Olympic Ice Hockey

It was heartbreak for Russia on Wednesday as their men's hockey team fell to Finland by a score of 3-1 at the Bolshoy Ice Dome.

The Russians energized the partisan crowd early with a power-play goal by Ilya Kovalchuk, but Finland answered back quickly. Juhamatti Aaltonen, Teemu Selanne and Mikael Granlund built a 3-1 lead by the midpoint of the game, leading Russia to replace starting goaltender Semyon Varlamov with Sergei Bobrovsky as they tried to mount a comeback.

There was plenty of push from the Russians in the late stages, but netminder Tuukka Rask was up to the task, ultimately stopping 37 of 38 shots.

For the second straight Olympics, Russia fails to advance past the quarterfinals.

Finland will face Sweden in the semifinal on Friday.

Final Score: Finland 3 - Russia 1

International hockey fans in America might want to call into work sick on Wednesday for what's sure to be an action-packed round of competition at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

All eight quarterfinalists will play on Day 12 of the XXII Winter Games. It follows Tuesday's batch of knockout-round games, which cut the field down from a dozen. From here on out, we can expect quality matches in every men's hockey game as this wide-open field goes for gold.

Each of the four quarterfinal matchups will be broadcast live on American TV Wednesday, and you can also watch live online with NBC Live Extra. Here's the entire TV lineup plus a quick preview of each contest.

(1) Sweden vs. (8) Slovenia

Sweden (3-0) emerged out of a field of heavyweights to claim the No. 1 seed and one of four byes into the quarterfinals. While the United States and Canada also went 3-0, the Swedes separated themselves with three regulation victories, giving them the most points (9) of any team in the group stage.

Group C was certainly a balanced one, but Sweden didn't look overly dominant with 10 goals scored versus five scored against. In contests against Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Latvia, Swedish goalie Henrik Lundqvist allowed five goals on 78 shots (93.59 percent).

It will be interesting to see if he and the defense can maintain that pace against elite offenses such as the ones on the Canadian, American and Russian teams.

But first, Sweden has to get past the surprise team of the men's tournament, Slovenia. Kevin Allen of USA Today outlined the unexpected success of the Slovenians, who blanked Austria 4-0 on Tuesday to punch their ticket to the quarterfinals:

Ranked 18th in the world, the Slovenians now will play Sweden in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Sweden has been upset in the quarterfinals twice in the last three Olympics: by Belarus in 2002 and by Slovakia in 2010.

"We would have been happy with one point before the start of the tournament," said Slovenia defenseman Sabahudin Kovacevic, who scored in his first game back from a suspension. "But now we are going for the gold medal."

Slovenia also knocked off Slovakia 3-1 in the group stage but suffered big losses to the United States (5-1) and Russia (5-2). 

(4) Finland vs. (5) Russia

Team Russia has made things interesting during the men's tournament so far, as this marquee unit needed to play in a qualification game after failing to reach the quarterfinals out of the group stages.

But on Tuesday, the Russians beat Norway 4-0, with two goals coming in the final 67 seconds, to set them up with an intriguing matchup against Finland. Greg Beacham of the Associated Press described the action from Sochi:

Radulov had two goals and an assist, and Russia survived its first elimination game in Sochi with a 4-0 victory Tuesday over Norway in the qualification round.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 22 saves in the second straight shutout victory for the fifth-seeded Russians, who earned a meeting with Finland in the quarterfinals Wednesday.

"It is do-or-die games right now," said Alex Ovechkin, who hasn't scored a goal in three games. "We don't have much time to prepare ... but I'm pretty sure everybody on Finland is going to be ready, and we're going to be ready as well."

Finland's Tuukka Rask has been hit-or-miss so far in the Olympics, as he has allowed six goals on 47 shots (87.23 save percentage), but he has still shown flashes of his immense talent. With a talented Russian attack that features Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin and Pavel Datsyuk, the good Rask better show up for Finland on Wednesday.

