Olympic viewing guide: Can Canada avoid a curling shutout?

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A massive night. And then some crushing lows.

Canada started Day 13 with its biggest victory of the Games — a cathartic 3-2 win over the United States in the women's hockey final to take back the Olympic title Canada lost to its archrivals four years ago. Captain Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice (because of course she did), adding another clutch performance to her almost comically long list of them. The Canadians also own the world championship (thanks to — who else? — Poulin's OT winner last year) so they've now reunified the two major titles in women's hockey. They are the undisputed queens of the sport.

Shortly after the big hockey win, Marielle Thompson took silver in the women's ski cross to bring Canada's total to an even 20 medals — four gold, five silver, 11 bronze. 

But then the good vibes crashed hard with a pair of devastating curling results. Jennifer Jones' women's team missed the playoffs on a tie-breaker, and Brad Gushue's men's team fell in the semifinals to Sweden this morning, dashing their gold-medal dreams.

Gushue's rink can still salvage a bronze from what's become a nightmarish Olympics for Canadian curling. We'll start our daily viewing guide there, and cover Canada's medal chances tonight in a couple of skiing events. Plus, a heartbreaking ending for controversial Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva.

Here's what to watch on Thursday night and Friday morning:

Inconceivable as this would have sounded in the not-too-distant past, Canada is in danger of leaving these Games without a curling medal — something that's never happened in the modern era.

This, obviously, is a real kick in the rocks. But if you've been following the sport over the last few years, it's actually not that shocking. The country once synonymous with international curling dominance just doesn't, well, dominate like it used to. After winning mixed-doubles gold at the 2018 Olympics, Canada missed the podium in both four-person events — and even missed the playoffs in the women's. In Beijing, two of the three Canadian teams — mixed doubles and women's — failed to make the playoffs, and now the men are out of gold-medal contention as well. 

The world championships have been tough too. Canada hasn't won a men's world title since 2017, a women's since '18, and it has still — incredibly — never captured the world mixed doubles crown.

So, has the rest of the world "caught up" to Canada in curling? In terms of depth, no. This country still produces roughly half of the top 10 men's and women's teams. But you can only send one to the big international tournaments. And it's becoming clear that, here, the players wearing the maple leaf are no longer exceptional. At best, they're first among equals. Often, they're simply among equals.

Gushue and company will try to salvage a bronze for Canada when they take on the 2018 Olympic champion U.S. team skipped by John Shuster at 1:05 a.m. ET. The women's semis go at 7:05 a.m. ET, with reigning world champion Switzerland facing Japan and defending Olympic champ Sweden vs. Great Britain.

WATCH | Gushue misses all-or-nothing shot in 10th end of semifinal:

Here are the strong ones, in chronological order: