{"id":20983,"date":"2026-02-18T16:42:55","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T16:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=20983"},"modified":"2026-02-18T16:42:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T16:42:59","slug":"olympic-mens-hockey-quarterfinals-breaking-down-the-matchups-for-canada-usa-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=20983","title":{"rendered":"Olympic men\u2019s hockey quarterfinals: Breaking down the matchups for Canada, USA and more"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div><i><span>The Athletic has live coverage of <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/live-blogs\/canada-vs-czechia-live-score-mens-hockey-winter-olympics\/3EYHuGeX6CJO\/\"><i><span>Canada vs Czechia<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span> in the <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/live-blogs\/canada-vs-czechia-live-score-mens-hockey-winter-olympics\/3EYHuGeX6CJO\/\"><i><span>2026 Winter Olympics men\u2019s hockey quarterfinal<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>MILAN \u2014 The quarterfinals at the Olympic men\u2019s hockey tournament are set following Tuesday\u2019s qualifying-round action. Here\u2019s a look at all four of Wednesday\u2019s matchups.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"sect-0\">No. 7 Sweden vs. No. 2 USA<\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s no shame in silver. But for the world\u2019s greatest hockey players, particularly those from one of the world\u2019s greatest hockey countries, there\u2019s not exactly a ton of pride in it, either.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve got a silver medal at home,\u201d Sweden\u2019s Gabriel Landeskog said. \u201cAnd I guess it\u2019s something that sits there. Doesn\u2019t mean as much as if it would have been a gold medal. If it\u2019s a gold medal, it\u2019s very different. We all want to win; that\u2019s what we were kind of bred to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sweden\u2019s road to gold starts in earnest Wednesday night against the United States, a gold-medal-level matchup that\u2019s happening in the quarterfinals thanks to Slovakia\u2019s surprising Group B victory. After three round-robin games and Tuesday\u2019s perfunctory 5-1 rout of Latvia, the real do-or-die games start now. And while Canada and the United States \u2014 the other two gold-medal favorites \u2014 cruised into the quarters with three easy wins and a bye, Team Sweden has scuffled and shuffled its way here.<\/p>\n<p>And they might be better off for it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can cruise through it and then all of a sudden you\u2019re tested in a way you weren\u2019t prepared for,\u201d Sweden coach Sam Hallam said. \u201cIt gives you a better feeling now that we\u2019ve had these small things go wrong every game and had to look at things, adjust small things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s something Landeskog is getting a taste of with the Colorado Avalanche this season. After one of the best starts in NHL history \u2014 31-2-7 \u2014 the Avs have lost nine of their last 15 games. Hardly a crisis, but potentially beneficial in the long run.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s the same as over there, same as in the NHL,\u201d Landeskog said. \u201cYou\u2019re going to run into adversity at some point, and how you manage that is how you\u2019re going to define yourself as a group, and how you handle that is up to us in the locker room. We\u2019ve stumbled in the tournament so far. We\u2019ve also shown some really good things, so for us, it\u2019s just a matter of continuing to build, understanding that hopefully we\u2019ve got another week to go here and understanding that we need to be playing our best hockey at the most important time, which is right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The U.S., meanwhile, caught something of a bad break by virtue of Slovakia\u2019s group win. Instead of facing a second-tier team, the second-seeded Americans get a seventh-seeded Swedish team full of NHL stars.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c(Wednesday) could be our last day,\u201d U.S. defenseman Quinn Hughes said. \u201cSo we\u2019ve got to be prepared. Playing a really good team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Based on Tuesday\u2019s practice, U.S. coach Mike Sullivan seems to have locked his lines in place, with Jack Eichel centering Brady and Matthew Tkachuk, Auston Matthews centering Jake Guentzel and Matt Boldy, and Dylan Larkin centering Clayton Keller and Tage Thompson. Keller replaced Kyle Connor in the last group-stage game, as the Winnipeg Jets star finds himself a healthy scratch on the international stage for the second time in 12 months, following last year\u2019s 4 Nations Face-Off.<\/p>\n<p>The Americans certainly have an edge in goal. Connor Hellebuyck is sharp and rested, while Hallam will have to either go with Jacob Markstr\u00f6m for the second time in 21 hours or with Filip Gustavsson (who was a little shaky against Italy and Finland) or 23-year-old Jesper Wallstedt (who has yet to play in this tournament).