The Matchup: Team USA (2-0-0-0) vs. Team Germany (1-0-1-0)
The Time: 3:10 PM EST (local time 21:10)
The Broadcasts: TV — Peacock, USA Network
Final Day of Round Robin
Today is the final preliminary round day of the Men’s Tourney in Milan. Probably the most surprising development so far is Slovakia and our guy Simon Nemec won Group B that had both Sweden and Finland in it.
Canada is cruising to the top seed in Group A with only France left to play to secure the top seed. This morning the Swiss with Timo, Nico and Siegs took down Czechia to take the 2nd seed.
Team USA
Team USA wraps up their group play at 3:10 this afternoon against Leon Draisatl and Team Germany. Theoretically, this game should mostly be a formality for the US to take the top seed in group C, but they have come out of the gates slow in both games so far leading Latvia only 1-0 after the 1st on Thursday and only really separating from Denmark in the 3rd yesterday. With wins both the US and Canada would both be 3-0, so goal differential will determine the top seed. Right now Canada sits at a pristine +9 scoring 10 and giving up only 1, while the US sits at +7 (11-4). SO for the US to steal the top seed they would need to dominate Germany and we would need France to put up a fight against Canada.
All 12 teams will move to the knock out stage, with the top 4 seeds (Likely Canada, The US, Slovakia and Finland) getting a bye, and awaiting the results of teams ranked 5-12.
So far Team USA has been powered by the line of Matthew Tkachuk-Jack Eichel-Brady Tkachuk, with Eichel topping the team with 4 points in 2 games while Brady Tkachuk has scored two massive goals to get the US team on track. Jack Hughes has had an excellent tournament so far finding chemistry with Brock Nelson on their “4th line” and both players are tied for 2nd on the team in scoring with 3 points in 2 games. Jack scored one of his patented bank shots yesterday to put Denmark away for good in the 3rd.
Play Free Bird!
The Rules: If you have been a reader here, you already know the rules. But for the rest, a reminder: please do not swear in the comment section, and keep comments relevant to the hockey game going on. Beyond that, do not attack any other commenters, and do not ask for or pass along illegal streams on this board.