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Olympic hockey standings before Super Sunday

By Dominik
<em>Remember <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Spring" target="new">Prague Spring</a> and stuff.</em>
Remember Prague Spring and stuff.

Update Feb. 22: For the final preliminary round standings and knock-out bracket, see this post.

Are you ready for this? Even if NBC isn't sure how to leverage it, credit the Olympic hockey organizers for planning one doozy of a Sunday schedule to finish the men's hockey group stage. It's rivalry day, and the stakes are as glorious as you can get for a tournament that eliminates zero teams during group play. I'll put up a thread for each game, and I'll try to catch as much of this day as Sunday commitments allow.

As was intended from the beginning, the most heralded two teams in each group face off against bitter rivals Sunday, with a bye to the next round at stake. The one team that hasn't (yet) played to script is Slovakia, who by virtue of their shootout win over Russia (woo, Playoff Perimeter Pavol!) still have a chance to take second in the group. But even if Russia loses to the Czechs Sunday, leaving Slovakia in second place in that group, the Slovaks cannot get one of the four byes available. That was always a likely scenario thanks to Russia, Slovakia and the Czechs being placed into the proverbial "group of death."

The following table is where things stand before Sunday's final showdown. (As an aside, not finding the single-list table elsewhere, this is totally something my dad would have done on graph paper, which I find just a bit frightening. In the end, we're all like our parents.)

The Olympic 12 before Super Sunday

GP W L OW OL PT GF GA GD
1. Finland 2 2
 0
 0 0 6
 10
 1
 9
2. USA 2 2
 0
 0
 0
 6
 9
 2
 7
3. Czech Republic
 2 2 0 0
 0
 6
 8
 3 5
4. Sweden 2
 2
 0
 0
 0
 6
 6
 2
 4
5. Canada 2 1
 0
 1
 0
 5
 11
 2
 9
6. Slovakia 3 1
 1
 1
 0
 5
 9
 4
 5
7. Russia 2 1
 0
 0 1 4
 9
 4
 5
8. Switzerland 3 0
 1
 1
 1
 3
 8
 10
 -2
9. Belarus 3 1
 2
 0
 0
 3
 8
 12
 -4
10. Norway 3 0
 2 0
 1
 1
 5
 19
 -14
11. Germany 3 0 3
 0 0
 0 3
 12
 -9
12. Latvia 3 0 3 0
 0 0 4 19 -15

(entering Sunday play, updated with Belarus-Germany result)

Thanks to the three-point games that can deliver a combination of 0, 1, 2 or 3 points to either team, there is a wonderful array of scenarios that can still happen. Including:

  • Canada could grab the first seed, or they could finish as low as sixth and draw the 11 seed in the qualifying round.
  • Russia can't win the table, but they can still earn a bye -- or they can finish as low as seventh and draw a decent qualifying round opponent.
  • How ready am I for Czech Republic-Russia? Very ready. A totally unexpected surge of misplaced ethnic pride -- and it's not even the knock-out stage yet. Pilsner Urquell and Budvar will be flowing. But the Russians may have gotten their wakeup call. Evgeni Nabokov gets the call in net; I forget, how does he do in high-stakes situations?
  • By playing the U.S. and Canada strong and defeating Norway in an OT thriller, Switzerland likely has a qualifying draw they should win.
  • The U.S. could do as well as grab the first seed, or as bad as missing out on a bye by landing in fifth or sixth place. They can still have a bye if they lose, but they'd need the Finns and Czechs to win outright.
  • Latvia is toast, period. What an awful tournament for them, and (unless Belarus or Germany beats the other by 8 or so goals) they'll draw the toughest qualifying round opponent.

Super Sunday Schedule

  • Russia-Czech Republic: 3 p.m. EST | NBC/TSN/V
  • USA-Canada: 7:40 EST | MSNBC/CTV/Omni 1/2
  • Finland-Sweden: Midnight, EST | MSNBC/CTV

Again, I'll put up a thread for each game, so if you're watching, by all means chat away. By my count there are at least four nationalist partisan interests represented Sunday by recent commenters at this site, so your patriotic songs are welcome.