{"id":483080,"date":"2026-02-10T09:03:55","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T14:03:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=483080"},"modified":"2026-02-10T09:05:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T14:05:01","slug":"2026-milano-cortina-winter-olympics-full-mens-ice-hockey-tournament-predictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/02\/10\/2026-milano-cortina-winter-olympics-full-mens-ice-hockey-tournament-predictions\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics Full Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament Predictions"},"content":{"rendered":"

The time has come, the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic hockey tournament begins on February 11th with NHL players in tow. For this special edition on Last Word On Hockey<\/em>, we will be doing full Olympic tournament predictions. Also, check out our coverage all tournament long, as we bring you predictions and news for all the games and happenings. For this article, it will consist of group standings, as well as the format for the knock-out stage.<\/p>\n

NHL and Olympic Predictions for the Tournament Results<\/h2>\n

The anticipation has been building week after week for the return of best-on-best for the first time in 12 years. The last time NHL players were permitted to play in the event was during the 2014 Sochi Olympiad, in which Canada were crowned champions. Canada will have a couple of returnees from the 2014 roster (and 2010, too) in Sidney Crosby and Drew Doughty.<\/p>\n

The 2026 Olympic Tournament Format<\/h3>\n

The Olympic format is slightly different than other IIHF tournament knock-out stages. The most important one being that all 12 teams will continue on to the knock-out stage, they will all be ranked 1-12 based on group standings, points, then goal differential. The top four nations based on those rankings will automatically move on the the quarter-finals. The remainder will play a single qualification game with the highest seed playing the lowest. The teams will then be reseeded again for the quarter and semi-finals where the highest seed will always face the lowest until the medal games.<\/p>\n

Olympic Group Standings Predictions<\/h3>\n

Each team will play three group games, one against every team in the group. Because of the implications of points and goal differential, those will be included.<\/p>\n

Group A<\/strong><\/p>\n

Team – Points – (Goal Differential)<\/p>\n

Canada<\/a> – 9 – (15)
\nCzechia<\/a> – 6 – (6)
\nSwitzerland<\/a> – 3 – (-2)
\nFrance<\/a> – 0 – (-19)<\/p>\n

Group B<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sweden<\/a> – 8 – (10)
\nFinland<\/a> – 7 – (7)
\nSlovakia<\/a> – 3 – (-5)
\nItaly<\/a> – 0 – (-12)<\/p>\n

Group C<\/strong><\/p>\n

USA<\/a> – 9 – (14)
\nGermany<\/a> – 6 – (0)
\nDenmark<\/a> – 2 – (-4)
\nLatvia<\/a> – 1 – (-10)<\/p>\n

With these standings, the top four heading straight to the quarter-final round would be Canada, USA, Sweden, and Finland. The qualification round would feature the following matchups.<\/p>\n

Qualification Playoff<\/h3>\n

Seeding in brackets<\/p>\n

(8) Slovakia vs (9) Denmark
\n(7) Switzerland vs (10) Latvia
\n(6) Germany vs (11) Italy
\n(5) Czechia vs (12) France<\/p>\n

It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to see Czechia and Germany having their way with France and Italy, respectively. Seeing as their path on paper is much easier than the other two matchups, don’t be surprised to both advance to the quarters. On the other hand, the other two matchups are much closer.<\/p>\n

For the Slovakia – Denmark matchup, it could come down to physicality in the neutral zone. Martin Pospisil of the Calgary Flames offers other intangibles than just his skill. Pospisil recently returned to the NHL after suffering his fifth concussion in the preseason and missed the first 45 games of the season. We think Slovakia moves on.<\/p>\n

Latvia has a proud hockey history, despite not being considered to be an elite hockey nation. They do manage to battle in both the World Juniors and the World Championships. Their matchup against the Swiss, if it comes to be, would be expected to be very close, if not an upset in the making. However, the skill that the Swiss are bringing to the tournament will end up showing itself, and the Swiss will move on.<\/p>\n

Quarterfinal Matchups<\/h3>\n

(1) Canada vs (8) Slovakia
\n(2) USA vs (7) Switzerland
\n(3) Sweden vs (6) Germany
\n(4) Finland vs (5) Czechia<\/p>\n

While it may seem like the top seeds move on, it comes from roster design as well as the ice surface being three feet shorter in the neutral zone than another hockey arena. With that being said, Canada and the USA move on because of those two factors. Both teams have the ability to shut down the neutral zone and create turnovers and scoring opportunities. Taking all of that into account, Sweden moves on as does Czechia.<\/p>\n

Semi-Finals<\/h3>\n

(1) Canada vs (5) Czechia
\n(2) USA vs (3) Sweden<\/p>\n

Into medal contention now with the semi-final and a World Juniors rivalry game taking shape at the Olympics with Canada and Czechia. While Czechia has skill and goaltending, Canada still over powers and move into the Gold Medal Game.<\/p>\n

On the other side, it’s the toughest test the Americans have had so far in the entire tournament. There’s a significant chance for an upset for this matchup if it does come to pass, and Sweden does upset the US and heads to the Gold Medal Game against Canada.<\/p>\n

Bronze Medal<\/h3>\n

USA vs Czechia<\/p>\n

Undoubtably a disappointment for the Americans who were expecting to play for Gold. Consolation prize is the Bronze, which the Americans do end up getting in the end after defeating Czechia.<\/p>\n

Olympic Gold Medal Game<\/h3>\n

Canada vs Sweden<\/p>\n

Canada continues locking down the neutral zone and forecheck aggressively not allowing Sweden to get going. Expect this Gold Medal game to be low scoring with defensive play by Canada and the Swedish goaltending being excellent. Canada wins the Gold Medal.<\/p>\n

Final Standings<\/h2>\n

Gold –\u00a0<\/strong>Canada
\nSilver –\u00a0<\/strong>Sweden
\nBronze –\u00a0<\/strong>USA<\/p>\n

Main Photo: Marton Monus\/Reuters via Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The time has come, the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic hockey tournament begins on February 11th with NHL players in tow. For this special edition on Last Word On Hockey, we will be doing full Olympic tournament predictions. Also, check out our coverage all tournament long, as we bring you predictions and news for all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5657,"featured_media":483464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2963,4547,304,4548,4524],"tags":[8208,591,1102,617],"class_list":["post-483080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-olympics","category-hockey","category-international-hockey","category-nhl","category-nhl-predictions","tag-2026-winter-olympics","tag-team-canada","tag-team-sweden","tag-team-usa"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5657"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483080"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":483468,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483080\/revisions\/483468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}