Things to know about the Olympic men's hockey tournament
February 13, 2018 at 6:04AM
Group A: Canada, Czech Republic, South Korea, Switzerland
Group B: Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, United States
Group C: Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden
After the round-robin phase, the teams with the top four records will get byes to the quarterfinals and teams 5 through 12 face one another. The winners will advance to the quarterfinals in a bracket format.
Others things to know
• The Russians are generally thought to be the team to beat. Their squad includes former NHL stars Pavel Datsyuk and Ilya Kovalchuk.
• Canada is the defending gold medalist. Twenty-one of its players have appeared in at least one NHL game and one (Chris Kelly) has a Stanley Cup championship.
• The U.S. has 10 players — including all three goalies — who haven't played in the NHL. Its most experienced player is 39-year-old semi-retired captain Brian Gionta. The likely No. 1 goalie is Ryan Zapolski, a 31-year-old from Erie, Pa., and Mercyhurst College (now University). Zapolski has a 1.73 goals-against average and .932 save percentage in the KHL this season for the Finnish team Jokerit.
• One of the most dynamic and offensively talented players in the tournament is also the youngest: 17-year-old Sweden defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, who is projected to be the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft in June.
• Two of the Wild's 2015 draft picks are competing in the Games: Jordan Greenway for the U.S. and Kirill Kaprizov for OAR. Greenway is the United States' first black Olympic hockey player.
• Former Wild forward Richard Park is the assistant coach and assistant director of hockey for South Korea.
• Sweden forward Joel Lundqvist is the identical twin brother of New York Rangers goaltender Henrik.
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Minnetonka hoped to tie the game with 12 seconds left, but a deep pass was intercepted by Maple Grove's Dylan Vokal, sealing the Crimson's victory.
