Quarterfinals talk

[BluesyShoes]

My hot take: I think Sweden wins gold if they play Canada in the Semis. I think USA beats Sweden in the finals if Sweden plays a lower seed in the semis. USA/Canada have deep teams and can push the pace on Sweden, which Sweden hasn't had to deal with yet. I think they need a warm up against Canada to tune up their system, otherwise it will be a bit of a shock to face USA in the finals and they may scramble.

Of course USA could always lose to the Swiss or in the semis, in which case I'd think Sweden is the heavy favourite.

 

[ManWithNoName]

Dvorsky... I have a bad feeling Finland will take dumb penalties and the Slovaks have some top skill giving them the chance to score in PP and take the win. Both their C and both A's are leaders for me.
Slovakia has decent goalies as well and should have one good game in them.
Have a feeling Lendak will be the one tonight.
If Finland can keep it cool mentally, play compact as a team and Helenius, Kiiskinen and others can follow the upwards pointing form and not take stupid penalties? They should have the depth to win but I'm not sure they will make it tonight.

Finlands boxplay is 100%. Considering they’ve faced both the US and Canada I’d say they shouldn’t be too worried about that.

Their biggest liability is #3. He’s a turnover machine and slow as f***.

Goal scoring has worked out so far despite their best players not performing at 100%. 22, 19 and 32 have combined for one goal, right? That’s not good enough if you want to go all the way.

 

[KingsOfCali25]

Czechia is the 3 seed, right?

Sweden
USA
Czechia
Finland
Canada
Slovakia
Latvia
Switzerland

They should be on points but the IIHF website has them as the 4 seed on the bracket layout.

 

[Svedu]

Finlands boxplay is 100%. Considering they’ve faced both the US and Canada I’d say they shouldn’t be too worried about that.

Their biggest liability is #3. He’s a turnover machine and slow as f***.

Goal scoring has worked out so far despite their best players not performing at 100%. 22, 19 and 32 have combined for one goal, right? That’s not good enough if you want to go all the way.

100%. Then it can only be what, worse? Finland do have youngsters who can take the dumbest penalties from time to time.
Dvorsky is the first player with McKenna and ASP I would pick for a PP. Radivojevic is better on PP than 5v5. Strbak and Pekarcik are individuals you can trust.

Canada mashed Finland and the US came in a bit cocky. They are really skilled but they have attitude. So I wouldn't state Finland have a great BP. Sometimes they look passive.
Even if I believe Canada and Sweden would beat the US in a semi, I really hope that if Finland wins against all odds, that they then get Sweden.
The US will not lose twice against Finland. But in end it doesn't matter because Slovakia wins tonight.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Czechs 3-2 (4-3)
USA 7-3 (7-2)
Sweden 4-1 (3-2)
Finland 3-1 (5-3)

Feel like I did okay here, Latvia somehow managed to make a game of it despite getting outshot by a ratio of 4-1 lol.

 

[MTU34]

Feel like I did okay here, Latvia somehow managed to make a game of it despite getting outshot by a ratio of 4-1 lol.

That’s about as close to nailing it as you can get

 

[ORRFForever]

NOT sure if it qualifies in 2025 but there is ALWAYS one upset. Unfortunately, it's been Canada for the last 2 years.

 

[Czechboy]

And here are my thoughts.lol

You won't like them

Canada vs Czechs is 50-50
Sweden vs Latvia is 55-45 if Osmonis is back and 70-30 if he isn't
US vs Switzerland is 60-40
Slovakia vs Finland is 45-55

My predictions

Czechs, Swedes, US and Slovaks

Yes I have a bias
No, I didn't use any advanced stats
I used my gut and regret nothing!

3 out of 4. Slovaks were close too! Us and Switzerland was not as close as I thought it'd be.

 

[tabness]

Tournament is less fun without a competitive Canada to be honest

 

[eojsmada]

Looking forward to Czechia-Sweden in the Finals.

 

[mphmiles]

Not going to be fun to be a Hockey Canada employee tomorrow.

There's going too be unimaginable levels of I-told-you-so's after everyone complained about them leaving goal scorers at home and then they scored < 3 goals per game at the tournament.