Not consistent from Olympic to Olympic. They follow up great with bad and/or vice versa. Either really tremendous showing or a catastrophe.
1994- First ever Olympic Gold, Forsberg’s stamp worthy goal
1998- Quarterfinal loss as defending champ to their bitterest of rivals Finland
2002- Salo. Belarus.
2006- Gold with NHL’ers.
2010- Another quarterfinal loss as defending champs, this time to Slovakia in which they had a disastrous 3 goal second period.
2014- Make a surprise run to the Silver medal, taking out Finland along the way even though no more Lidstrom/Forsberg, new coach, and a lot of injuries. Got a measure of revenge against a Finland team that looked like the best non-Canada team up to that point in the tournament.
2018- Lose to Germany in OT.
Not only is it the highs and lows and inconsistency, but they are literally all or nothing with the quarterfinals.
They have either lost in humbling fashion or made it to the final game.
No in between, no bronze medal game, no early group exit, no semifinal loss.
All or nothing it seems like.
So basically if these trends continue, watch them make it to the gold medal game in 2022
GDT: Game 59: New York Rangers @ New York Islanders, 7:30 ET, MSG