The Puck Stops Here
Men’s Preliminary Round Olympics
by PuckStopsHere on 02/22/10 at 10:38 AM ET
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The preliminary round is complete in the men’s hockey tournament in the Olympics. Teams were sorted into three groups of four teams each. They played a round robin tournament in each group. The winner in each group, plus the best record of the non-winners receive a bye into the quarter-finals. The eight lower finishers must play a qualifying game to make the quarterfinals.
Here are the preliminary round results:
Group A
1. USA - The Americans have the best record in all three groups. They won all their games and had a +9 goal differential. The leading scorers for the Americans are defencemen Brian Rafalski and Ryan Suter. Ryan Miller played well in the American goal.
2. Canada - Canada dominated against the Norwegians, but required a shootout to beat the Swiss and lost to the Americans. This has been a subpar showing so far for the early favorites in the tournament. Dany Heatley and Sidney Crosby have led the team offensively. Martin Brodeur has been the most played goaltender so far, but Roberto Luongo has been the most successful goalie, as he had the shutout versus Norway.
3. Switzerland - A lot of the Swiss success so far is due to strong play from goaltender Jonas Hiller. Roman Wick has been solid as well. He has scored four points. Due to strong goaltending, the Swiss might be the toughest of the non-traditional hockey powers.
4. Norway - Norway was outclassed in this group. The lost all their games and scored only five goals, while allowing 19. Tore Vikingstad and Patrick Thoreson have been their leading offensive talents.
Group B
1. Russia - Russia wins their group despite a shootout loss to Slovakia. Alexander Ovechkin was their top scorer with four points. He is followed by Pavel Datsyuk and Sergei Fedorov who have three each. Evgeni Nabokov has been solid in their goal.
2. Czech Republic - The Czechs have the best record among teams that did not qualify for a bye to the quarterfinals. Patrick Elias and Marek Zidlicky have led them offensively. Tomas Vokoun has been their goaltender.
3. Slovakia - The Slovaks managed a shootout victory against the Russians. Their strength has been strong goaltending from Jaroslav Halak, who has only allowed four goals. Offensively, they are led by Marian Hossa, Pavol Demitra and Michal Handzus, who have three points each.
4. Latvia - Latvia has been the weakest team in the tournament so far. They lost all their games. They only scored four goals, while allowing 19.
Group C
1. Sweden - Sweden is undefeated. They have a dominant nine goals scored to two allowed. They were unable to run up the score against a weak opponent and hence finish second seed to the Americans. Henrik Lundqvist has played very well in goal for the Swedes. He has shutouts in both his starts. Loui Eriksson and Daniel Sedin are their offensive leaders with three points each.
2. Finland - Finland is the team that qualified for the quarter-finals without winning their group. Mikko Koivu has been their offensive leader. Their goaltending has been split between Miikka Kiprusoff and Niklas Backstrom (who has a shutout in his start).
3. Belarus - Belarus has been kept close in their games due to strong goaltending by Vitaly Koval. He has been the best of the non-NHL goalies in the tournament so far. Sergei Kostitsyn has been their offensive leader.
4. Germany - The Germans have been outclassed so far. They have lost all their games. They scored three goals (all against Belarus), while allowing twelve.
The qualifying round games will pit the Czech Republic against Latvia, Canada against Germany, Slovakia against Norway and Switzerland against Belarus. The winners of those games will play Finland, Russia, Sweden and USA respectively. The four winners of those games qualify for the medal round.
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