<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. hasn\u2019t yet been at its best \u2014 at least, what should be its best given the talent on the roster \u2014 in this tournament. The Americans\u2019 game has been a little inconsistent, a little scruffy. But they feel they\u2019re getting closer to their ceiling. No time like the present to find it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we\u2019re just continuing to find our game,\u201d said Jack Hughes, on the fourth line with Brock Nelson and J.T. Miller. \u201cGetting more comfortable with each other, more comfortable with the systems. Obviously now it\u2019s the quarters, so you\u2019ve got to really lock in. But it\u2019s such a short tournament. You\u2019ve got to find your game early. Play each game with the same intensity and play hard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Added Dylan Larkin: &#8220;It&#8217;s nerve-wracking. It is. It gets you going, and I think that&#8217;s what brings out the best in guys. I&#8217;m excited for it. Every play, every puck&#8217;s going to matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the Swedes\u2019 win over Latvia, their attention turned immediately to the Americans. The last time these two teams met, at the 4 Nations, Sweden eked out a 2-1 victory.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve got to stay out of the box,\u201d said Swedish defenseman Victor Hedman, who noted that \u201cselfishly\u201d he was glad to get an extra game in as he works his way back to midseason form after missing nearly two months with an injury. \u201cThey\u2019ve got a phenomenal power play, a lot of weapons on it. It hasn\u2019t been too long since we played them in 4 Nations, but obviously some different personnel, Quinn Hughes is back. We\u2019ve just got to make sure that we\u2019re physical on their skill, try to stay out of the box, and play a patient game.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"sect-1\">No. 8 Czech Republic vs. No. 1 Canada<\/h2>\n<p>It is a rematch of the Olympic opener for both teams after Team Canada trounced the Czech Republic 5-0 last Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think last time we actually had a decent start against Canada, we had some chances, we know what we need to do, we have to play simple, put (pucks) behind, get a good forecheck, get to the net and find a way to score at least some goals,\u2019\u2019 Czech center Tom\u00e1\u0161 Hertl said after his team\u2019s 3-2 win Tuesday over Denmark in the qualifying playoffs. \u201cWe can\u2019t be scared. If we wait and wait, we know what they can do. They have the best player on the planet on the team. They can destroy you.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have to just play with confidence,\u201d continued the Vegas Golden Knights center. \u201cWe can\u2019t think about who is on the ice, because all four lines are good for them. You have to enjoy it and play hard. It\u2019s one game, you know? You never know what can happen. We can get some bounces, we can score early, and it can go our way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Hertl stressed again that what the Czechs can\u2019t do is just sit back.<\/p>\n<p>Besides, Hertl joked, it\u2019s all part of their plan right now, playing Canada twice in six days.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was our plan because we said we probably can\u2019t beat Canada in the same tournament twice,&#8221; he said, smiling. &#8220;We gave them the first win so now it\u2019s our time!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Veteran defenseman Radko Gudas said staying out of the penalty box against the No. 1-ranked power play in the tournament (44 percent) is paramount.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey have some unbelievable players on their power play,\u201d Gudas said. \u201cThen putting pucks in areas where we can get it back, make sure that we make them turn every time. It\u2019s going to be a great challenge for us. It\u2019s going to be fun.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnyone who can\u2019t get motivated for that game tomorrow, there\u2019s something seriously wrong with them. They shouldn\u2019t be playing hockey. So it\u2019s going to be a great challenge for us but we\u2019re looking forward to it. If we want to get a medal, we have to beat the best teams.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Czechs were a little too cautious and looked nervous early on in their win over Denmark on Tuesday. It wasn\u2019t a very convincing performance. They\u2019ll need a much better effort Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Canadian captain Sidney Crosby was asked Tuesday after practice what significance, if any, there would be to play the Czechs again for the second time in six days.