If you're unfamiliar with the way the standings work, teams are first ranked by their W-L record. The first tie breaker is goal differential, then total goals scored.
The top four seeds will advance directly to the Quarter Finals next Wednesday. The other eight teams will play a single elimination 'play-in round' on Tuesday.
Per IIHF.com the standing are as follows:
note: the brackets to the far left indicate the match-ups for the play-in round (based on current standings)
Game two will be played Thursday or Friday, depending on the country. Game three is Saturday for the lower seeded teams...and then the big three games will be played on Super Sunday (Russia-CzechRep, USA-Canada, Finland-Sweden).
Thursday's game line-up (with TV times)
Pool A - USA v Norway at 12:00 PM PST
Pool A - Switzerland v Canada at 5:00 PM PST
Pool B - Slovakia v Russia at 9:30 PM PST
The U.S. game is critical if they have any thoughts of getting one of the four byes directly into the quarter finals. Team USA not only needs a win, they need to score a bunch of goals (to increase their goal differential total). Plus, if Michal Handzus, Ziggy Palfy, Joseph Stumpel and the rest of Team Slovakia can somehow beat the Russians in the evening game, that would REALLY help America's chances of finishing in the top four.
Will Jack Johnson continue his strong play? Will Dustin Brown score his first Olympic goal? Ryan Miller will start in net - however, Jonathan Quick is scheduled to back him up. Quick's first view of the Olympic action from ice level.
Tune in to USA Network at noon PST to catch the first game.
The Mayor
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