The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China are fast approaching, with the first games of the men’s hockey tournament getting underway in two weeks. Today, I’m going to share my predictions for the tournament including game-by-game predictions, standings, media all-star team, awards, etc.
Before I get into the predictions, let’s take a look at the groups, and a little bit of information regarding this year’s tournament.
- Group A: Canada, China, Germany, United States.
- Group B: Czechia, Denmark, Russian Olympic Committee, Switzerland.
- Group C: Finland, Latvia, Slovakia, Sweden.
Beijing is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Time (which is my time zone), so all of my dates/game times will be based on ET.
As for how the tournament works, the winners of each group, along with the best second place team will advance directly to the quarter-finals after the preliminary round, while the other eight teams will advance to the playoff round. Following the preliminary round, each team is ranked 1D to 12D based on how they finish. 1D to 4D will advance to the quarters as mentioned, and 5D/12D, 6D/11D, 7D/10D, 8D/9D will be the matchups for the playoff round.
In the preliminary round, a regulation win is worth 3 points, an overtime/shootout win is 2 points, an overtime/shootout loss is 1 points, while a regulation loss is 0 points.
With all that being said, let’s dive into my predictions!
Group A
- Feb 10th @ 8:10am ET – China (0) vs United States (12)
- Feb 10th @ 8:10am ET – Germany (2) vs Canada (5)
- Feb 11th @ 11:10pm ET – United States (3) vs Canada (4) OT
- Feb 12th @ 3:40am ET – China (0) vs Germany (9)
- Feb 13th @ 8:10am ET – Canada (16) vs China (0)
- Feb 13th @ 8:10am ET – Germany (4) vs United States (2)
Group B
- Feb 9th @ 3:40am ET – Switzerland (2) vs Russian Olympic Committee (6)
- Feb 9th @ 8:10am ET – Denmark (1) vs Czechia (2) OT
- Feb 10th @ 11:10pm ET – Russian Olympic Committee (7) vs Denmark (2)
- Feb 11th @ 3:40am ET – Switzerland (4) vs Czechia (1)
- Feb 12th @ 8:10am ET – Czechia (3) vs Russian Olympic Committee (5)
- Feb 12th @ 8:10am ET – Denmark (1) vs Switzerland (3)
Group C
- Feb 9th @ 11:10pm ET – Latvia (2) vs Sweden (6)
- Feb 10th @ 3:40am ET – Slovakia (4) vs Finland (3) SO
- Feb 11th @ 3:40am ET – Slovakia (2) vs Sweden (5)
- Feb 11th @ 8:10am ET – Finland (6) vs Latvia (1)
- Feb 12th @ 11:10pm ET – Latvia (1) vs Slovakia (4)
- Feb 13th @ 3:40am ET – Sweden (3) vs Finland (2) OT
Standings
Group A
| Group place | Overall place | Nation | GP | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS | GF | GA | +/- |
| 1st | 2D | Canada | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 25 | 5 | +20 |
| 2nd | 4D | Germany | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 15 | 7 | +8 |
| 3rd | 8D | United States | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 17 | 8 | +9 |
| 4th | 12D | China | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 37 | -37 |
Group B
| Group place | Overall place | Nation | GP | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS | GF | GA | +/- |
| 1st | 1D | Russian Olympic Committee | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 18 | 7 | +11 |
| 2nd | 5D | Switzerland | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 8 | +1 |
| 3rd | 9D | Czechia | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 10 | -4 |
| 4th | 10D | Denmark | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 12 | -8 |
Group C
| Group place | Overall place | Nation | GP | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS | GF | GA | +/- |
| 1st | 3D | Sweden | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 14 | 6 | +8 |
| 2nd | 6D | Slovakia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 9 | +1 |
| 3rd | 7D | Finland | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 8 | +3 |
| 4th | 11D | Latvia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 16 | -12 |
Playoff Round
- (5D) Switzerland (7) vs (12D) China (0)
- (6D) Slovakia (5) vs (11D) Latvia (2)
- (7D) Finland (4) vs (10D) Denmark (1)
- (8D) United States (3) vs (9D) Czechia (2) OT
Quarterfinals
- (1D) Russian Olympic Committee (5) vs (8D) United States (2)
- (2D) Canada (4) vs (7D) Finland (1)
- (3D) Sweden (3) vs (6D) Slovakia (2) OT
- (4D) Germany (4) vs (5D) Switzerland (0)
Semifinals
- (1D) Russian Olympic Committee (4) vs (4D) Germany (3) OT
- (2D) Canada (3) vs (3D) Sweden (1)
Bronze Medal Game
- (3D) Sweden (2) vs (4D) Germany (1) OT
Gold Medal Game
- (1D) Russian Olympic Committee (2) vs (2D) Canada (4)
Media All-Star Team
- Forwards: Nikita Gusev (Russian Olympic Committee), Eric Staal (Canada), Dominik Kahun (Germany)
- Defence: Owen Power (Canada), Sami Vatanen (Finland)
- Goalie: Lars Johansson (Sweden)
Tournament Directorate Awards
- Best Forward: Dominik Kahun (Germany)
- Best Defenceman: Sami Vatanen (Finland)
- Best Goalie: Devon Levi (Canada)
- MVP: Eric Staal (Canada)
Thanks to everyone who has been reading, I appreciate it! I hope everyone enjoys the 2022 Winter Olympics!
-Cooper.