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Maybe a bit more familiar,\u2019\u2019 Crosby said. \u201cBut at this point, you\u2019ve got to go out there and play the game and execute. So regardless of how many times you played each other, I think you still got to go out there and do it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Added Bo Horvat: \u201cI obviously expect them to play us hard again. They played us hard the first game. You know, they&#8217;ve continued to keep getting better throughout the tournament, and we got to be ready to go, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Czechs did try to set a noticeable physical tempo in the opener, but it didn\u2019t produce the desired results. Canada didn\u2019t back down on the physical stuff.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought we matched that really well,\u201d Horvat said. \u201cWe try to match anybody that we play. They came out hard and they came out strong and I thought we matched that really well. So we expect them to come out harder. Playing us hard again. So we\u2019ve got to match that again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Team Canada veteran Brad Marchand could be back in the lineup Wednesday and may get another crack at facing former Bruins teammate David Pastr\u0148\u00e1k, with whom he says he\u2019s remained close.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love Pasta,\u201d said Marchand. \u201c\u2026 I\u2019ve loved where his game has gotten. He\u2019s such a competitor. He was always a great player, but he was streaky early on. He\u2019d get really hot and then really cold. He works extremely hard at his game and he\u2019s become one of the top-five players in the game. He\u2019s incredible, the way he controls the play every time he\u2019s on the ice. His consistency level is at the top of the league. It\u2019s really incredible what he\u2019s done. And it doesn\u2019t matter who he\u2019s playing with. You could put him with the top guys on the team or some younger guys who are just learning the game and he\u2019s going to affect the game the same way. He\u2019s a very, very impressive player.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pastr\u0148\u00e1k had an assist in Sunday\u2019s game but overall, still not the kind of play expected from a star of his caliber.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Honestly, I haven&#8217;t played my best here yet, so just waiting, and hopefully I saved it for tomorrow,\u2019\u2019 Pastr\u0148\u00e1k said after the game Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Martin Ne\u010das of the Colorado Avalanche scored again Sunday on a blistering slap shot to the top corner. He\u2019s been carrying the Czechs so far.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;His ability of skating and escaping in the tight spaces, he&#8217;s an incredible skater and he&#8217;s becoming a star year by year,\u2019\u2019 Pastr\u0148\u00e1k said of Necas.\u201d Every year he&#8217;s getting better. It&#8217;s fun to see. Really happy for him, and glad I can help him out, and he knows I&#8217;m here for him. He&#8217;s fun to watch.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"sect-2\">No. 5 Switzerland vs. No. 4 Finland<\/h2>\n<p>This has upset potential, although Finland has rebounded strongly ever since opening the Olympics with a 4-1 loss to Slovakia, beating rival Sweden 4-1 and smoking Italy 11-0.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmazing team and amazing players,\u2019\u2019 Swiss captain Roman Josi said after the game Tuesday of Finland. \u201cEvery time the Finns play a tournament, whether it\u2019s world championships or Olympics, they are always one of the favorites. They play really good as a team, so we will have to be at our best.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Still, the Swiss are back-to-back silver medalists at the IIHF World Championships and have won three of their four games following Tuesday\u2019s 3-0 win over Italy in the qualifying playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>The Swiss also got a boost against Italy with the return of defenseman Andrea Glauser from a suspected concussion. Though he only played a little under 11 minutes and did not start the game with Josi, his regular partner, the fact that he was in uniform bodes well for his availability against Finland.<\/p>\n<p>The Finns would be wise to stay out of the box; Switzerland has the third-ranked power play in the tournament at 31 percent after scoring two more with the man advantage Tuesday. The Swiss also have the second-ranked penalty kill (92 percent) in the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>But, as Josi noted, Finland is always a medal threat \u2014 the country has failed to medal at only one of the five Olympics that included NHL players \u2014 and this year is no different.