her movement and spoiled the stunning unison the two-time world champions usually display during their routine to samba and rhumba music.

None of the last 10 days really mattered and that included Monday, when the United States cruised to a 5-0 victory over Finland in the semifinals of the women’s hockey tournament.

The 17 games played up to this point have served as something of a prolonged and gratuitous qualification phase for the inevitable gold-medal contest between the United States and Canada.

So long as Canada defeats the Olympics Athletes from Russia – in other words, Russia – the anticipated rematch of the previous two Olympic finals will take place Thursday at Gangneung Hockey Centre. Count on it happening. The Canadians already crushed the Russians in the opening round of this tournament, 5-0.

Amid reports that a male Russian curler has tested positive for doping, officials at the 2018 Winter Olympics find themselves facing tough questions about the integrity of these Games.

A member of the Russian women’s squad confirmed on Monday that team officials had informed them of the situation.

"It was the main coach who came to tell us the news and we actually just read the news because it was pretty late at night and we were all in our rooms,” curler Victoria Moiseeva told reporters. “We tried to fall asleep and it was a little hard.”

The social media onslaught against Lindsey Vonn doesn’t seem to be bothering the U.S. Alpine skiing star.

After Vonn failed to medal in the super-G last week, a slew of posts by supporters of President Trump, often using profane or threatening language, celebrated the result.

“I always try to remember that it’s people talking behind a computer and they’re going to say anything,” Vonn said Monday after her second downhill training run at the Jeongseon Alpine Center.

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir came out of retirement to win more Olympic gold.

Only the free dance stands in their way.

The Canadian ice dancers broke their own record for a short program at the Pyeongchang Olympics on Monday, piling up 83.67 points with a harmonious, rock-inspired performance.

The U.S. men’s hockey team, which finished third in its preliminary-round group in the Olympic tournament, will face Slovakia in a qualification round game Tuesday at 12:10 p.m. KST at Gangneung Hockey Centre. The winner will advance to a quarterfinal matchup against the Czech Republic here Wednesday.

The winner of each of the three groups and the team with the second-best record received byes to the quarterfinals. The Czechs won Group A, the Olympic Athletes from Russia won Group B, and Sweden won Group C. Canada had the best record among the second-place teams.

Slovakia finished fourth, one place behind the U.S., in preliminary-round play in Group B. The two teams met in the first round, with the U.S. winning 2-1 on a pair of power-play goals scored by Ryan Donato, one of four college players on the U.S. roster. That was the U.S. team’s only victory in the first round; Coach Tony Granato’s team lost to the Olympic Athletes from Russia, 4-0, and lost to Slovenia 3-2 in overtime.