See which Senators' teams face tough matchups and unexpected seeds as sudden-death games begin Tuesday morning in Milan.
The men's Olympic hockey preliminary round ended in Milan on Sunday afternoon, and the sudden-death knockout stages are about to begin on Tuesday.
Team USA clinched the second seed in the tournament, whatever that's worth, by defeating Germany 5-1 in the preliminary finale. Jake Sanderson had two assists for the Americans while Brady Tkachuk chipped in with one. Tim Stutzle had the only goal for the Germans and now leads the tournament with four, tied with Canada's Macklin Celebrini.
As the top four seeds, listed in order, Canada, USA, Slovakia, and Finland have all earned byes directly to Wednesday's quarterfinals.
The other eight nations, now seeded 5 through 12, will play in the Qualification Playoff games on Tuesday.
Tuesday: Qualification Playoff Games (all sudden death)
Germany (6) vs France (11) 6:10 am ET (Tim Stutzle, Team Germany)
Switzerland (5) vs Italy (12) 6:10 am
Czechia (8) vs Denmark (9) 10:40 am (Lars Eller, Mads Sogaard, Team Denmark)
Sweden (7) vs Latvia (10) 3:10 pm
What sticks out is that Sweden, which had the fifth-best overall record in the tournament, is ranked lower than both Switzerland and Germany. That's because under Olympic rules, when teams are ranked 5 through 12, the biggest emphasis is not on point totals, but on where they placed in their division.
So Germany's 3-point performance and Switzerland's 5-point performance were both better than Sweden's 6 points because they finished second in their pool, while the Swedes only finished third in theirs.
As a result, #1 Canada and #2 USA will likely draw more difficult opponents in the quarterfinals than #3 Slovakia and #4 Finland.
Wednesday: Quarterfinal Games (sudden death)
(1) Canada vs Czechia-Denmark winner (Lars Eller, Mads Sogaard, Team Denmark)
(2) USA vs Sweden-Latvia winner (Brady Tkachuk, Jake Sanderson, Team USA)
(3) Slovakia vs Germany-France winner (Tim Stutzle, Team Germany)
(4) Finland vs Switzerland-Italy winner (Nikolas Matinpalo, Team Finland)
The team that really gets shafted by the Olympic format is Team USA. The Americans were the only other team besides Canada to finish a perfect 3-0 in the tournament, and they'll likely have to face a 3-1 Sweden team, which is always a gold medal threat.
However, that doesn't change the fact that the Senators most likely to come home with a medal are the Americans, Tkachuk and Sanderson.
Steve Warne
The Hockey News
This article was first published at The Hockey News-Ottawa. Read more Senators features and articles from THN Ottawa here:
Former Senator Mark Stone Still Has Plenty Left... Just Ask Canada
From Hasek to Tkachuk: The Sens Have Been Burned By Best-on-Best Tournaments
Tim Stützle Named Germany's Alternate Captain As Outstanding Season Continues
Current And Former Ottawa Senators Competing At Winter Olympics
Senators Can Further Boost Playoff Hopes By Upgrading One Position At Deadline