<\/p>\n<p>Finland is always defined by team play and defense; the Finns have allowed two five-on-five goals at these Olympics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c(The) win against Sweden showed for ourselves how we have to play to be able to win. It&#8217;s going to be like that in the next round,\u201d Finland captain Mikael Granlund said after the win against Italy. &#8220;It&#8217;s going to be a highly skilled game where we have to be at our best all the time. (We\u2019re) a really experienced group. We know what we need to do to be able to win games. That&#8217;s what we have to focus on.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7053290\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<div class=\"wp-caption-image-container\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2261610450-scaled-e1771362372863.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-credits\">\n<p>\n      <span class=\"credits-text\">Slovakia&#8217;s Juraj Slafkovsk\u00fd has 10 goals in 10 Olympic Games since 2022. (Bruce Bennett \/ Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"sect-3\">No. 6 Germany vs. No. 3 Slovakia<\/h2>\n<p>Just 21 hours after beating France to advance to the quarterfinals, Germany will be playing Slovakia in a win-or-go-home game. It\u2019ll be Germany\u2019s third game in four days, and fifth in seven. Slovakia, meanwhile, will be coming off three straight off days.<\/p>\n<p>Can adrenaline make up the recovery gap for Germany? This is the Olympics, after all.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019ll help for sure,\u201d German captain Leon Draisaitl said after an uneventful 5-1 victory over France on Tuesday. \u201cIt\u2019s a big game, it\u2019s a do-or-die game, right? So adrenaline will be going. We\u2019ll make sure we\u2019ll be ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to Slovakia\u2019s group win, eighth-ranked Germany won\u2019t have to face any of the traditional powers in the quarterfinal. In fact, with Draisaitl, Tim St\u00fctzle, JJ Peterka, Moritz Seider and Philipp Grubauer in net, Germany could be seen as the favorite, despite their unremarkable group-stage performance.\u00a0(And were Germany to win, and the other favorites prevail, the semifinals would be Canada-Germany and U.S.-Finland, meaning a vastly tougher road to a gold medal for the Americans than the Canadians.) But Slovakia won that group for a reason. Juraj Slafkovsk\u00fd and the Slovaks are rested and riding high. It won\u2019t be easy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s always a great game against them, always hard,\u201d Germany\u2019s Nico Sturm said. \u201cEspecially when we play them, it\u2019s always a battle. I expect a grind from start to finish.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Neither team was considered a serious contender coming into this tournament, yet one of them will be playing for a medal. And both have good reason to think it\u2019ll be them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s in your head, but you don\u2019t want to focus on that, you want to focus on the game and just play your best game and then we will see how it ends up,\u201d Slovak defenseman \u0160imon Nemec said. \u201cWe just have to play our best game, just put 100 percent effort and we will see. But yeah, we know we have a big chance to win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re one game away from it, so we think about it and prepare the best way we can for (Wednesday),\u201d said forward Dalibor Dvorsk\u00fd. \u201cThe people (back home) are really happy. The whole nation is watching. We just love playing good for our country and hopefully we can make our fans even more happy in the next two games here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sturm said Slafkovsk\u00fd is becoming one of the elite goal scorers and playmakers in the NHL. His 10 goals in 10 Olympic Games since 2022 is the stuff of legends. So Germany better rest up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s important what we do now for the next 20 hours,\u201d Sturm said. \u201cProbably not going to have a ton of beers.\u201d\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7051971\/2026\/02\/17\/olympic-hockey-quarterfinals-matchups-canada-usa\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Athletic has live coverage of Canada vs Czechia in the 2026 Winter Olympics men\u2019s hockey quarterfinal. MILAN \u2014 The quarterfinals at the Olympic men\u2019s hockey tournament are set following Tuesday\u2019s qualifying-round action. Here\u2019s a look at all four of Wednesday\u2019s matchups. No. 7 Sweden vs. No. 2 USA There\u2019s no shame in silver. But &#8230; <a title=\"Olympic men\u2019s hockey quarterfinals: Breaking down the matchups for Canada, USA and more\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=20983\" aria-label=\"Read more about Olympic men\u2019s hockey quarterfinals: Breaking down the matchups for Canada, USA and more\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Olympic-mens-hockey-quarterfinals-Breaking-down-the-matchups-for-Canada.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20983"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20985,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20983\/revisions\/20985"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}