FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, February 13th, 2014

2014 SOCHI WINTER GAMES – FEB. 13 NBCSN, CNBC, MSNBC & USA HIGHLIGHTS

Tonight at 8 p.m. ET on NBC: Nick Goepper and U.S. Freeskiers Aim for Medals in Men’s Slopestyle Final, Noelle Pikus-Pace Competes in Women’s Skeleton 

Americans Jeremy Abbott and Jason Brown Featured in Men’s Short Figure Skating Program

Live Men’s Hockey Coverage Continues Tomorrow, Highlighted by Team Canada vs. Austria at Noon ET on USA Network

STAMFORD, Conn. – February 13, 2014 – Coming up on NBC Olympics’ coverage of the XXII Olympic Winter Games:

  • Tonight at 8 p.m. ET, NBC’s coverage features Indiana native Nick Goepper and a deep crop of U.S. skiers competing in the inaugural gold medal final for men’s freeski slopestyle; Jeremy Abbott and Jason Brown challenging Canada’s Patrick Chan and Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu in the men’s short figure skating program; Utah native Noelle Pikus-Pace making her triumphant return from retirement in women’s skeleton; and Heather Richardson and Brittany Bowe racing in the 1000m gold medal final in women’s speed skating. For more information on tonight’s primetime program on NBC, click here.
  • Tomorrow’s live coverage on NBCSN begins at 5 a.m. ET with the 15km classical gold medal final in men’s cross-country, followed by Sweden vs. Switzerland in men’s hockey at 7:30 a.m. ET, and also includes more than four hours of live coverage of the men’s figure skating gold medal final, starting at 10 a.m. ET.
  • USA’s live coverage begins at 5 a.m. ET with Team USA vs. Denmark in women’s curling followed by Team Canada against Austria in men’s hockey at noon ET. Live MSNBC coverage begins at 3 a.m. ET with men’s hockey action between the Czech Republic and Latvia, followed by Norway and Finland at noon ET. CNBC’s men’s curling coverage continues at 5 p.m. ET with Team USA against Russia.

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

Johnny Weir on Yevgeny Plushenko’s withdrawal from the men’s figure skating event:  “He will get criticized, and many people will say terrible things about this withdrawal, where it happened and why it happened, or if it was planned. The thing is, things can change for an athlete in an instant, and your body can tell you ‘no’ in an instant, these things do happen.”

Weir on Plushenko’s withdrawl: “Knowing Yevgeny Plushenko as I do, he would have gone out with that gold medal from the team event – that would have been his swan song. But he came here today, he put on the costume, he was on the warm up and this, I do believe, is just his body saying no…it’s extremely disheartening for the country and for the sport.”

Tara Lipinski on whether Plushenko’s withdrawal from was planned: “I don’t think that he would’ve gotten this far, gone to the warm up – he would have withdrawn earlier.”

Johnny Weir on the men’s figure skating competition: “It’s a very stacked field; we’re going to see amazing skating from the top of our show to the bottom. Every man here is capable of greatness.”

Bree Schaaf on Noelle Pikus-Pace’s second run in skeleton: “Look at how relaxed she is on the sled. It’s all about melting in, you want to be the butter on the toast in skeleton.”

Mike Milbury on Team USA’s 7-1 win over Slovakia in men’s hockey: “They just kept coming. There was no end to the magic on this particular night. This team has a lot of confidence.”

Milbury on Team USA’s 7-1 win: “I thought the balance and the domination that the United States showed was remarkable – I think way ahead of where everybody thought they’d be at this time.”

Jeremy Roenick on Canada’s impressive second period, in which they outshot Norway 14-2 en route to a 3-1 win: “I think the goaltender on Norway is going to look like Denis Lemieux from ‘Slapshot’ after this game with all of the shots he’s going to have.”

Milbury on Canada’s 3-1 win over Norway: “Even if you’re the favorite, you can’t go into the game and expect to be deferred to. I thought they took this game against Norway for granted.”

Team USA women’s hockey player Hilary Knight on U.S.-Canada rivalry: “Hatred is pretty good. When we get between the glass and it’s the U.S. versus Canada, it’s everything on the line.”

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