USA vs Canada ice hockey final live: Women’s teams vie for Winter Olympics gold in grudge match

Both teams shake hands and are onto the ice. We are just about to get underway.

Now or never for GB’s curling medal hopes.

14 mins: HUGE chances in succession for Canada, who finally get through that US block.

Frankel makes a massive stop with her shoulder to deny Stacey – there was a bit of space above the Americans shoulder pad, but Stacey just couldn’t find the corner.

The defending champion then come close again, but just can’t find the net.

12 mins: Still goalless in Milan but Canada are getting a few more looks on net. Their trouble is getting it through those big American defenders.

Four shots apiece so far – but the longer this stays goalless, the more USA will need to really dig in.

Just under 10 minutes until Bruce Mouat’s rink bids to keep Team GB’s curling medal hopes alive in the men’s semi-final against Switzerland.

Can they avenge the women’s heartbreak? Or will it be more misery for the Brits?

6 mins: Both teams just trying to get the wheels going in these first few minutes. Four shots at goal so far for the Americans, two for the Canadians.

Team USA came closest after breaking forward but it was a good pad save from Desbiens to keep the score goalless.

The US are then caught with too many players on the ice, allowing Canada to start from the penalty zone.

Here comes the face-off… AND WE’RE OFF!

The unmistakeable sound of sticks smacking against each other gets this final underway.

A huge ovation as Canada and USA take to the ice in Milan.

This promises fireworks. We are just moments away from the women’s ice hockey final getting underway.

So, we’ve got a big evening of Winter Olympic action to bring you.

Our first focus will be the men’s curling semi-finals, which will see Team GB look to guarantee themselves a medal in Cortina against table-topping Switzerland. That begins in just over half an hour at 6:35pm GMT.

But wait, there’s more! We’ll also be bringing you live updates from the women’s ice hockey final between fierce rivals USA and Canada. Push-back in Milan is in 10 minutes at 6:10pm.

You don’t want to miss any of the action, and neither do we. Stay tuned!

Team GB’s men’s curling team kept their hopes of defending or improving their silver medal from Beijing alive as they scraped into the semi-finals – but only because other results went their way.

Bruce Mouat’s rink looked on the verge of defeat on Wednesday but thrashed the USA 9-2 to underline their status as one of the best teams in the world, despite their relative underperformance in Cortina d’Ampezzo.

That result was not enough to book their place in the last four, as they required either Italy or Norway to lose both of their final two round-robin games in order to progress.

Both lost on Wednesday but Team GB endured a nervous wait on Thursday as Norway stormed to a 7-2 lead over already-qualified Canada before being pegged back, while Italy kept unbeaten Switzerland honest in a tense encounter.

However, Italy lost 9-5 after skip Joel Retornaz missed a chance to score three in the eighth end with a poor penultimate stone which put paid to their chances.

Read Flo Clifford’s report of the action from Cortina: