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VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- A Chilean skier has decided to participate in Sunday's closing ceremonies at the Winter Olympics upon learning her family and friends escaped injury in the massive earthquake that struck her homeland.

Noelle Barahona had planned on returning home Saturday, but she could not get a flight. Instead, she will remain in the athlete's village in Vancouver, team spokesman Luis Alberto Santa Cruz said.

Chile brought three alpine skiers to the games. Two had already left Vancouver, one for France and one for Seattle.

In addition to Barahona and Santa Cruz, the Chilean delegation also included a coach and a physical therapist. All have been able to confirm the safety of family and friends.

Tribune News Services

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Michael Jordan has struck a deal to buy controlling interest of the Charlotte Bobcats, putting the former NBA superstar in charge of the money-losing team in his home state.

Traci Blunt, a spokeswoman for owner Bob Johnson, told The Associated Press that Jordan was able to put together an ownership group late Friday to buy the team he has been a part-owner of since 2006. Jordan has been running the team's basketball operations.

The purchase price and details of Jordan's ownership group -- called MJ Basketball Holdings LLC -- weren't immediately available. Blunt said Johnson would have no further comment.

Former Houston Rockets executive George Postolos also bid on the Bobcats and didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.

VANCOUVER -- The United States hit Finland with an offensive onslaught in the first period of Friday's Olympic semifinal and cruised to a 6-1 victory.

The Blackhawks' Patrick Kane had two goals as the U.S. scored all six of its goals in the first period.

"A great start to the game and after that we pretty much had to play defense and keep it safe," Kane said. "We still wanted to keep attacking but there wasn't much pressure because we got out to such a big lead.

"I feel we've yet to play our best best game. That was a great 15 minutes for us but that would have been nice to play a full 60."

The U.S. will play the winner of the Canada-Slovakia semifinal in Sunday's gold medal match, and just getting there is not enough for the young American squad, according to Kane.

"It was a great start (and) an awesome win," Kane said. "It's an awesome feeling right now that we're going to the gold-medal game and definitely coming away with a medal. But this team all along we knew we could win the gold medal and that's what our goal is still."

Actor Vince Vaughn, a Lake Forest native and fixture on the glass at Blackhawks games, made the trip to Vancouver for the game. Perhaps Kane, who had just one goal in the Olympics so far, found some inspiration from the "Dodgeball" star's presence. 

"Whenever he's in the stands I seem to play pretty good so hopefully he brings me good luck," Kane said.

Note: The Blackhawks will host an Olympic Roadwatch party at ESPN Zone in Chicago at 2:15 p.m. Sunday.

Photos of the game from the Tribune's Nuccio DiNuzzo

RICHMOND, British Columbia  -- Chad Hedrick is guaranteed a fifth Olympic medal, leading the United States to an upset win over Sven Kramer and the powerful Dutch in team pursuit.

Hedrick skated with Brian Hansen and Jonathan Kuck, who edged the hard-charging Dutch by 40-hundredths of a second in the eight-lap semifinal race. Kramer won't get a chance to make up for his gaffe in the 10,000 meters, when he lost a certain gold by messing up a routine lane changeover because of a coaching mistake.

The U.S. will face Canada in Saturday's gold-medal match. Hedrick already has a gold, a silver and two bronzes in his career, and he'll add one more Olympic medal before retiring after the Vancouver Games. Netherlands will face Norway for the bronze medal.

VANCOUVER -- Patrick Kane will be looking to find his scoring touch when the United States faces off against Finland on Friday in the semifinals of the Olympic men's hockey tournament.

Kane, who has one goal if four games, is being counted on to deliver scoring punch as the U.S. is vying for a spot in Sunday's gold-medal game against the winner of the Canada-Slovakia semifinal later Friday.

In that game, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook will face Hawks teammates Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky of Slovakia.

"I played (Slovakia) in prior tournaments when I was younger with world juniors and stuff like that and their program has been getting better," Seabrook said. "They've got some great players. I play with Marian Hossa and Kopecky during the season and they're awesome. Just to see how they're playing, it's great."

Update: The United States has taken an early lead over Finland on a gaffe by Finnish goalie Mikka Kiprusoff.  Kiprusoff left his crease to clear the puck but played it right to Team USA's Ryan Malone, who scored on a wrist shot just inside the blue line past a scrambling Kiprusoff.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Hockey Canada has apologized for the raucous on-ice celebration by its women's hockey team after beating the United States for the gold medal.

"The members of Team Canada apologize if their on-ice celebrations, after fans had left the building, have offended anyone," Hockey Canada said in a statement late Thursday night. "In the excitement of the moment, the celebration left the confines of our dressing room and shouldn't have. The team regrets that its gold medal celebration may have caused the IOC or COC any embarrassment.

"Our players and team vow to uphold the values of the Olympics moving forward and view this situation as a learning experience."

For more photos of the Canadian women's hockey celebration, click here.

Photo: Jayna Hefford (left) and Gillian Apps celebrate Canada's gold-medal hockey victory. (Chris O'Meara/AP)

Tribune News Services

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The women of the Canadian hockey team politely accepted their gold medals and waved to an adoring crowd. And then the real celebration began.

More than half an hour after they beat the United States 2-0 on Thursday, the players came back from the locker room and staged a party on ice -- swigging from bottles of champagne, guzzling beer and smoking cigars.

In a sport that Canada invented, there was never an option besides gold, and with it finally in hand, the home team let loose.