(3) Canada vs. (11) Latvia

Latvia enters the quarterfinals as the underdog of the remaining teams after upsetting No. 6 seed Switzerland 3-1 in a Tuesday playoff match.

The Latvians were outscored 10-5 and went 0-3 during the group stage but rebounded against Switzerland with their best performance of the tournament. It marked the first Olympic hockey victory for the nation since the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, per Beacham:

Oskars Bartulis and Lauris Darzins scored in the first period, and Latvia reached the Olympic men's hockey quarterfinals for the first time with a 3-1 victory over Switzerland on Tuesday night.

Edgars Masalskis made 32 saves and Darzins added an empty-net goal in the Latvians' first Olympic victory since 2002, when they returned to the games after a 66-year absence. After the clock ran out on an impressive victory over a rising Swiss team, the Latvians gathered around Masalskis for a joyous group hug.

"It's just awesome to do this for all of the great veteran players that we have," said Buffalo's Zemgus Girgensons, Latvia's only active NHL player. "No one has done it before, so it's unbelievable to be in the quarterfinals and beat the Swiss."

But the Cinderella story for the Latvians figures to end in the quarterfinals, as they are set to face a powerhouse Canadian squad that outscored its opponents 11-2 in three group-stage victories. 

Most importantly, Team Canada has received some solid goaltending from Carey Price and Roberto Luongo after questions swirled about them heading into the Olympics. On Tuesday, Team Canada announced Price would be getting the start against Latvia.

The team doesn't seem too concerned about Sidney Crosby's three-game goal drought to start the tournament, especially with the amount of firepower it has.

(2) United States vs. (7) Czech Republic

The high-powered American squad looks poised to make a deep run in this tournament after going 3-0 in the group stages, highlighted by T.J. Oshie's four-goal performance for the ages in a 3-2 shootout victory over Russia. The U.S. also handled Slovakia (7-1) and Slovenia (5-1) to build a plus-11 goal differential, the highest of any team to this point in the Olympics.

The Americans have two solid goalie options in Jonathan Quick and Ryan Miller, and Quick earned the starting nod from coach Dan Bylsma on Tuesday.

"Guys are playing great in our own end and competing in front of the net when there are rebounds," Quick told Larry Lage of the Associated Press.

A day after giving up three goals on 32 shots in a 5-3 win against Slovakia, Czech goalie Ondrej Pavelec will be under a microscope, per James Mirtle of The Globe and Mail:

Pavelec's main concern figures to be white-hot Phil Kessel, who scored a hat trick in Team USA's latest four-goal win over Slovenia.

"He's a guy who has grown on the ice and he has shown he can handle the big-time situations," USA center David Backes told Kevin Allen of USA Today. "He is out there making plays all of the time. He's got composure. He doesn't get rattled when someone is in his face. That growth is great for our team."

Team USA hasn't won a gold medal in hockey since the "Miracle on Ice" team of 1980, but the squad definitely has the talent to pull off the deed again in Sochi.

The Czech Republic men's ice hockey team defeated Slovakia by a score of 5-3 on Tuesday and will move on to face the United States in the quarterfinals.

A win by the Czech team marked just its second victory in regulation during the 2014 Olympics. The only other time they were able to emerge victorious within the first three periods of action was against winless Latvia in the preliminary rounds.

The Czech Republic finished the preliminary round with a record of 1-2, scoring six goals and allowing seven goals in its three games played. Needless to say, the Czechs will have their hands full against a powerful United States team on Wednesday.

Let's take a closer look at the upcoming game's viewing information and outlook as well as give a prediction for the matchup's outcome.

Viewing Information

What: Men's ice hockey quarterfinals: United States vs. Czech Republic

Where: Shayba Arena

When: Wednesday, Feb. 19

TV Time: noon ET

Channel: USA

Live Stream: NBCOlympics.com

Outlook

The strength of the Czech team remains with its goaltending. Both Ondrej Pavelec and Alexander Salak have been solid, earning save percentages of .923 and .933, respectively. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the offense.

