even with their backup goalie, they only conceded one goal to the Swedes very tight defensively, like their soccer team. Like with soccer, they play a lot of grind it out, low scoring games where the final margin is most often one goal.
All 12 teams advance to the next round, it is just the top 4 teams get a bye into the quarter finals, the other 8 play in the knockout round for the other 4 quarter final spots. Let me qualify this statement saying that I am pretty sure that is how it plays out.
yeah you're right, I was thinking it was like the World Cup, where you need to finish top 2 in your group. well the Latvians are out regardless, as are the Austrians and Norwegians. They just aren't good enough at hockey! It would be a pretty big upset I'd imagine if someone made the finals out of the knockout round. According to Wikipedia, Switzerland is in the knockout round, while Slovenia still has a chance to avoid the knockout round (with a huge upset over the US). Switzerland has 6 and the best Slovenia could do is 6 so I'm not sure why they'd automatically win a tiebreaker. If they won by a goal, their GD would be 0 and Switzerland is +1. edit: OK, I got it. Slovenia could win their group outright with a win while the Swiss are second behind the Swedes.
If Russia beats Slovakia they would be at the top of Group A but Slovenia would be in 2nd with the win over the US. Slovenia would be tied with the Swiss with 6 pts but the tiebreaker is goal differential so I think the wiki article must be wrong. The Czechs did not pull the goalie against the Swedes just for that reason earlier in the games, they didn't want another goal against.
Speaking of goal differential, I wonder what the over under on Russian goals against Slovakia will be since they have quite a few to make up if Canada and Finland go to OT and Russia wants to get the free pass to the quarters.
I've watched some of it and read the thread and no one explained it to me. I was too lazy to look it up. :grin:
No, this is how Slovenia gets first: They beat the US in regulation+Russia loses (in regulation or OT, either way). They then would be ahead of the Swiss regardless of GD because they won their group. Slovenia would have 6, US 5, and Russia would have 4 or 5 depending on OTL or regulation loss. I think if Slovenia wins the group they'll be in the quarterfinals. How's that, jonny? :grin:
It doesn't say that in the Wikipedia article. There are no scenarios. I'm saying based on the current standings, Slovenia could still win the group, and group position is the first tiebreaker. GD is the second tiebreaker.
Finished watching the DVR of USA vs. Russia...What an amazing hockey game between...Love this game!!! Thankfully I did not ruin the moment for me by going online. AWESOME!
Once the tourney gets rolling on February 12, here’s how things will shake down. There are three groups of four teams. You can think about the groups as divisions if that makes it easier. Those groups (or divisions) are as follows: Group A: Russia, Slovakia, United States, Slovenia Group B: Finland, Canada, Norway, Austria Group C: Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Latvia You’ll frequently hear commentators referring these sets of teams during analysis. “the United States downed Slovakia in their first game against a Group A opponent, but can they beat Russia?” and so on. This is what they’re referring to on the tube or online. Each team will play three preliminary games—one against each other squad in their group. For a victory in regulation, a team gets three points. Two points go to a winner that is decided in overtime or the shootout, and a single point goes to the loser of an OT game or shootout. These points determine the standings moving forward, just like in the NHL. The more points you have, the higher you’re ranked. Once this round-robin tourney is over, it’s on to the next round. Four teams will get what boils down to first-round byes. The top team from each group is given a bye, and the second-place team with the most points is given a bye as well. That leaves eight teams to face off against each other in a single-elimination round. One loss and you’re going home empty-handed. The four winners of these games will go on to square off with the teams that were given byes. This amounts to the quarterfinal, and again, a single loss sends a team packing. And again, teams are seeded by accumulated points. From the beginning of the quarterfinal, teams must win three consecutive games to win the Gold Medal—their quarterfinal matchup, their semifinal matchup, and then the Final
Russia is so bitter about the goal that was disallowed. Ovechkin said Quick should have gotten a penalty for knocking his own net off. What's even more intereting is Voynov, Quick's teammate with the Kings, says Quick's style is to knock the net off in purpose. If USA has to play Russia again it's going to be a hell of a game.
