Oskars Bartulis and his Latvian teammates came within a shootout of the Czech Republic and the only upset of the Qualification rounds.
And then there were eight:
The United States (1), Sweden (2), Russia (3), Finland (4), the Czech Republic (5), Canada (6), Slovakia (7), and Switzerland (8).
There were no upsets in the qualification round even though both Latvia, with Flyers’ rookie defenseman Oskars Bartulis logging big minutes, and Norway came close to upsetting the Czech Republic and Slovakia respectively.
Now the real tournament begins, and there’s so much to take in.
For starters, one of Russia or Canada will not come away with a medal. Thanks to the United States, these two heavily favored superpowers of the hockey world will meet in the quarterfinals to determine who has the right to compete for a medal. Russia vs. Canada. Screw all of the Crosby hype, but this is truly a battle of the elites. There’s no question about bad blood and rivalries with this one. Based on Canadian fans shouts at the end of today’s dominant performance against Germany, Mike Richards, Chris Pronger, and the best of the best from the North American club of the NHL are ready to take on the big, bad Russians, who have their own arsenal of Ovechkin, Malkin, Kovalchuk, Semin, etc.
If you care about hockey, you watch that game.
Of course there’s USA vs. Switzerland. You don’t want to go in overly confident based on what Switzerland can pull off with that trap. USA has to hit them hard and early right where it hurts: along the end wall and on the scoreboard.
The Czechs against Finland isn’t a toss away game either. Neither is Slovakia vs. Sweden. All incredible matches to earn the right to play for a medal.
The real tournament begins tomorrow. Who of the elite eight will be able to drape gold around their neck and wave their flag proudly as the best in the world for the next four years?
Tune in. It’s bound to be “tremendously tremendous.”
Defenseman Brian Rafalski, one of the leading scorers for the Olympics so far, will bring Team USA against Switzerland at 3:00 PM EST on NBC with the hopes of advancing to the medal rounds.
