Olympics: Groups are set

[Scandale du Jour]

Canada will lose to the USA in the preliminary round, because that's what we do.

Still going to win the gold though. Too much talent.

 

[Mathieukferland]

Canada will lose to the USA in the preliminary round, because that's what we do.

Still going to win the gold though. Too much talent.

Canada can never seem to get “up” to play the USA, they always get “up” to play Russia though which is odd since the Russians usually have better teams than the USA. Will have a hard time believing though this stacked team will have that many issues though

 

[Stewie Griffin]

Russia got a pretty favourable group. Probably the easiest path out of any nation.

A:
1: Canada
2: USA
3: Germany
4: China

B:
1: Russia
2: Czech
3: Switzerland
4: Denmark

C:
1: Finland
2: Sweden
3. Latvia
4. Slovakia

 

[ES]

History likes to repeat itself sometimes, Let's hope that SWE-SVK is not scheduled to be the 3rd round robin game ;=

Most groups since 2010 have had the "biggest" game as the final one, which in this case would mean CAN-USA, ROC-CZE and FIN-SWE as final games.

 

[ES]

How does the seeding work for the knockout round?

All teams are seeded after the preliminary round (first by position in the group, then by points, goal difference etc.)

Group winners and the best 2nd-placed team will go directly to quarter-finals, rest of the teams will play for remaining four spots (5-12, 6-11, 7-10 and 8-9)

Whoever loses the CAN/USA game would be favourite to take the best runner-up spot but it would change if for example CAN-USA will be decided in regulation and FIN-SWE would go to overtime (assuming all four teams would take six points from two weaker teams)

 

[Lartsaman]

we will beat you for sure thou

I wouldnt be so sure about that. Many swedish players are used to winning. They have countless of wc gold medals and stanley cup rings. Same cant be said about finnish players. Sure some have won wjc gold together and two or three have stanley cup but thats no gonna match for swedish players. But we´ll see.

 

[wetcoast]

Hate being in China's group. I don't believe for one second that something won't be worked out between the Chinese olympic committee, Bettman, Hockey Canada, and USA Hockey to keep the scorelines "modest"

Watch the scorelines in both of those games be along the lines of 5-0 or 6-1 when both Canada and the US should easily stomp China by 10+

Are you kidding the German team would annihilate the Chinese team, it's going to be a huge joke no matter what happens.

 

[moropanov]

Canada can never seem to get “up” to play the USA, they always get “up” to play Russia though which is odd since the Russians usually have better teams than the USA. Will have a hard time believing though this stacked team will have that many issues though

Russia doesnt usually have better team's than Usa? In juniors or in best vs best level.. very odd take for modern time.

 

[Eye of Ra]

could china upset germany?

 

[garbageteam]

could china upset germany?

With full NHL complement, it'd be less likely than Germany pounding Canada 10-0

 

[WarriorofTime]

Canada can never seem to get “up” to play the USA, they always get “up” to play Russia though which is odd since the Russians usually have better teams than the USA. Will have a hard time believing though this stacked team will have that many issues though

Russia hasn’t been better than USA in hockey for about 15 years

 

[Lartsaman]

Russia hasn’t been better than USA in hockey for about 15 years

If you compare the results in official tournaments(adults level), they actually are. In best of best-tournaments Russia´s record is a bit worse.

 

[member 305909]

20-0 results never really happen. Even if there's a game between so uneven teams that one could beat the other 20-0 if it wanted to they take the foot off the pedal at some point and rest their best players and focus on just avoiding injuries.

 

[WarriorofTime]

20-0 results never really happen. Even if there's a game between so uneven teams that one could beat the other 20-0 if it wanted to they take the foot off the pedal at some point and rest their best players and focus on just avoiding injuries.

If China sends a roster of players that fit the current eligibility criteria, 20-0 would be already be going super mild for a team like Canada.

 

[AstrophysicalJet]

20-0 results never really happen. Even if there's a game between so uneven teams that one could beat the other 20-0 if it wanted to they take the foot off the pedal at some point and rest their best players and focus on just avoiding injuries.

Korea are a fair bit better than China, and they just lost 11-1 to Denmark in OGQ who are a fair bit worse than Canada.

Denmark also beat Korea 11-2 in a friendly 5 days before - So 22-3 over two games in less than a week.

And Denmark weren’t even playing full steam.

So id say 20-0 is entirely possible without even going full throttle.

 

[Urbanskog]

20-0 results never really happen. Even if there's a game between so uneven teams that one could beat the other 20-0 if it wanted to they take the foot off the pedal at some point and rest their best players and focus on just avoiding injuries.

They do happen at times. For instance, Estonia destroyed Bulgaria 26:0 in the 2018 Olympic qualifiers and Turkmenistan trashed Kuwait 24:2 in the 2018 Division III qualification tournament. Blowouts like these are not that common because teams usually play against teams which are closer to their own caliber.

In this case China would have never qualified for the Olympic tournament based on its merits but purely because they are the hosts so in that sense a match-up between China and say, Canada, is, in a way, "artificially generated" and not analogous with what is usual. There's certainly a chance for a major blowout.

 

[jj cale]

Roc Nation got a pretty easy group.

Canada will beat China 20-0.

Hmm, I don't think that group is so easy for Russia. Czechs always play Russia balls out and have enough talent to win that game when they come motivated which you can be sure they will against Russia and the Swiss are capable of beating them at the senior level in any one game too.

 

[Czechboy]

Hmm, I don't think that group is so easy for Russia. Czechs always play Russia balls out and have enough talent to win that game when they come motivated which you can be sure they will against Russia and the Swiss are capable of beating them at the senior level in any one game too.

