Germany, Czechia, And Sweden Punch Their Ticket To The Quarter-Finals: Canucks At The 2026 Winter Olympics

The first men’s hockey eliminations of the 2026 Winter Olympics have occurred, with two members of the Vancouver Canucks ending up on the losing side of their matches. This means that five Canucks have advanced to the quarter-finals, which will take place tomorrow starting at 3:10 am PT. 

Just when Germany needed to step things up, they did, winning by a score of 5–1 against France in their qualifier-round matchup to punch their ticket to the quarter-finals. Leon Draisaitl was a force in his team’s win, recording a goal and two assists in the effort. They’ll now face a strong Slovakia in the quarter-finals tomorrow. 

After his last game on a line with Tim Stützle and JJ Peterka, Lukas Reichel found himself in yet another prime position; this time alongside Draisaitl and forward Frederik Tiffels. While Draisaitl played nearly 10 minutes more than him, Reichel still managed to log 15:17 minutes played while also recording three shots.  

After a questionable preliminary round, Czechia will now head to the quarter-finals to face Team Canada after winning 3–2 against Denmark in their qualifier-round matchup. At the beginning of the tournament, Canada defeated Czechia by a score of 5–0, which is something they will likely hope to avoid come tomorrow’s game. 

Both Filip Hronek and David Kämpf wound up on the scoresheet in Czechia’s victory today. Hronek, who played a total of 27:53 minutes this game, recorded an assist off the game’s opening goal scored by Martin Nečas on the power play. Kämpf scored Czechia’s second goal about five minutes later to help his team regain the lead. The forward also finished the game with a shot on goal and 15:08 minutes played.  

In the battle of three Canucks, it was Elias Pettersson and Sweden that emerged victorious over Teddy Blueger and Anrī Ravinskis of Latvia. Sweden has officially qualified for the quarter-finals, where they will face former Canucks J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes on Team USA. 

Pettersson ended up with yet another new line today in Filip Forsberg and Rickard Rakell, though he’d previously skated with both wingers earlier on in the tournament. He finished today's game with one shot on goal and 10:57 minutes played. 

While he’d taken on a decently-sized role in previous games, today, Blueger ended up on Latvia’s top-line alongside Zemgus Girgensons and Eduards Tralmaks for the first time this tournament. The Canucks centre factored into Latvia’s first and only goal of the game and logged 23:07 minutes. Ravinskis registered a tournament-high of 12:05 minutes played. 

Slovakia vs. Germany: 3:10 am PT 

Canada vs. Czechia: 7:40 am PT 

Finland vs. Switzerland: 9:10 am PT 

USA vs. Sweden: 12:10 pm PT  

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