Through four games, the Czechs have only managed 11 goals on 123 shots. To put that into perspective, through three games, the United States has scored 15 goals on 95 shots. It's not as though the Czechs aren't generating offense, but they look to be having a difficult time finding the back of the net.

On Tuesday, they did improve their scoring percentage, as they scored five goals on 29 shots. However, that was against a Slovakia team that had less-than-stellar goaltending. Allowing 15 goals on 114 shots, Slovakia's goaltenders struggled throughout most of the tournament.

If the Czechs are to compete with the United States, they must ride the hot hand of Roman Cervenka, who scored twice in the first two periods against Slovakia.

On the other hand, the United States has been stellar in all aspects of the game.

Team USA earned a first-round bye after two decisive wins against Slovakia and Slovenia, followed by a dramatic overtime win against long-time rival Russia.

Forward Phil Kessel has been marvelous for the United States. Through three games, he has scored four goals, totaled three assists, managed 15 shots on goal and he has a plus/minus rating of positive-five.

T.J. Oshie will look to continue his hot streak. He was the United States' hero against Russia, netting four goals in six attempts during a dramatic shootout.

During an interview with ESPN.com, Oshie spoke of his thoughts during the shootout, "I was just thinking of something else I could do, trying to keep him guessing. Had to go back to the same move a couple times, but I was glad it ended when it did. I was running out of moves there."

Head coach Dan Bylsma added, "I aged a couple of years in that shootout. We had other guys that are capable, but T.J. was the guy who was going well. It seemed like he was going to score every time he went."

One thing that came out of this dramatic finish: The Americans proved that they can flourish in the face of adversity—a desired trait heading into the playoffs.

On the defensive side, goaltenders Jonathan Quick and Ryan Miller have been fantastic. Though Quick has seen more time on the ice, both players have managed save percentages of .944.

Against a high-octane Russian offense, Quick was phenomenal. He allowed two goals, but managed 29 saves against Alexander Ovechkin and Co. Surely Quick's confidence must be at an all-time high after that showing.

Prediction

Looking at these teams side by side, it becomes rather apparent that the United States is deeper all the way around. Ten different players have combined for the team's 15 goals through three games. Team USA doesn't have just one dominant line; they are formidable all the way around.

The Czechs haven't showed enough offensive ability to overtake a team with as much speed and power as the United States. After navigating a rough road to get to where they are now, things won't get any easier for the Czech Republic, as its run will come to an end on Wednesday.

United States 4, Czech Republic 1

After going undefeated in the preliminary round of the Olympic men's hockey tournament, the United States will hit the ice in its first playoff game Wednesday as favorites against the Czech Republic.

The Americans finished atop Group A with a record of three wins and no losses, getting past Slovenia and Slovakia in regulation time and topping the Russians 3-2 in a shootout. That gave the United States the second overall seed in the playoff portion of the tournament and set them up on a date with the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals.

As of late Tuesday, Olympic hockey betting lines monitored by Odds Shark had Team USA as having 4-11 odds to win, with the underdog Czechs sitting at 12-5 odds for the upset.

The Czech team won just one of its three games in Group C action in the preliminary round, getting past Latvia while falling to both Sweden and Switzerland. However, the Czechs won their qualification round matchup with rival Slovakia on Tuesday by a 5-3 score to advance to face the United States at noon ET in Sochi on Wednesday.

American winger Phil Kessel leads the Olympic tournament in scoring so far with four goals and three assists in three games, with linemates James van Riemsdyk and Joe Pavelski picking up four points apiece so far at the event. Netminder Jonathan Quick, who has a 1.44 GAA and a .944 save percentage in two games, gets the start on Wednesday for the United States, likely against Ondrej Pavelec of the Czech Republic.

