The United States men’s hockey team moved to 2-0 at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics on Saturday, Feb 14, after overcoming an early 2-1 deficit to defeat Denmark 6-3.
Team USA is still aiming for a first-round bye in the playoff stage of the tournament, though, and a win over Germany on Feb. 15 would secure a Group C win for the Americans. Group B has already completed its games, with Slovakia, Finland and Sweden tied with six points each.
There are 12 countries competing for gold, all of which advance to the knockout stage. That means a first-round bye is a massive advantage.
The United States is one of the favorites to medal, along with gold medal favorite Canada, which is loaded with some of the top NHL talent.
Here’s a look at the remaining preliminary round schedule for each team ahead of the playoff stage, along with a full explanation of the format:
All times Eastern.
Here’s a look at the remaining group stage schedule for men’s ice hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics:
Sunday, Feb. 15
Here’s a look at the updated preliminary stage standings, before the bracket becomes official on Feb. 15 after the United States plays the final game of the round:
Group A
Group B
Group C
Teams are seeded 1-12 after the preliminary round, with the top four seeds earning first-round byes in the single-elimination tournament. The following criteria decides how teams are seeded:
Slovakia, Sweden and Finland are tied with six points each in Group B, which makes the seeding process a bit complicated. Here’s how the International Ice Hockey Federation explains a three-way tie.
Czechia-Switzerland and Latvia-Denmark will air live on CNBC, and France-Canada and United States-Germany will air on USA Network. All games can also be streamed with NBCOlympics.com or Peacock, NBC’s exclusive streaming platform.
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