The preliminaries have wrapped up and the men’s hockey teams now prepare for elimination play at the Winter Olympic Games Milano Cortina 2026.<\/p>\n
While there’s still work to be done to earn medals, Team Canada and Team Slovakia are in good position after winning their groups in the round robin, with key contributions coming from a number of St. Louis Blues.<\/p>\n
Goaltender Jordan Binnington and defenseman Colton Parayko have made an impact for Canada (3-0-0-0), winners of Group A and the top overall seed going into the next stage.<\/p>\n
Binnington started two of three games, including a shutout in the opener vs. Czechia<\/a>. He’s stopped 38 of 40 shots overall for a 1.00 goals-against average and .950 save percentage. Parayko has been a steadfast presence for the squad, playing all three games on the second defensive pairing.<\/p>\n Forward Dalibor Dvorsky has two goals and four points in three games for Slovakia (2-0-1-0), who won a stacked Group B over Finland and Sweden. The 20-year-old rookie made some history in his team’s opening win<\/a> and hasn’t slowed down since.<\/p>\n Canada and Slovakia are joined by the United States (3-0-0-0) and Finland (2-0-1-0) as the top four seeds after preliminaries, earning a bye in the next round and advancing directly to the Quarterfinals on Feb. 18.<\/p>\n The remaining eight teams will face off in the Qualification Playoff games on Feb. 17. Pius Suter’s Team Switzerland (1-1-1-0) will take on Team Italy (0-0-3-0) at 5:10 a.m. CT and Philip Broberg’s Team Sweden (2-0-1-0) will play Team Latvia (1-0-2-0) at 2:10 p.m. CT.<\/p>\n