What to watch in Olympic sports this weekend

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A sport in which Canada is banking on Olympic medals begins its season, a Canadian team nearly assured of a spot on the podium heads to Finland and the figure skating Grand Prix stops in Japan. Here's what to know about each in our weekly winter Olympic sports viewing guide:

Speed skating: Long-track World Cup

Canada's Olympic team is relying on its long-track skaters to deliver a good portion of its overall medals in Beijing. And the skaters' first taste of international competition today in Poland delivered some promising results.

At 35, Ted-Jan Bloemen continues to reach podiums, grabbing silver in the men's 5,000 metres — the distance in which he set the world record in 2017 before earning silver at the 2018 Olympics. Bloemen won't get the chance to flex his 10,000m muscles until next weekend's World Cup stop in Norway, where the reigning Olympic champion will be challenged by Canadian teammate and one-time world record-holder Graeme Fish.

Isabelle Weidemann also started her season with a silver medal in the 3,000m, where she holds the national title. Weidemann returns to the ice for the team pursuit on Saturday alongside Ivanie Blondin, looking to bounce back after disappointing results in last year's shortened season, and Valerie Maltais, a three-time Olympian in short track trying to return to the Games in a new discipline. Blondin placed eighth in the 3,000m while Maltais was 12th.

Laurent Dubrueil used that short season to assert himself on the World Cup tour with four medals and another pair at the world championships. That success continued today as the reigning 500m world champion took bronze in the distance.

One last notable: Vincent de Haitre. You might recognize the name from track cycling at Tokyo 2020. But it's on to the next Olympics for de Haitre, who quickly converted his full focus to the ice ahead of Beijing.

Read more results from today's competition here. Catch all the action when it resumes Saturday and Sunday at 8:30 a.m. ET here.

Women's hockey: Canada vs. Finland, Dream Gap Tour, PHF

That's three different forms of women's hockey this weekend, all featuring different players, and all worth your attention.

There's the obvious one: Canada won the first of a three-game exhibition series on the road against Finland last night, with the teams battling again on Saturday and Sunday. Finland, ranked third, shocked Canada in the semifinals at the 2019 world championships and nearly (some would say should have) upset the U.S. for gold before falling back to bronze at the 2021 tournament. If any country can prevent the presumed Canada-U.S. Olympic gold-medal game, it's Finland.

Elsewhere, the PWHPA returns with a season-opening Dream Gap Tour tournament in Nova Scotia, while Boston and Connecticut meet twice in PHF (formerly the NWHL) action. The former is a barnstorming series that rose from the ashes of the Canadian Women's Hockey League, which shuttered in 2019. In non-Olympic years, it features nearly all of the Canadian and American national-team players. But they're now centralized in preparation for Beijing, leaving just those who missed out to continue playing in the PWHPA.

The PHF looks more like your regular professional hockey league, with teams travelling between cities instead of playing at neutral sites. In time for the new season, the league also doubled its salary cap (to $300,000 US per team) and contains permanent dressing rooms for players (meaning they no longer have to lug their hockey bags to and from the arena). But despite all that, the world's top players remain committed to the PWHPA and its quest for a sustainable pro league.