seeded America will tackle shock finalists Japan for the men's sledge hockey gold medal at the Vancouver Paralympics Saturday after host Canada failed to make the title match. Hours after underdog Japan beat Canada 3-1, effectively ending a nation's hope of its sledgers following in the gold medal glory of its men's and women's hockey teams at last month's Olympics, defending world champion America beat Norway 3-0, going through its first four contests without surrendering a goal. Canada's Brian McKeever won his second gold medal of the games Thursday when he clinched victory in the cross country 10km for the visually impaired. McKeever, with brother Robin as his guide, won in a time of 26min 1.6sec to add to his win in the 20km event. Norway's Helge Flo (27:27.3) was second with Nikolay Polukhin of Russia (27:40.7) taking bronze. It was McKeever's sixth career gold medal and ninth in total. Cross-country skier Yoshihiro Nitta gave Japan its first gold medal when he won the 10km classic (standing) in a time of 26min 29.5sec. The 29-year-old, who was 10th in the 3km biathlon, finished ahead of Kirill Mikhaylov of Russia (27:01.7), who won the 20km event, and Ukraine's Grygorii Vovchynskyi (27:03.7). Until Thursday, Japan had won three bronze medals at the Games, all coming in Alpine skiing. A surprise extra match added drama to Paralympic wheelchair curling late Thursday, as Vancouver organizers announced a tie-breaker competition between Sweden and Italy. The winner of Friday's contest will play Canada in the semifinal match early Saturday. In second place is the United States, which early Thursday beat Switzerland 8-2 to ensure a spot in Saturday's semifinals. Weather, which shredded the early alpine schedule of the Vancouver Paralympic Winter Games, forced another revision at the game's end, organizers announced late Thursday.
