Teuvo Teravainen of the Chicago Blackhawks and his Team Finland now know their place in the Olympic elimination rounds.
The one Chicago Blackhawks Olympian, Teuvo Teravainen, is now on to the elimination rounds with Team Finland. After the results of Sunday’s game, the idle Team Finland ended as the top second-place team, which earns them the 4th seed. The reward for this is a first-round bye into the quarterfinals.
The winners of each group, Canada, the USA, and Slovakia, all get a bye, along with Finland. Group B, Finland’s group, was clearly the best. There were three 2-1 teams, but Sweden fell to the 7th seed as a third-place team can’t be ahead of a second-place team.
Finland had a very interesting path to this 4th seed. They lost their opening game to Slovakia by a score of 4-1. It looked like they didn't have what it takes to compete this time around.
When they were staring down being 0-2 at the hands of their biggest rival in Sweden, they put together a huge performance to pull out a victory. A big win over Italy (11-0) in their last game earned them a high enough goal differential to be the best second-place team.
This team could have easily rolled over and let the tournament fly by with poor results, but they bounced back in a big way. Now, there is a path to the podium at the end of the games. Their game entering the quarterfinals is in a good spot.
Teravainen ended the round-robin portion of the tournament with one assist and a +2 rating. He is responsible for being a depth forward who plays well at both ends of the ice. So far, he has done that. They'd probably like a little bit more offense out of him, but the chances have been there.
Teuvo Teravainen doesn't get the power-play time that gives him extra chances to be a massive point producer, but he plays well when the coach does put him out there. He has no issue with playing the system and role that the team asks of him.
Blackhawks prospect Adam Gajan is the third-string goalie on Team Slovakia, which will be the third seed. Assistant coach Anders Sorensen and his Team Sweden are in seventh.
The tournament will be idle on Monday, but the qualifying round will be on Tuesday. The four teams with a bye, including Finland, will play their next opponent on Wednesday. For Teuvo's team, it will be the winner of Switzerland and Italy.
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