Denmark best on best team has some heft too! Solid NHL goalie and elite forward is a nice start for an upset. I think it might also be the first time (at the senior level) that the Danes can piece together a best on best team as they've had some nice drafts over the year. They'll be a solid challenge to all 3 team in group IMO.

I don't think it's the best group but I think it is the most even group.

Swiss will be a flatout nightmare to everyone they play... some nice forwards, a Norris Dman and some strong Euro Goalies. Beautifully coached.

It's a division of Russia and 3 good dark horses.

 

[Czechboy]

Russia hasn’t been better than USA in hockey for about 15 years

The last US win at a senior level was 1996. Before that it was 1980.

I'd say them and Russia have been very close to be honest. Both are gold medal contenders.

 

[Mickey Marner]

I wish they'd go back to the 2006 format.

 

[Boonk]

Denmark best on best team has some heft too! Solid NHL goalie and elite forward is a nice start for an upset. I think it might also be the first time (at the senior level) that the Danes can piece together a best on best team as they've had some nice drafts over the year. They'll be a solid challenge to all 3 team in group IMO.

I don't think it's the best group but I think it is the most even group.

Swiss will be a flatout nightmare to everyone they play... some nice forwards, a Norris Dman and some strong Euro Goalies. Beautifully coached.

It's a division of Russia and 3 good dark horses.

It could go either way in that group tbh. On a good day the Czechs can beat the Russians, they do it quite frequently in prelims at the worlds and beat them in Vancouver in a SO.
The Swiss got 2 silver medals in the 2010s and can beat teams like Canada when all cylinders are firing.
Danish team with Ehlers, Bjorkstrand, Eller and Andersen is surrounded by solid euro depth that has plenty of international experience.

Group B will be interesting.

 

[WarriorofTime]

China lost to Spain 10-1 in the Preliminary Round 1 for the Qualification for the 2018. They lost to Serbia 5-1 and lost to Iceland 11-3 to finish dead last in the group with a -21 goal differential.

Serbia, for winning that group, advanced to Preliminary Round 2 where they finished dead last in a group with Italy, Great Britain and the Netherlands with 3 regulation losses and a -16 goal differential.

Italy, for winning that Preliminary Round 2 Group, advanced to the final qualification round where they finished in last place in a group with Norway, France and Kazakhstan, they did manage an overtime loss to France but finished winless in their three contests.

Norway, for winning that Final Qualification Group, advanced to the Olympics, where they finished dead last in their group, with Sweden, Finland and Germany with no wins and -9 goal differential.

Olympics. Ice hockey at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Men's qualification - Wikipedia

The point here is that this team isn't just really bad, it's really really bad, on a multi-layered basis. They are the bottom feeder's bottom feeder's bottom feeder. As bad as it can be while having a roster that exists. China's efforts at building a feasible team that can at least go out and skate around out there and move the puck a bit were thwarted by COVID. If teams like Spain and Croatia are wiping the floor with them, even a Canada that is not trying will do something very embarrassing to the sport as a whole on a global stage. It's a joke. Put a real team out there.

 

[WarriorofTime]

The last US win at a senior level was 1996. Before that it was 1980.

I'd say them and Russia have been very close to be honest. Both are gold medal contenders.

Just based on overall quality and depth of professional players, USA is comfortably better, I know the world championships are one thing but those don't get taken too seriously in USA and Russia tends to at least have a lot of their KHL guys... but yeah anything can happen in a best of 1.

 

[Urbanskog]

China lost to Spain 10-1 in the Preliminary Round 1 for the Qualification for the 2018. They lost to Serbia 5-1 and lost to Iceland 11-3 to finish dead last in the group with a -21 goal differential.

Serbia, for winning that group, advanced to Preliminary Round 2 where they finished dead last in a group with Italy, Great Britain and the Netherlands with 3 regulation losses and a -16 goal differential.

Italy, for winning that Preliminary Round 2 Group, advanced to the final qualification round where they finished in last place in a group with Norway, France and Kazakhstan, they did manage an overtime loss to France but finished winless in their three contests.

Norway, for winning that Final Qualification Group, advanced to the Olympics, where they finished dead last in their group, with Sweden, Finland and Germany with no wins and -9 goal differential.

Olympics. Ice hockey at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Men's qualification - Wikipedia

The point here is that this team isn't just really bad, it's really really bad, on a multi-layered basis. They are the bottom feeder's bottom feeder's bottom feeder. As bad as it can be while having a roster that exists. China's efforts at building a feasible team that can at least go out and skate around out there and move the puck a bit were thwarted by COVID. If teams like Spain and Croatia are wiping the floor with them, even a Canada that is not trying will do something very embarrassing to the sport as a whole on a global stage. It's a joke. Put a real team out there.

The naturalized and to-be-naturalized players of China have never represented China in any of these prior tournaments so you can't equate the team that got badly beaten by Spain and the team that enters the ice in the Olympics.

 

[Czechboy]

Just based on overall quality and depth of professional players, USA is comfortably better, I know the world championships are one thing but those don't get taken too seriously in USA and Russia tends to at least have a lot of their KHL guys... but yeah anything can happen in a best of 1.

Russians bringing KHL players over NHL ones is admittedly a poor strategy (Czechs do this too and it sucks).

I used ALL senior events since 1980... World Cup, Canada Cup, best on best Olympics and the Skoda Cup.

I'd say Russia's 3 starters are greater than US 3 starters

US D are better on paper
US C are better on paper
Russian Wingers are better on paper

If they played a best of 7.. I think it'd go 4-3. I wouldn't say one is comfortably better than the other at all.