The Men’s Ice Hockey Olympics in Milan-Cortina finally get underway today. After a 12-year wait, the world’s greatest best-on-best ice hockey tournament finally gets underway.
Of course, the women have been killing it already. Just yesterday, the US Women’s Team trounced Canada (missing Marie-Phillip Poulin) 5-0, a resounding victory.
Today’s just day one, and there will be two games for us to all enjoy. First, with puck drop coming at 10:40 on the East Coast, Finland takes on Slovakia to begin the tournament.
The Boston Bruins have some players in both games today.
Henri Jokiharju will make his Olympic debut, with Jokiharju expecting to skate on Finland’s second pair. Joonas Korpisalo will be the Finn’s third-string netminder.
They’ll take on Slovakia, led by Montreal’s Juraj Slafkovsky and current NHL free agent Tomas Tatar offensively. Slovakia’s defense is what will carry them, as they boast an impressive blue line.
That blue line features Martin Fehervary, Simon Nemec, and Erik Cernak, three key NHL players. They’ve also got ex-NHLer Martin Marincin on the backend.
Later this afternoon, Elias Lindholm and Team Sweden get set to take on the host’s, Team Italy.
Sweden’s a very heavy favorite. Hampus Lindholm, who made the team as an injury replacement, begins the tournament as a healthy scratch.
Elias Lindholm begins centering Sweden’s second line, with Jesper Bratt to his left and Lucas Raymond on his right.
Elias Lindholm likely will play a big role on Sweden’s penalty kill, but did not skate on their power plays.
Sweden will either have William Nylander play, but if he’s hurt, Filip Forsberg could end up being the Swede’s healthy scratch, a shocking decision.
Sweden’s lines have been in flux throughout the tournament’s run-up, so things could still change between now and the game’s scheduled 3:10 pm puck drop.
All games can be viewed on Peacock.