Pavelec got the win against Slovakia in the first Olympic playoff round, allowing three goals on 32 shots in the contest.

Should the United States pay off as the favorite in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, it should set up a semifinal matchup with rival Canada on Friday, as the Canadians are huge chalk in their Wednesday quarterfinal game against Latvia.

The Latvians upset favored Switzerland by a score of 4-1 in their qualification-round contest on Tuesday.

In the other half of the bracket on Wednesday, it'll be Sweden vs. Slovenia and Finland vs. Russia in quarterfinal action. Sweden, the top seed from the preliminary round, opened as a big favorite over Slovenia with 1-25 odds, while Russia opened as just a slight favorite over Finland with 5-11 odds.

Russia blanked Norway 4-0 in the qualification round on Tuesday.

The gold-medal game for the 2014 men's tournament will be played in Sochi on Sunday.

Team Russia dismantled Team Norway 4-0 Tuesday afternoon to advance to the quarterfinals vs. Finland, but the host nation’s biggest star, Alex Ovechkin, has been continuing to struggle in Sochi.

The Capitals’ goal scorer has been under a lot of pressure lately with his recent slump. With Team Finland up next for the Russians, Ovechkin is going to have to show up sooner rather than later. Here are five takeaways from Ovi’s performance against Norway:

 1. His goal-scoring drought has now reached three games.

His only goal of the Olympics was back in the prelims against Slovenia, along with only one assist and a +2 plus/minus. This kind of performance is not expected of someone who is considered the world’s top goal scorer.

In an interview with the New York Daily News' Filip Bondy, Ovechkin stated that his own stats do not compare to the end goal for Russia.

"It's not about personal statistics," Ovechkin said. "We're here to win gold medal."

Some players have different roles than others. Russians like Slava Voynov are expected to get into the dirty areas of the ice, while players like Ovechkin are out there to put up as many points as possible. So far, he has not been doing his job.

Ovechkin must prove to his teammates, his coach and himself why he was chosen to Team Russia for his skills, not just his name.

2. Finland is not Norway.

Norway only had one NHL skater on its roster (Mats Zuccarello), and he did not even play in the matchup vs. the Russians. Ovechkin could not muster up a single point against a group of non-NHLers, which should worry Russian fans. The team's next opponent, Finland, has a wide variety of NHL talent that has a quality chance to pull out an upset.

Ovechkin will compete with the likes of veterans Teemu Selanne and Sami Salo, along with having to face one of the world’s top goaltender, Tuukka Rask, in net. Ovi has to realize that even if it does get past Finland, the competition for Russia will only get faster and tougher, so he has to prove himself in what is going to be a pivotal matchup.

In a one-on-one interview with RMNB's Ian Oland, Ovechkin explains that Team Russia's matchup with Finland is going to be a battle.

"It's going to be a fight to the death," Ovechkin said. "Tomorrow is war, and we are ready for war."

3. He must use his teammates to his advantage.

This may seem obvious (since hockey is a team game), but Ovechkin cannot listen to his critics who expect multi-goal games from him.

Ovechkin has only one assist in Sochi so far, and that says a lot when it comes to how he is playing. He may be trying to do everything himself, but he can’t. He is playing with some of the top talent in the world, and he must find them on the ice if he is looking to improve his game.

Individual performances can only get teams so far. No. 8 will have to build better chemistry with his linemates if he hopes to emerge as a leader for Team Russia.

4. His legacy may be on the line.

Before the Sochi games began, people wondered whether it was gold medal or bust for Team Russia. Others speculated whether gold would help contribute to Ovechkin’s legacy.

The winger is already a three-time Hart Memorial Trophy winner, a Calder Memorial Trophy winner and an Art Ross Trophy winner, but the 28-year-old has not won a Stanley Cup or an Olympic medal.

To win a gold medal, it will not just be up to Ovechkin but the entire Russian squad. The thing is, to build your legacy, you’re going to have to contribute something to your team, and Ovi has not been offering up a whole lot for the Russians.

