The United States of America men’s Olympic hockey team now has a much better idea of who it will play in the quarterfinals.
The U.S. team beat Slovenia on Sunday, and in the process, the Americans won Group A. Because of that, they earned an automatic bid to the quarterfinals.
Canada and Finland went to overtime in the final game of preliminary round play, which locked Team USA into the No. 2 spot in the do-or-die tournament. That means the Americans will take on the winner of an elimination game between No. 7 Czech Republic and No. 10 Slovakia. That game will be played Tuesday.
The Czechs earned three points in preliminary round play, as they went 1-2. The Slovaks, who the Americans beat 7-1 in their first game of the tournament, finished prelim round play with just one point. They lost all three of their games with the lone point coming in a shootout loss to Russia. Slovakia was outscored 11-2 in three games.
The other top seeds that advance to the quarterfinals are No. 1 Sweden, No. 3 Canada and No. 4 Finland.
Photo via Twitter/@NHL
