MILAN – The quarterfinals for the 2026 Winter Olympics men’s hockey tournament are set, and the last one of the day projects to be especially intriguing.
We’re into the final days of the tournament, with eight teams left standing. Four of them are playing for the second time in two days when the quarterfinals are staged on Feb. 18 at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.
The top four seeds are Canada, USA, Slovakia and Finland. Those teams earned byes into the quarterfinals.
The rest of the seeds are Switzerland (5), Germany (6), Sweden (7) and Czechia (8).
Here’s a breakdown on the men’s hockey quarterfinals for Wednesday, Feb. 18:
Canada vs Czechia
Time: 10: 40 a.m. ET
Canada was plus 17 in goal differential after the preliminary round. The Canadians are in a groove, led in scoring by Connor McDavid’s nine points in three games, and in leadership by captain Sidney Crosby.
‘We understand the circumstances, and what we need to do, and obviously what got us to this point, as far as our identity and things like that,’ Crosby said. ‘We’ve got to keep getting better. Stakes are a little higher now.’
Czechia emerged from a tightly played qualification game against Denmark to land in the quarterfinals opposite Canada, a team that won 5-0 in their early meeting.
‘Maybe let’s put the respect aside a little bit and try to take their game to them,’ David Pastrnak said. ‘Offensively, their power is incredible. Just have to be a little stronger on pucks, play more in the O-zone and be more confident. We have nothing to lose. So we’re going to go out there and leave it all out there. As a team we haven’t played our best yet, so hopefully we will save it for tomorrow.’
Prediction: Canada.
USA vs Sweden
Time: 3:10 p.m. ET
The Americans have the best overall depth at the tournament, and their goaltending should outshine Sweden’s. Sweden has yet to look in sync at the tournament, with slow starts, and indifferent performances against host Italy and, more remarkably, against Nordic rival Finland. Even in the qualification game against Latvia, they were outplayed in the second period, then shut things down in the third.
‘We’ve taken a step,’ Sweden coach Sam Hallam said. ‘I think this game gives us even some more learning about each other and some more chemistry. Maybe tomorrow is the first time we go in a bit as an underdog in a game. Our goal when we come into this Olympics is to go all the way, and we were prepared to play some really good teams on the way, so it’s interesting to play the U.S. in the quarterfinals.’
Prediction: USA
Slovakia vs Germany
Time: 6:10 a.m. ET
The Germans haven’t looked in peak form, but they did some things against France in the qualification game that seemed to boost their self-appraisal.
‘Solid, solid effort over 60 minutes,’ Moritz Seider said. ‘I thought we played really well. Another great start. Honestly, it kind of becomes a strength of ours along the tournament. If you look over 60 minutes, yeah, there were some dips, but I think very, very solid effort and a really good result. I think sometimes we got to be a little faster and we did that in the third. We moved the puck up a little bit more, weren’t afraid of running the puck and getting it back on the forecheck. Those are little things we got to continue.’
The Slovaks, with headliner Juraj Slafkovsky, will present a challenge, but Germany has Seider, Leon Draisaitl and Tim Stützle.
‘Couldn’t ask for a better opponent,’ Seider said. ‘I think we’re both expecting a great game and hopefully we can provide that. It’s right there for the taking for both teams. One team will end up short and hopefully it’s not us.’
Prediction: Germany
Finland vs Switzerland
Time: 12:10 p.m. ET
The Finns lost to Slovakia in the opener, then put on a dominating performance against Sweden and routed Italy in the last game of round robin play. Switzerland beat France, lost to Canada and took down Czechia in overtime in preliminary play, beating Italy in qualification play.
There’s solid-to-star power talent on both teams, but the Finns have the better goaltending.
Prediction: Finland
Where to watch Olympic men’s hockey
Watch Olympic hockey on Peacock
How the Olympics men’s hockey tournament works
The 12 teams are divided into three groups. They are:
Group A: Canada, Switzerland, Czechia, France
Group B: Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, Italy
Group C: USA, Germany, Latvia, Denmark
Teams play one game each against the other three teams in their group. Countries get three points for a regulation win, two for an overtime win, one for an overtime/shootout loss and zero for a regulation loss.
After the preliminary round is complete, teams are seeded 1 through 12 under the following criteria:
Higher position in the group
Higher number of points
Better goal difference
Higher number of goals scored for
Better IIHF world ranking
The top four teams (group winners and best second-place team) get a bye to the quarterfinals. Teams 5-12 play in a qualification round, with the winners going to the quarterfinals.
Playoff qualification games are on Feb. 17, quarterfinals are Feb. 18 and semifinals are Feb. 20.
The bronze medal game is Feb. 21 and the gold medal game is Sunday, Feb. 22.