Sure, he is still in his prime—but the clock is ticking.

5. He is going to have to live up to the expectations bestowed upon him.

Ovechkin was expected to carry Russia to the gold because he is one of, if not the top active Russian hockey player. It is a lot of pressure. There is no doubt about that. However, he knew that coming into Sochi.

Though he has not lived up to the expectations so far, he can still salvage the respect of his fellow Russians with a big performance against Finland on Wednesday. If he can do that, he will gain an air of confidence that can propel him and his team to their first gold medal since 1988.

Heading into the final days in Sochi, the men's 2014 Olympic hockey tournament is heating up with the quarterfinals set to begin with all four games scheduled for Wednesday.

Eight teams remain in contention for the gold, which you can see in this gorgeous bracket, courtesy of FanSided:

The only real surprise from the qualifying round was Latvia's win over Switzerland. All the other top eight seeds are represented in the quarterfinals. 

It's win-or-go-home time for these remaining squads from here on out, and every game will be ferociously contested.

Here's a look at the television schedule for all four games on Wednesday, courtesy of NBCOlympics.com:

Sweden was the only team to finish qualifiers with a clean sweep, and it should have little trouble taking down Slovenia to start the busy day.

Nick Goss of NESN elaborates:

The Swedes will easily advance to the semifinals because they have too much offensive firepower for a Slovenia team that’s scored just six goals in three games, and their blue line has the speed required to shut down skilled Austrian forwards Michael Grabner (who has an Olympics-leading five goals) and Thomas Vanek.

Conversely, Finland could give Russia a run for its money in the second game of the day. 

The Russians weren't particularly sharp during qualifiers, and Finland was an overtime loss to Canada away from claiming one of the top couple of seeds heading into the playoffs. 

However, the host nation will have the energy of the home crowd behind it, and the team's offense is capable of putting up goals in bunches.

"Everybody knows we have such a good, talented team on offense. We just try to keep our energy and keep our emotion. It's working, and (on Wednesday) we're going to have emotions and strength for the quarterfinals," Ovechkin told The Associated Press (via ESPN) after Tuesday's win over Norway.

No. 3 seed Canada may have gotten a lucky break when Latvia (No.11) beat the difficult Swiss team in the final qualifier.

The Canadian team is absolutely loaded with such stars as Sidney Crosby, John Tavares, Ryan Getzlaf and Patrice Bergeron up front and superstar defender Drew Doughty—among others. 

The only current NHL player on Latvia's team is Zemgus Girgensons of the Buffalo Sabres, but the team is guided by star coach Ted Nolan. 

It will be truly shocking if Canada fails to advance to the semifinals over Latvia, as Adam Proteau of The Hockey News amusingly illustrates on Twitter:

While Canada is fighting a scrappy Latvian squad, the Americans will take on the Czech Republic.

Team USA is favored by many analysts to win gold, so it would be a stunner if the Czechs took down the mighty Americans. 

Jonathan Quick has been strong thus far for the U.S. team, while, over on the other side, Ondrej Pavelec is expected to go for the second game in a row, which could spell doom for the Czech Republic, as pointed out by James Mirtle of The Globe and Mail:

With a track record like that, you can bet the Americans will not be shy about letting pucks fly at Pavelec on Wednesday. 

Team USA shouldn't have any trouble dispatching this round's opponent, setting up a likely semifinals matchup against Canada, which would be one of the most highly anticipated events of the 2014 Winter Games. 

Follow me on Twitter @JesseReed78 

No team in this year’s Olympic tournament has looked as good as the United States.

The Americans started off with one of the toughest schedules of the group round and thrived. Slovakia, which is traditionally counted as one of international hockey’s eight strong countries, should have been a challenge for the United States but was humiliated in a 7-1 loss. Next up was a tough Russian squad playing on home soil; it took Team USA to the limit, but the Americans ultimately prevailed. Finally, the group round finished with an obligatory win over Slovenia.

