U.S. men’s hockey forced to reschedule flights home

Defenseman Jack Johnson of the Kings said he and his U.S. teammates have been scrambling to reschedule their flights out of Vancouver because they were booked to leave town before Sunday’s gold-medal game against Canada.

“They scheduled all the Americans to fly out Sunday morning. Whoever is in charge of this scheduled us to fly out tomorrow morning, and I think the Russians and Swedes are supposed to fly out on Monday,� Johnson said. “I’m glad we get to change that.�

The NHL Players Assn. handles players’ travel arrangements for the Olympics, per the collective bargaining agreement. A spokesman for the players association did not immediately return an e-mail.

Johnson, who chartered a flight to Vancouver to participate in the Olympic opening ceremony, said he would not charter a flight back to Los Angeles. “I’ll walk before I have to do that,� he said.

After the Olympic break the Kings resume play Tuesday at Dallas, and Johnson said he’s not sure whether he would go to Los Angeles or directly to Dallas. “I don’t know. We’re all up in the air as far as schedules.

“Quite frankly, if we win a gold medal I think we’ll walk to wherever we have to go.�

-- Helene Elliott

Cross-country skiing

Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland survived a strong duel down the stretch to edge Marit Bjoergen of Norway by .3 seconds in the women’s 30-kilometer race. Bjoergen has already won three golds. Aino-Kaisa Saarinen of Finland took the bronze, more than a minute back of the leaders.

Kikkan Randall was the highest placed finisher for the U.S. in 24th. Holly Brooks was 36th and Morgan Arritola did not finish.

Curling

Canada made history as its men’s team became the first ever to go through the tournament undefeated. The team got its 11th win in the gold-medal match, 6-3, over Norway. It gave Canada its 13th gold medal in these Games. Switzerland beat Sweden, 5-4, for the bronze.

-- John Cherwa