It's the opening day of the Men’s Olympic Hockey Tournament, and the Colorado Avalanche have eight players representing their countries these next two weeks. Opening the tournament is Joel Kiviranta and Artturi Lehkonen for Finland against Slovakia, then Gabriel Landeskog for Sweden taking on the hometown Italy.

Both of these games were fast, physical, and, quite frankly, a breath of fresh air and a reminder of what these Olympics bring to best-on-best hockey, including upsets in the first game and almost the second. Here is how each Avalanche player did on day 1.

The opener was one I did not expect to attend, and that's not me saying I am totally shocked that Slovakia upset Finland, but at how they did it. In this game, Lehkonen helped score Finland's only goal. 

Five minutes into the second period and on the dying seconds of the power play, Lehkonen started the play down left near the hashmarks, passing to Joel Armia, who fed a nifty backhand pass to Eli Tolvanen, finishing with a one-timer right off the pass. It was a play that clearly struck the Finnish bench and helped motivate them after a brutal first period, but it just didn't come to fruition.

Though his play was a key standout despite the upset, he paired with Sebastian Aho (Hurricanes) and Teuvo Teravainen (Blackhawks) and did exactly what his role has been with the Avalanche. A shifty skater who, with enough room, can speed by the (rather small) neutral zone, can fill out scoring lanes perfectly. Battling infront of the net, going for puck battles in the corner, he brings his workhorse mentality from the Avalanche to the national team and can fit anywhere in the lineup.

While Lehkonen finished with an assist and four total shots, Kiviranta didn’t see a single second of ice time. He, along with Oliver Kapanen and the two other backup goaltenders, were the only players not to get a single shift in this game.

The lone representative in this game was Landeskog, and boy, was it great seeing him out there. It brought confidence to see how well he moved and played in this rather tight game. He was a standout early on as he scored the opening goal on the power play to help them tie the game 1-1. In the dying seconds of the power play, he receives a great pass from Mika Zibanejad and one-timers it in.

I know, it's hilarious that both Avalanche players scored on the power play to help their team score their first goals of the tournament. It was a tight game as Sweden dominated puck control, but Italy capitalized on their chances, which came together in a two-goal third period to secure a 5-2 win.

Landeskog finished with just over 13 minutes of ice time, one goal, and four total shots, which doesn’t tell the whole story. His skating looked great, physical across the boards and on the open ice. For a guy who hasn’t played a professional game of hockey in over a month, it was a great showing for Avalanche fans and Sweden fans with what he showed.

Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, and Devon Toews will make their 2026 Olympic debut tomorrow against Martin Necas and Czechia in the morning, while Brock Nelson and the United States will faceoff against Latvia in the afternoon