Males’s best-on-best hockey, Olympic-style, returns on Wednesday after a 12-year absence.
As we speak’s NHL gamers grew up with the lore created by having execs on the Video games — Dominik Hasek shutting out the world in 1998, Canada and the U.S. waging gold-medal battles in 2002 and 2010 — and so they all desperately wished gamers from the world’s finest league to return after two Olympic cycles away in 2018 and ’22.
Now, it’s time to lace ’em up beneath the 5 rings.
The lads’s event kicks off Wednesday morning at 10:40 a.m. ET in Milano, when Finland and Slovakia conflict. With that in thoughts, we’ve put collectively a primer to refresh your reminiscence on a pair issues and convey you in control for the return of worldwide males’s hockey on the most important stage.
Twelve groups are divided into three teams of 4. These teams are:
Group A: Canada, Switzerland, Czechia, France
Group B: Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, Italy
Group C: United States, Germany, Latvia, Denmark
Groups will play a three-game preliminary spherical, with a three-point system to find out group standings (three factors for a regulation-time win; two factors for an extra-time win, one level for an extra-time loss).
The squads with the 4 finest data will achieve a bye to the quarterfinal. The remaining eight groups will play do-or-die video games in what’s termed the “qualification spherical.”
After that, it’s straight ahead: quarterfinals, semifinals, bronze-medal sport, gold-medal sport.
Slovakia vs. Finland, 10:40 a.m. ET
Sweden vs Italy, 3:10 p.m. ET
Switzerland vs France, 6:10 a.m. ET
Czechia vs Canada, 10:40 a.m. ET
Latvia vs USA, 3:10 p.m. ET
Germany vs Denmark, 3:10 p.m. ET
Finland vs Sweden, 6:10 a.m. ET
Italy vs Slovakia, 6:10 a.m. ET
France vs Czechia, 10:40 a.m. ET
Canada vs Switzerland, 15:10 p.m. ET
Sweden vs Slovakia, 6:10 a.m. ET
Germany vs Latvia, 6:10 a.m. ET
Finland vs Italy 10:40 a.m. ET
USA vs Denmark 3:10 p.m. ET
Switzerland vs Czechia, 6:10 a.m. ET
Canada vs France, 10:40 a.m. ET
Denmark vs Latvia 1:10 p.m. ET
USA vs Germany 3:10 p.m. ET
4 qualification spherical video games
Semifinal 1: 10:40 a.m. ET
Semifinal 2: 3:10 p.m. ET
Bronze medal sport: 2:40 p.m. ET
Gold medal sport: 8:10 a.m. ET
Venues and rink dimensions
All video games might be performed in Milano at both Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Area (the bigger venue) or Milano Rho Ice Hockey Area.
After a lot handwringing concerning the high quality of the ice and the state of the Milano Santagiulia rink main as much as the occasion, on stability issues have been simply positive via the primary days of the ladies’s event that started final week.
By way of dimensions, the Olympic sheet would be the similar width as NHL ice (85 ft) however barely shorter in size (196.85 ft, to be precise, in comparison with 200 ft).
Within the preliminary spherical, groups will play a five-minute, three-on-three extra time. If no person scores, we transfer to a shootout.
In elimination video games earlier than the gold-medal contest, OT might be a 10-minute, three-on-three interval adopted by a shootout.
For shootouts, 5 gamers — not three, just like the NHL — will alternate photographs till a decisive objective is scored. After a crew has made 5 makes an attempt, gamers who’ve already taken a shot can try once more.
There isn’t any shootout within the gold medal sport. If the competition is tied after 60 minutes, the groups will play three-on-three extra time in 20-minute durations till a winner is decided.
5 of the 12 referees working the event are from the NHL. By and huge, count on the officiating to really feel fairly much like an NHL contest. That stated — not like the 4 Nations Face-Off final February that was purely an NHL manufacturing — combating will get you ejected from the sport and there’ll all the time be a stricter definition of what constitutes a test to the top within the worldwide sport.
What occurred whereas NHLers had been gone?
In 2018, the Winter Video games had been held in PyeongChang, South Korea. The gold medal was claimed by Olympic Athletes from Russia, who defeated Germany within the closing. (Russia, as a complete, was banned from competing as a consequence of doping violations, however some athletes from the nation had been capable of compete. In Italy, Russia is banned from the hockey competitors by the IIHF as a result of warfare in Ukraine.)
The Germans scored an enormous semifinal upset over Canada in 2018 to advance to the ultimate. Canada, led by the likes of former NHLers Derek Roy, Chris Kelly and Mason Raymond, did rebound to nab a bronze medal victory over the Czech Republic (now Czechia).
4 years later, in 2022, Finland received its first-ever males’s hockey gold by defeating a crew of gamers from Russia — this time competing beneath the banner Russian Olympic Committee — within the closing. Slovakia additionally broke floor by profitable its first-ever Olympic medal in males’s hockey, pulling off an upset to down Sweden within the bronze medal sport.
Three storylines for the 2026 Video games
The Canucks have claimed the previous 4 best-on-best occasions, a run that stretches from the 2010 Video games in Vancouver, the 2014 occasion in Russia, the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and final 12 months’s 4 Nations Face-Off. Simply because it was a 12 months in the past heading into the 4 Nations, goaltending is the most important query mark plaguing the Canadians. Jordan Binnington, who got here up massive within the 4 Nations closing after a so-so event, has struggled mightily within the NHL this 12 months. Will he be supplanted by both Logan Thompson or Darcy Kuemper?
Canada and Group USA — the 2 finalists on the 4 Nations — definitely enter the occasion as co-favourites, however it could be an enormous mistake to miss the sphere in Italy. And we’re not simply speaking about established hockey nations like Sweden, Finland and Czechia. Middleweights like Switzerland and Germany have severe NHL expertise on their rosters at this level, with Germany boasting an NHL league MVP in Leon Draisaitl and the Swiss operating out a defence anchored by a Norris Trophy winner in Roman Josi and any individual who may problem for a Norris very quickly in J.J. Moser. There won’t be seven or eight groups that may win gold in Italy, however there are completely seven or eight who — with well timed scoring and implausible goaltending — may obtain victory towards any squad on the planet on a given day. And when, after a three-game preliminary spherical, it’s all win-or-go-home, completely something is in play.
Legacies, new and previous, on the road
This might be Sidney Crosby’s fifth best-on-best occasion with Canada and he has not come up quick but. Crosby’s legacy is already safe, however will solely develop bigger if he can win a 3rd Olympic gold at this late stage of his profession.
On the different finish of the spectrum, a complete technology of super-elite NHLers are lastly getting their shot at Olympic gold. The excellent news is, with the league set to proceed taking part on the Video games in 2032 and past, this received’t be the one likelihood for a lot of of them. Nonetheless, you understand the likes of Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon and Quinn Hughes don’t need to wait any longer for the golden second they’ve been dreaming of.
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