That the United States was able to prevail in a tough situation is to the team’s credit. The U.S. (and for that matter, the now-defeated Russians), just came out of a schedule that might be likened to a difficult river passage, while top opponents Canada and Sweden saw only moderate challenges.

Unfortunately for U.S. medal hopes, that treacherous schedule does not end with the completion of the group round. The Canadian and Swedish routes to gold are going to be difficult, involving two games against top teams. But the American voyage is going to be extremely hard to make and likely means Team USA isn’t the gold-medal favorite at this point despite its success.

It starts in the quarterfinals. Thanks to the vagaries of international competition, only six of international hockey’s so-called “Big Eight” teams will or have competed in this round of games. Canada was lucky enough to draw the upstarts from Latvia and barring something wholly shocking happening, they are guaranteed a spot in the semifinals. Sweden took on a similar challenge in the form of Slovenia and dispatched them easily by a 5-0 score to advance.      

The United States has no such luck. Instead, it faces a Czech team capable of beating it. The two teams haven’t played each other in the Olympics since 1998, when the Czechs knocked off the United States in the quarterfinals en route to a gold-medal win.

This year’s Czech Republic team isn’t the equal of that 1998 squad. It is most evident in net, where the team doesn’t have a generational goalie like Dominik Hasek. Instead, they have to choose between one of the NHL’s weakest starters (Ondrej Pavelec) and a pair of KHL goalies (Alexander Salak and Jakub Kovar).

Making that choice even more difficult is that Pavelec played Tuesday (Feb. 18) and has an ugly history in back-to-back games at the NHL level:

There’s a good argument, too, that the Czechs aren’t making the best use of the players at their disposal. It started with the naming of the team, a team that now includes 42-year-old Petr Nedved and excludes two of the NHL’s top five Czech scorers (Jiri Hudler and Radim Vrbata). Nedved, incidentally, has been getting more ice time than NHL players like Martin Hanzal, Michael Frolik and Ondrej Palat. And let's not forget the fact that Tomas Kaberle, who washed out of the NHL a year ago, is second on the blue line in time on the ice.

But for all the controversy surrounding the team, the Czechs are still a medal threat in every tournament, boasting significant talent up front and on defense. There are signs, too, that Czech head coach Alois Hadamczik is settling into a more sensible game plan with his roster.

In the Czech Republic’s first elimination game, against Slovakia, the team almost exclusively used NHLers in its top-nine forward group, with the lone exception being Roman Cervenka, who scored twice and has 12 shots in the tournament. Michal Barinka, the controversial roster inclusion who the IIHF reveals is also the coach’s son-in-law, was scratched for the game.

The United States is certainly favored to beat the Czechs, but as every hockey fan knows, anything can happen in a single game, and the gap between the two teams is narrow enough that it wouldn’t be that far-fetched to see the Czech Republic knock Team USA out of the tournament. As Czech forward Ales Hemsky said, via Larry Lage of The Boston Globe, "It will be a tough game, but at this point in the tournament there’s no easy games. So anyone can win against anybody."

So, while Sweden beat a far inferior team and Canada plays a similar one, the Americans will be white-knuckling their way through a game against a legitimate medal contender. The potential ramifications are made obvious by the fate of the Russian Federation, which was felled by an under-powered Finnish team competing through injury.

It only gets harder after the Czechs. If the Americans prevail, they’ll likely face Canada, the team they lost the gold medal to in 2010. Only if they manage to beat Canada will they meet the winner of the other side of the bracket (Sweden or Finland) in a gold-medal tilt.

It will be a tough trek, and the riskiest portion of the journey starts Wednesday against the Czech Republic.

Statistics courtesy of IIHF.com and current through Feb. 18 unless otherwise noted. For more pieces by Jonathan Willis, follow him on Twitter.