The long wait is over. For the first time since 2014, NHL players will represent their respective countries at the Olympic Games.
In the last two meetings with NHL representatives, Team Canada has been dominant. They beat Team USA in Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Olympics on the back of an overtime winner by Sidney Crosby. During the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Canada shutout Team Sweden in the Gold Medal game. Team Finland won the Bronze Medal in both of those years.
There will be a group of 12 countries in this year’s tournament, represented by Canada, Czechia, Switzerland, and France in Group A, Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, and Italy in Group B, and the United States, Germany, Latvia, and Denmark in Group C. The action formally kicks off on Wednesday, February 11th, and will conclude with the Gold Medal contest on Sunday, February 22nd.
Barring injuries, Canada understandably remains the favorite to win. Still, the United States is a much closer second thanin years past, followed by Sweden, Finland, and Czechia. The rosters for Canada, USA, Finland, and Sweden are similar to last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off, whereas the other high-performing countries will have much different iterations.
Regardless of outcome in the Round Robin, every nation will earn a tournament bid, seeded one through 12. The top four teams will earn an automatic bye into the quarterfinals, and the remaining eight teams will battle in a ‘playoff round’.
Unfortunately, since they are in different groups, there are no guarantees of a border matchup between Canada and the United States. Nonetheless, there will still be notable matchups in the round between Finland and Sweden, Canada and Czechia, and the United States and Germany.
Now the crystal ball passes to you — in a few weeks, which team will be donning the gold medal around their necks?
Which Team Will Win The Gold Medal At The Olympics?
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Canada vs Sweden in finals. I think Finland should be a strong team. USA will regret leaving Caufield/Robertson off the team. Swiss will upset a big team. Latvia will punch above their weight.
I’m a USA homer, so I’m going with USA of course. However, I don’t like that we only have one actual right shot RW on the team (and C is Thompson’s natural position).
Czechia vs Germany(lead by FOH, Reichel), or we know the Olympics is rigged.
In all seriousness, it’s Canada!
Canada hasn’t won an Olympic Gold in Europe since 1952. Their goaltending is going to cost them in a key game. I’m cheering for the USA, but have zero faith in Mike Sullivan being able to outcouch his opponent in a big game. He’ll screw it up. I’ll go with Sweden for gold
I have $50k on Latvia.
The team that can roll out McDavid, MacKinnon, Crosby, and Makar as their first PP unit.
Team are gonna have are time dealing mcdavid and Nate and sid on different lines
If team USA loses, will the great pumpkin throw ketchup at the wall and blame everybody
I’m for team USA but there is a part of me that wouldn’t mind seeing USA and Canada don’t make it for the gold medal game as that would seriously disappoint the media so much as they’ve been just assuming and hyping for a USA/Canada gold medal game for over a year now only for it not to happen lol.
Russia is apparently not an option. Without them in the competition, any gold medal award should have an asterisk*
*Only played against 2nd tier competition.
Who’s your all-Russian-got-snubbed team? And who could beat them?
If Canada doesn’t manage to win Gold I think that would be one of the worst choke jobs in history. There’s no reason they shouldn’t steamroll every other team with that roster, even with that goaltending.
Canada should win, no doubt. But in a short tournament, anything can happen. Matthews had like three grade-A chances in the 4-Nations gold OT to win it, and probably should have. If US wins that, I think the narrative and expectations around the Olympics are very different.
You left out the chances going the other way.
Oh, for sure. And I think defending (not goaltending) is where USA comes up short in these Olympics if we’re comparing the roster to Canada’s.
I just thought “steamroll” and “choke job” are pretty extreme ways to frame the results of a single elimination tournament when one shot a few inches in a different direction at 4 Nations could’ve flipped things.
Whomever said that clearly didn’t watch the masterpiece of a game. Could easily have gone either way. Poll how many Canadians believed in Binnington heading into that tourney. USA and Russia have the best goalies so it’s fortunate we only have to face one.