The last time Sweden won gold at the Winter Olympics was in 2006. That men's hockey entry, captained by Mats Sundin, rallied from a third-place group stage finish and to eventually secure the gold medal. Since that point, the men's national hockey program won just one silver medal while making it to the bronze medal game once. They also haven't won gold at the IIHF World Championship since 2018.
Canada (no. 1 seed), USA (no. 2), Slovakia (no. 3), and Finland (no. 4) all earned byes to the quarterfinals, where they'll await the winners of Tuesday's play-in games. Canada and the United States were the only two teams to go undefeated in their three preliminary round games. Canada got the number one seed by winning their three games a combined 20-3, just edging out the USA's combined scores of 17-5.
France's Pierre Crinon, who fought Canada's Tom Wilson at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, was suspended Monday by the French ice hockey federation. Crinon will not play in the qualification round Tuesday against Germany after the federation said the defenseman's actions following the fight were against its values. He also would not play if France unexpectedly advances. Crinon and Wilson fought with seven minutes left in Canada's 10-2 rout of France on Sunday.
MILAN -- Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid and Canada are rolling into the knockout round at the Olympics as the best team in the tournament. They may have put the top seed out of the Americans' reach. Crosby and McDavid each had a goal and two assists in a clinical, businesslike 10-2 dismantling of France on Sunday, which included Tom Wilson fighting the player who delivered a forearm to Nathan MacKinnon's face.
GROUP PLAY (Feb 11-15): The 12 countries play a round-robin within their respective groups, with three games per team. Teams earn three points for a regulation win, two points for overtime or shootout wins, one point for overtime or shootout losses, and zero points for regulation losses. GROUP A: Canada, Czechia, France. Switzerland GROUP B: Finland, Italy, Slovakia, Sweden GROUP C: Denmark, Germany, Latvia, United States