With the quarterfinal field for men's hockey at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia set, fans of the international sport will have the opportunity to see the best ice hockey teams in the world compete for the top honor in the game. Canada claimed the 2010 Gold Medal at the Vancouver Winter Games thanks to a thrilling overtime victory over the United States and with both team returning for the 2014 quarterfinals, this year's elimination stage could shape up to be the most interesting in recent time. Along with the USA and Canada, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Latvia will all look to keep their Olympic tournament alive with victories heading in the highly-anticipated quarters.
The round of 8 opens on Wednesday, Feb. 19 with a showdown between No. 1 Sweden and No. 8 Slovenia after both teams did enough to advance to the knockout stages. Slovenia earned a strong victory over No. 9 Austria in their last contest but with the tournament's top seed and star goalie Henrik Lunqvist up next, Slovenia will need to be a full-strength if they're to pull the upset. Following the 1 v. 8 contest, No. 4 Finland will battle home-ice favorite Russia, who land at No. 5. Canada, who earned a bye to the quarterfinals and the No. 3 seed will face No. 11 Latvia while the second-seeded United States close the quarterfinal events against Jaromir Jagr and the Czech Republic, who advanced with a 5-3 win over No. 10 Slovakia.
Thanks to impressive victories over Slovakia, Russia and Slovenia in the preliminary round, the United States heads into the next phase feeling confident about their potential to advance. Displaying their strong ability to score and defend throughout 7-1 and 5-1 victories over Slovakia and Slovenia respectively while showcasing their clutch level of play during an overtime/shootout win over Russia, Team USA undoubtedly possess the goods to make another push toward the championship game. While it surely helps to possess great talent, the United States players are giving much of the early credit to the calming influence of head coach Dan Bylsma.
“He’s very personable,” said St. Louis Blues star T.J. Oshie, who went 4-for-6 in the shootout win over Russia. “He’s always chatting with guys. In meetings, he knows how to get guys' attention. The way he speaks to the players, you can tell he’s a players’ coach. You’ll go over systems on video and if maybe somebody’s got his head down, he’ll say, like, ‘Got that, Osh?’ He’s light about it. And when somebody’s light, you don’t want to let him down even more.”
The United States will certainly have an opportunity to perform for their coach when they take to the ice again Wednesday against the talented Czech's.
2014 Men's Ice Hockey Quarterfinal Schedule – DATE, TIME & TV INFO
Sweden vs. Slovenia – Wednesday, Feb. 19 (3 a.m., ET / NBC Sports Network)
Finland vs. Russia – Wednesday, Feb. 19 (7:30 a.m., ET / NBC Sports Network)
Canada vs. Latvia – Wednesday, Feb. 19 (12 p.m., ET / MSNBC)
United States vs. Czech Republic – Wednesday, Feb. 19 (12 p.m., ET / USA Network)
Men's Ice Hockey Semifinal Schedule
Semifinal No. 1 – Friday, Feb. 21 (6:30 a.m., ET / NBC Sports Network)
Semifinal No. 2 – Friday, Feb. 21 (11:45 a.m., ET / NBC Sports Network)
Men's Ice Hockey Gold Medal Final
Sunday, Feb. 23 (7 a.m., ET / NBC)
ON-LINE COVERAGE
Each hockey game will be available via on-line live stream by following this link to NBCOlympics.com.
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