Meghan Agosta and Marie-Philip Poulin posed wearing goofy grins. Rebecca Johnston actually tried to drive the ice-resurfacing machine. Haley Irwin poured champagne into the mouth of Tessa Bonhomme, gold medals swinging from both their necks.

The celebration raised eyebrows at the IOC, which said it would look into the matter. Informed of the antics by The Associated Press, Gilbert Felli, the IOC's executive director of the Olympic Games, said it was "not what we want to see."

WHISTLER, British Columbia -- Years from now, when Julia Mancuso reflects on these Olympics, she will always have two shiny silver medals to make her smile -- and a whirlwind, sour final 24 hours to make her wince.

A simple account of the way her Vancouver Games ended must include Thursday's eighth-place finish behind Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany in the giant slalom, an event Mancuso won four years ago at Turin.

Ah, but there is so much more:

The public fascination with exactly how much ill will there might be between Mancuso and U.S. teammate Lindsey Vonn. The dashing of Mancuso's medal chances in the giant slalom when her first run Wednesday was interrupted because she left the starting gate not knowing that Vonn, of all people, was crashing ahead of her. And the deep sadness that came later Wednesday, when she learned that a friend from back home in Squaw Valley, Calif., professional free skier C.R. Johnson, had died at age 26 in a fall at the resort.

"It's been a long couple weeks," Mancuso said.

Photo: Julia Mancuso battles tears after her run Wedneday in the giant slalom. (Mirko Guarriello/EPA)

WHISTLER, British Columbia -- A person with direct knowledge of the investigation tells The Associated Press that American bobsledder Bill Schuffenhauer has been questioned by Canadian police after an argument with his fiancee.

Schuffenhauer's fiancee, Ruthann Savage, arrived at the Vancouver Games this week. The person says they began arguing for unspecified reasons Wednesday night, and police released Schuffenhauer after finding no evidence of a crime.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Schuffenhauer is a pushman for one of the three U.S. bobsled teams and is expected to compete in Friday's four-man bob. He was not available to reporters after Thursday's final training session.

By Chris Kuc

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Behind the Blackhawks' Tomas Kopecky and Marian Hossa, Slovakia pulled off the biggest upset of the men's hockey tournament.

Kopecky scored the game-winning goal midway through the third period and Hossa contributed three assists as Slovakia upended defending Olympic champion Sweden 4-3 in the quarterfinals Wednesday night.

"It's an awesome feeling beating one of the favorites of the tournament," Hossa said. "We went really deep, especially after Tuesday night's game (4-3 wn over Norway). We didn't have as much energy as we would like to but we found a way to win against a strong team. We played smart hockey. We tried to pay really well defensively and stuck with the system."

Slovakia advanced to Friday's semifinals where it will take on Canada.

"We came to this game with nothing to lose and we played like that," said Kopecky, who added that the goal off a Hossa assist was the biggest of his career. "We said we're going to play really well defensively and that's what we did.

NBC Sports plans to air Team USA's men's Olympics hockey semifinal game vs. Finland live in all time zones Friday afternoon.

The broadcast is set for 2 p.m. on Chicago's WMAQ-Ch. 5. Olympics host Canada will meet Slovakia in the other semifinal at 8:30 p.m. on cable's CNBC.

The gold medal game is set for 2:15 p.m. Sunday on Channel 5. The night before, Saturday at 9, the semifinal losers will play for the bronze on MSNBC.

Read more on the Tower Ticker.

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WHISTLER, British Columbia -- The U.S. Olympic team says Lindsey Vonn has broken her right pinkie after crashing out in the first run of the giant slalom race.

Vonn lost control around a right turn in the middle section of the course Wednesday, got twisted around, landed hard on her left hip and crashed backward into the safety netting.

An injury report from Jim Moeller, the chief medical officer of the U.S. Olympic Team, said Vonn had not yet decided if she will race her final event at the Vancouver Games -- Friday's slalom.

Photo: Lindsey Vonn hits the fence after falling during her giant slalom run. (Wally SKalij/Los Angeles Times)

WHISTLER, British Columbia -- Dense fog enveloped the Olympic course Wednesday and forced organizers to postpone the second run of the women's giant slalom until Thursday.

The first leg was held in driving snow with low visibility, and organizers attempted to get the second run in by shortening the course and delaying the start several times. But the fog only got worse, slowly creeping down the mountain and making it nearly impossible to see, and eventually the second run was put off until 9:30 a.m. local time the next day.

The forecast calls for rain and snow through Wednesday night and into Thursday.

Elisabeth Goergl of Austria led the opening leg in 1 minute, 15.12 seconds. Taina Barioz of France was only 0.02 behind in second, and Kathrin Zettel of Austria was third, 0.16 back. Lindsey Vonn of the United States crashed and broke her right little finger.

WHISTLER, British Columbia -- Lindsey Vonn crashed out of the first run of the Olympic giant slalom race Wednesday.

The American lost control around a right turn in the middle section of the course, got twisted around, landed hard on her left hip and crashed backward into the safety netting.

After being checked course-side for a few minutes, Vonn got up and skied down to the finish. U.S. Ski Team spokesman Doug Haney said Vonn banged up her right hand.

Vonn's teammate Julia Mancuso was the next skier on course and had to pull up midway through her run because Vonn was still on the side of the course.

Photo: Julia Mancuso wipes away tears after her giant slalom run. (Sergey Ponomarev/AP)