Olympic Hockey Bracket 2010

Olympic Hockey Bracket 2010, The preliminaries are now over. From here on out there will be no second chances, as only elimination games remain. The final day of the round-robin portion of the Vancouver Games lived up to th hype, with the Americans' stirring upset of host Canada providing the most

memorable moment.The win also puts the U.S. in an enviable position, having locked up the No. 1 seed thanks to Sweden's 3-0 shutout of Finland in the nightcap. That gives the Americans an extra day of rest and a bye to the quarterfinals, where they will face the winner of the 8-9 game between Switzerland and Belarus. Just as important, it puts the U.S. on the opposite side of the bracket of Sweden, Russia and Canada, so the Americans will have to face just one of those pre-tournament favorites if they make it to the gold-medal game. Finland or the Czech Republic won't be an easy matchup in the semifinals if the U.S. avoids an upset in the quarters, but it's certainly preferable to the road the other big powers face.

Canada is in the worst shape. They fell to sixth with the loss, which means they'll have to play an elimination game against No. 11 Germany on Tuesday, then take on a rested Russia the following day in the quarterfinals. The winner of that game, which most expected to be the gold-medal matchup, will still have to get through defending champ Sweden � the only team besides the U.S. to get through the round-robin slate unscathed � in the semifinals, though Slovakia might have something to say about that.

Some other thoughts on the final day of preliminary action:

- Team USA's win was the most memorable game so far of the tournament, but the indelible image of the day has to be Alex Ovechkin's bone-crushing hit on Jaromir Jagr in the first game of day. Ovechkin caught Jagr in the neutral zone and freight-trained him, causing a turnover that led to a Russian goal by Evgeni Malkin to make it a 3-1 game. Jagr stayed in the game, but the Czechs never recovered in a 4-2 loss that gave Russia the top spot in Group B and a bye into the quarters.

- That hit, by the way, was a thing of beauty to this old-time hockey fan. It would have been a perfectly clean hit in the NHL, but Ovechkin is probably lucky he didn't get penalized for it, as the Olympics have much stricter rules restricting hits to the head, though hopefully this hit will serve as Exhibit A for the NHL not to adopt similar restrictions and take even more of the physicality out of the game.

- It was a rough day all around for Jagr, who had no points and finished a minus-2 in 15:28. He was also in the box for Russia's first goal after being called for holding and had an apparent goal waved off because of a quick whistle.

- It isn't going to be easy to pry those gold medals away from Sweden, at least not as long as Henrik Lundqvist is in goal. He's started two of Sweden's first three games and has yet to allow a goal, shutting out both Germany and Finland. The Finns had averaged five goals a game before running into Lundqvist.

- Finland was the only team not to avenge? a gold-medal loss today. Russia got a little payback for the Czech Republic's 1998 title game win in the first Olympics with NHL players and the U.S. got some revenge for losing the 2002 gold medal on home soil in Salt Lake City, but Finland was denied again, just as the Finns were in the final game in 2006 whne Sweden claimed gold at their expense.

- What the heck has gotten into Brian Rafalski? The American defenseman scored four straight goals for Team USA, tallying two in the final three minutes against Norway and two more tonight in the first 9:15 against Canada.

- So much for the controversy about selecting Chris Drury (Trumbull, Conn.) to Team USA. He may have been struggling with the Rangers, but he's found his scoring touch in Vancouver. He has two goals and is a plus-3 in three games so far while providing solid defensive play and the veteran leadership Brian Burke wanted when he named Drury to the squad.

- Having NHL players in the Games dispersed among their various native nations makes for some strange combinations, but a pair of new line combos today really should have everyone in the NHL shaking their heads. First, Russia put Pittsburgh's Malkin on a line with Washington stars Ovechkin and Alexander Semin. That trio combined for two goals and six points, so any animosity from last year's playoff series obviously didn't prevent some nice chemistry from developing. Canada's decision to put Flyers forward Mike Richards on a line with Sidney Crosby didn't work out quite as well. Crosby did have a late power-play goal, but was also a minus-3, while Richards didn't have a point and was a minus-2. Maybe he should just go back to spending all night trying to get Crosby to drop the gloves like he does when they play each other in Philly.

- Not a lot of production from the Bruins, both past and present, tonight. David Krejci, Sergei Gonchar and Sergei Zinovyev were all scoreless in the Czech Republic-Russia game, though Gonchar was a plus-2. Samuel Pahlsson did not play for Sweden after missing the morning skate with a stomach ailment. Canada's Patrice Bergeron, dropped off Crosby's line in favor of Richards, played just 5:27 and was a minus-1. Phil Kessel was also a minus-1, failing to record a point or a shot while playing just 7:43 for the U.S. Tim Thomas dressed as the backup to Ryan Miller, but still has not appeared in a game and isn't likely anytime soon after Miller was spectacular again with 42 saves.

- As great as the U.S. win was, the best I can rank it in terms of all-time American hockey victories in the Olympics is fifth. There was no medal at stake and the U.S. still needs three more wins to get gold, including possibly another clash against Canada with far more at stake. What tops it? Here's the rest of my top 5: 4. The 3-2 semifinal win over Russia in 2002 that put the U.S. into the gold-medal game against Canada in Salt Lake City, where they eventually settled for silver; 3. The 1960 win over Canada en route to Team USA's first gold medal, and their last win over Canada until tonight; 2. The 1980 finale against Finland, when the U.S. rallied from a 2-1 deficit in the third to win 4-2 and clinch the gold; 1. No surprise here, as it can't be anything but the Miracle on Ice game � the 4-3 win over the vaunted Soviet Union, which put the underdog Americans in a position to earn that unlikely gold medal in 1980, and a game played exactly 30 years ago tomorrow (or actually today as it's well after midnight). Final Round-Robin Standings:

1. United States 3-0-0-0, 9 points, plus-9

2. Sweden 3-0-0-0, 9 points, plus-7

3. Russia 2-0-0-1, 7 points, plus-7

4. Finland 2-1-0-0, 6 points, plus-6

5. Czech Republic 2-1-0-0, 6 points, plus-3

6. Canada 1-1-1-0, 5 points, plus-7

7. Slovakia 1-1-1-0, 5 points, plus-5

8. Switzerland 0-1-1-1, 3 points, minus-2

9. Belarus 1-2-0-0, 3 points, minus-4

10. Norway 0-2-0-1, 1 point, minus-14

11. Germany 0-3-0-0, 0 points, minus-9

12. Latvia 0-3-0-0, 0 points, minus-15

Elimination Round matchups (Tuesday, Feb. 22, quarterfinals on Wednesday, Feb. 23):

No. 8. Switzerland vs. No. 9. Belarus (winner plays No. 1. United States)

No. 5 Czech Republic vs. 12. Latvia (winner plays No. 4 Finland)

No. 7 Slovakia vs. No. 10 Norway (winner plays No. 2 Sweden)

No. 6 Canada vs. No. 11 Germany (winner plays No. 3 Russia)

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