FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, February 11th, 2014

2014 SOCHI WINTER GAMES – FEB. 11 NBCSN, CNBC, MSNBC & USA HIGHLIGHTS

Tonight at 8 p.m. ET on NBC: Shaun White Competes in Olympic Halfpipe Gold Medal Final

Wednesday Morning Rivalry Women’s Hockey between Team USA & Canada at 7 a.m. ET Highlights Live NBCSN Coverage Tomorrow, Feb. 12

Stamford, Conn. – February 11, 2014 – Coming up on NBC Olympics’ coverage of the XXII Olympic Winter Games:

  • Tonight at 8 p.m. ET, NBC’s coverage features gold medal final coverage of the snowboard halfpipe headlined by action sports icon Shaun White and the figure skating pairs’ short program as reigning world champions Tatyana Volosozhar and Maksim Trankov look to reinstate Russia’s Olympic dominance in the event. For more information on tonight’s primetime program on NBC, click here.
  • Tomorrow’s live coverage on NBCSN begins at 3 a.m. ET and is highlighted by Wednesday Morning Rivalry featuring a 2010 Vancouver Olympic women’s hockey gold medal final rematch between Team USA vs. Canada at 7 a.m. ET.
  • Live MSNBC coverage begins at 3 a.m. ET with Switzerland vs. Finland in women’s hockey, followed by Latvia vs. Switzerland in men’s hockey. USA’s live coverage at 5 a.m. ET includes Team USA vs. China in women’s curling, and the Czech Republic vs. Sweden in men’s hockey. CNBC’s curling coverage begins at 5 p.m. ET.

 

TEAM USA AND CANADA WOMEN’S HOCKEY WEDNESDAY MORNING RIVALRY PREVIEW

Al Michaels on the Wednesday Morning Rivalry women’s hockey game between Team USA and Canada live tomorrow at 7 am. ET on NBCSN: “This is the Yankees and the Red Sox on ice.”

Analyst and former NHL player, coach, and general manager Mike Milbury to Michaels: “Since 1990, there have been 19 World Championships or Olympic titles on the line, and 18 times these two teams have squared off. That is amazing. That makes Yankees-Red Sox look weak… If you don’t think women’s hockey is tough, take a look at this thing.”

U.S. Olympic hockey gold medalist and analyst Natalie Darwitz on USA women’s hockey team’s game against Canada tomorrow: “Right now I think the Americans overall game has looked really strong. The little things, speed, faceoff, puck possession, communication. When they want to get physical they can, but it’s not their style. Right now, USA has a lot more confidence going into tomorrow’s game.”

Team USA forward and 2010 Olympic silver medalist Kelli Stack: “I would definitely say the rivalry with Canada is a nasty one. We don’t like them, plain and simple. We want to win that game no matter what – whatever it takes.”

Canada forward and three-time Olympic gold medalist Jayna Hefford on the rivalry: “I do believe it is one of the best in sports… because of the intensity of it and also the longevity of it.”

Team USA forward and three-time Olympic medalist Julie Chu: “We literally go toe-to-toe with each other. Sometimes there’s little scrums after the plays, really incredibly physical and fast games and probably some really choice words that are exchanged at times. Coming in to 2014, we have our eyes set on gold.”

Team USA forward and Olympic silver medalist Hilary Knight: “It is intense, blood boiling. It is physical.”

Team USA forward and two-time Women’s World Championship gold medalist Brianna Decker: “Both teams are out here to beat the crap out of each other.”

FOLLOWING ARE HIGHLIGHTS FROM TODAY’S NBCSN, CNBC, MSNBC & USA COVERAGE OF THE 2014 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES IN SOCHI:

Analyst and four-time U.S. ski jumping champion Jeff Hastings on the sport: “Ski jumping is a sport where you do a lot of coaching trying to get the body to do the right thing so you can let your mind go, and throw yourself off that takeoff with reckless abandon.”

Analyst and Olympic gold medalist Tara Lipinski on the Russians’ competition in the individual pairs’ short program (the free skate airs live at 10 a.m. ET tomorrow on NBCSN):  “It’s interesting because the Russians had such an amazing program in the team event so they are riding that high now going into the individual short program. If anyone is going to rival them it will be in the Germans and I think it will be in the free skate, because that’s where they are the strongest.”

Play-by-play voice Terry Gannon on Russian pairs’ team Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov: “In so many ways, they feel every bit as much pressure as Yevgeny Plushenko to deliver. Plushenko’s already got his gold medal at the Olympics. Volosozhar and Trankov came together to bring Russia back to the top in pairs.”

Analyst and two-time Olympian Johnny Weir on Weir and Tara Lipinski matching German pairs skater Aliona Savchenko’s pink panther outfit: “We didn’t even think about this. We [Tara and I] wanted to match each other… It’s a happy coincidence.”

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