Olympic Hockey Update, February 19

Photo Credit: ©Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

2/19/2014

Predictably, Sweden won over Slovenia this morning in a shutout. Goals by Alexander Steen, Daniel Sedin, Loui Eriksson, and two goals by Carl Hagelin led Sweden to a 5-0 win, which means they will move on to the semifinals on Friday.

Russia was stunned by Finland in a 3-1 loss. Tuukka Rask was in net while Aaltonen Juhamatti, Teemu Selanne, and Mikael Granlund tallied the goals for Finalnd. Ilya Kovalchuk had the lone goal for Russia. The host team was sent packing as Finland moved into the semifinal round.

Because of Canada’s win over Team Latvia today, the next round has been announced. Sweden will take on Finland at 7am eastern on Friday, February 21st while Canada will go up against the USA at 12 noon the same day. The winners of each game will go on to play for the gold medal on Sunday and the losing teams will play for bronze on Saturday.

Don Cherry, during first intermission of the Canada/Latvia game, suggested that Varlamov, the Russian goalie, may have wanted out of the Olympics, which was made clear to Don from the look Varly gave to the bench after a goal against in the Russia/Finland game. What do you think, did Varly want out? Is that why Russia lost? Or is Don off-base and Russia legitimately lost due to something else?

Tomorrow is the gold medal game between Team Canada and Team USA in women’s hockey. It starts at 12 noon eastern, and will be broadcast on CBC.

Go Team Canada!