Men’s Olympic Hockey Quarterfinal Match-Ups Have Been Decided
By Traci Kay
Photo Credit: ©Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
2/16/2014
The quarterfinal match-ups have been set. They will take place on Wednesday, February 19th.
With Slovenia’s win over Austria, it will be Sweden vs. Slovenia in the quarterfinal. Anze Kopitar and company will have stiff competition in Team Sweden. They’ll come face to face with players such as Daniel Alfredsson and Erik Karlsson.
Russia won over Norway and will be matched-up with Finland. With players like Alex Ovechkin, Yevgeni Malkin, and Pavel Datsyuk on the Russian team, Team Finland will have to utilize the strengths of Teemu Selanne, Olli Jokinen, and all their goaltending skills.
The USA will take on Ladislav Smid and the Czech Republic. Considering that the Czech Republic seems to have improved with each game in the Olympics, Team USA will have to keep up the work ethic of Zach Parise, the offensive play of James Van Riemsdyk, and the on-point goaltending of Jonathan Quick.
Canada will play Latvia. Drew Doughty needs to keep up his scoring and Sidney Crosby needs to keep up the offensive attacks in order for Team Canada to be successful and move onto the semifinals. Latvia has been the dark horse of this year’s Olympics as they’ve won only one game in the qualification round to make it into the quarterfinals. Latvia beat out Reto Berra‘s national team, Switzerland, to find a place in the quarterfinals.
All the men’s quarterfinal games will be played on Wednesday, February 19th. Thursday will be a break for the men while the women’s teams play their medal rounds. Men’s semifinals will be held on Friday, February 21st before the final four teams will play Saturday for the bronze medal and Sunday for the gold medal.