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5 to Watch: U.S. Women's Hockey Continues Quest for Gold

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While Mikaela Shiffrin and Team USA’s other alpine skiers have been temporarily sidelined by high winds, American snowboarders are providing the Pyeongchang thrills.

Competing in snowboarding slopestyle, teenager Red Gerard on Sunday won America’s first gold medal in Pyeongchang. Now, Chloe Kim, another 17-year-old, will try to match him in women’s halfpipe. And Shaun White, who won his first gold medal when Gerard and Kim were just 5 years old, takes the slopes in his fourth Olympic games in the men’s halfpipe qualifying.

Kim and White highlight an action-packed day that includes speed skaters Shani Davis, Joey Mantia and Maame Biney, and a women’s hockey game between Team USA and the Olympic Athletes from Russia.

Here’s what you need to watch in Pyeongchang over the next 24 hours:

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Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
Meghan Duggan (10) of the United States skates with the puck in the first period against Finland during the Women's Ice Hockey preliminary round on day two of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games Feb. 11, 2018, in Gangneung, South Korea.

U.S. Women’s Hockey Continues Quest for Gold vs. Russians

The U.S. women’s hockey team won its opening game in Pyeongchang against Finland, 3-1, on Sunday. Now they face the Olympic Athletes from Russia, as the Russians are being referred to in Pyeongchang. The Russians are the youngest team in the tournament, with less experience and almost an entirely new roster from the team that played in four years ago in Sochi.

The women's hockey team includes many with New England ties, including Danvers, Massachusetts native Meghan Duggan; Cayla Barnes, who attended New Hampton School in New Hampshire and played hockey at Boston College; Megan Keller, who also played at Boston College; Kali Flanagan, who grew up in Burlington, Massachusetts, and played hockey at Boston College; Hillary Knight, who attended high school at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut and plays professional hockey with the Boston Pride; and Kacey Bellamy of Westfield, Massachusetts, who attended the University of New Hampshire and also plays for the Boston Pride.

The Americans have failed to win a gold medal since the sport was added to the Games in 1998. Most heartbreaking was their loss to powerhouse Canada in the gold medal game at Sochi. The Canadians, their longtime rivals, have won four straight gold medals.

You can watch live on NBCSN at 7:10 a.m. ET Tuesday or on digital platforms right here.

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Chloe Kim.

Kim Goes for Gold, White Makes Pyeongchang Debut

Chloe Kim is a 17-year-old sensation appearing in her first Olympics. Shaun White is one of the most decorated snowboarders ever, appearing in his fourth Olympics. Kim will go for her first gold medal on Tuesday (Monday night in the U.S.), and White will make his Pyeongchang debut.

Kim, whose parents are from South Korea, has dominated the women’s halfpipe in the years since the Sochi Games, when she was too young to compete. In 2016, she became the first woman to land back-to-back 1080s in a halfpipe contest. She began snowboarding at age 4 with her father, but does not like snow. 

"Actually, I hate it," Kim told Sports Illustrated in January. "I grew up in Southern California.”

White won gold medals in the men’s halfpipe in his first two Olympics, but finished fourth in Sochi in 2014. He’s looking for redemption in Pyeongchang. He’ll compete in qualifying on Tuesday (Monday night in the U.S.), and then go for a medal on Wednesday if he advances. 

Watch both Kim and White live during NBC’s primetime coverage at 8 p.m. ET.

You can watch Kim’s medal event on digital platforms at 8 p.m. ET right here.

You can watch White’s qualifying event at 11 p.m. ET on digital platforms right here.

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Massachusetts Native Competes for Israel

In addition to the many people with New England ties on Team USA, many local natives are also competing for other countries.

NBC10 Boston's Brian Shactman brought us a great story from Pyeongchang about 24-year-old Aimee Buchanan of Lexington, Massachusetts, a figure skater competing for Israel at the Olympics.

Buchanan competed in one event, the short program of the team competiton, finishing 10th.

"To skate my best short program of the year, here, that was my Olympic moment," she said afterward.

For more Pyeongchnag dispatches from NBC10 Boston's Brian Shactman, JC Monahan and Audrey Asistio, click here.

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Mitchell Haaseth/NBC
Mikaela Shiffrin

Mikaela Shiffrin's Pyeongchang Debut in Giant Slalom Cancelled Due to High Winds

Mikaela Shiffrin's debut at the Pyeongchang Winter Games was cancelled about three hours before it was scheduled to begin Monday because of strong winds. It was the second Alpine skiing race called off at the Olympics. It now will be held on Thursday (Wednesday night in the United States.)

Shiffrin, a Colorado native who attended Burke Mountain Academy in Vermont, became a breakout American star at the Sochi Olympics, where she became the youngest-ever Olympic slalom champion at age 18. She’s looking to add a lot more hardware this time.

Now 22, Shiffrin has committed to skiing both the giant slalom and the slalom In Pyeongchang, and she might add the other three individual women’s races. Last year, Shiffrin became the first woman to win three consecutive slalom world titles in 78 years.

She’ll look to better her fifth-place finish in the giant slalom from the 2014 Olympics. She won a silver medal in the giant slalom in the 2017 World Championships.

Lindsey Vonn, another standout American skier, will not compete in the giant slalom.

Up first for Shiffrin: the slalom to be held on Wednesday (Tuesday night in the United States.)

Freydis Einarsdottir is a student at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, and she is competing for Iceland in PyeongChang. Plymouth State’s alpine ski team head coach Goeff Ouellette talked about how training in New England can prepare you to ski anywhere.

Plymouth State University Student Represents Iceland at Winter Olympics

Freydis Einarsdottir, a student at New Hampshire's Plymouth State University, is representing her home country of Iceland at the Winter Olympics.

Einarsdottir, an alpine skier, is competing in the slalom and giant slalom events. She is one of three alpine skiers representing Iceland, and the first Plymouth State student to ever compete in the games.

"I have worked so hard for so long to reach this goal, and I am naturally very excited and honored to represent my country," Einarsdottir said. "But making the team does not mean I've reached my goals - I want to do well there and ski as fast in my race as I do in my training."

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Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
Meghan Duggan (10) of the United States skates with the puck in the first period against Finland during the Women's Ice Hockey preliminary round on day two of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games Feb. 11, 2018, in Gangneung, South Korea.
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