Men's Olympic Ice Hockey
2026 Olympic
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Team USA has beaten Germany 5-1 to cap a perfect 3-0 record in the preliminary round at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Auston Matthews scored two goals for Team USA, while Zach Werenski, Brock Faber and Tage Thompson each added one. Tim Stutzle scored for Germany.
The U.S. advances to the quarterfinals, where it will face the winner of Sweden and Latvia, while Germany will take on France in the play-off round.
Share your reaction with us by emailing live@theathletic.com.
If the Americans aren’t careful, they’re going to set some kind of record for disallowed goals in a short tournament.
One game after the U.S. had back-to-back Quinn Hughes and Brock Nelson goals overturned via challenges for offside and goalie interference, referee Wes McCauley waved off Jack Eichel’s goal near the end of the first period after he blew the whistle to protect goalie Maximilian Franzreb after he lost his blocker and had his hand exposed.
The fans weren’t happy. Nor was the United States bench. Didn’t matter: After the ensuing offensive-zone faceoff, Werenski snapped a 0-0 tie with 8.7 seconds left in the first period.
At last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off, Winnipeg Jets sniper Kyle Connor started on the first line, was quickly downgraded to the fourth line and ultimately ended up scratched in the final against Canada.
It was a decision largely panned, especially because Chris Kreider only played 6 ½ minutes in that final game and the staff had to know the injured Tkachuk was questionable to get through the game (6:47 of ice time). The Americans went on to lose in overtime.
Well, Connor was given a fresh start and made this Olympic team, starting the tournament on an appealing line with Dylan Larkin and World Championships hero Tage Thompson. Two games into the tournament, however, Connor has no shots on goal and was replaced by Clayton Keller today.
It just wouldn’t be a Team USA first period without an embarrassing gaffe.
A night after Jeremy Swayman let in a goal from Pisa, Auston Matthews and Jack Hughes crashed into each other going after a Quinn Hughes drop pass during a first-period power play. Matthews cut across the ice, but Quinn Hughes left the drop pass for where he had been, not looking over his shoulder until releasing the puck. Jack Hughes started moving toward the pass but got steamrolled by the much bigger Matthews. Hughes got up quickly and got the puck to safety as two Germans rushed in after it.
Connor Hellebuyck, in his second start of the tournament, recorded 23 saves for the victory. He has allowed two goals in two games and has surely earned the right to be the Americans’ No. 1 heading into the medal round.
Coach Mike Sullivan made it clear performance would dictate which of his three solid goalies would earn the right to be the starter in such a short tournament.
Jake Oettinger, the backup for Hellebuyck at the 4 Nations and relegated to No. 3 to start the tournament, backed up Hellebuyck today after being scratched the night before for Jeremy Swayman. But Swayman gave up three goals in the win and one would think Oettinger will now get to caddy for Hellebuyck the rest of the way.
“I think the way we’re going to approach it is, and this is just based on my own experience, that in tournaments like this — where things happen fast, they’re not very long — performance really matters,” Sullivan said earlier in the week. “And so we’re going to try to make decisions with every position that gives us the best chance to win.”
Jake Guentzel also speaking after the game about Matthews: "He’s been great all tournament. You guys put a lot of heat on him for no reason. He’s just an unbelievable player and he plays in all situations."
Matthew Tkachuk speaking after the game about team captain Auston Matthews, who scored two goals tonight: "He was awesome, he’s our captain, we’re following his lead."
In men’s Olympic hockey tournaments with NHL participation, Team USA is 3-2 in quarterfinal games. At the Nagano 1998 Games, Team USA lost 4-1 to the eventual gold medal champion Czech Republic.
At the Turin 2006 Games, the Americans fell to Finland 4-3. Team USA has won their last two quarterfinal games at the Olympics with NHLers.
But there is precedent for an early exit …
Michael Russo and Mark Lazerus bring us instant reaction to today's game, diving into:
Follow the link below to check out their analysis.
GO FURTHER
USA beats Germany to take No. 2 seed but likely draws tough opponent in Olympic quarterfinals
The guys from The Athletic Hockey Show are recapping the preliminary round and looking ahead to the qualifier round, live right now on YouTube. Check out the stream below.
Strong showing from Connor Hellebuyck today.
It’s not always easy to gauge a goalie’s performance when his team has the puck as much as the U.S. did, but he looked ahead of the play and in control the whole way.
Quick reads, efficient movement. In other words, he looked like peak Hellebuyck, which is a great sign for the U.S. entering the knockout rounds.
One of Slovakia, Germany or France is guaranteed to reach the semifinals, and therefore will play for a medal. Few would have predicted that before this tournament began.
I can’t help but think how exciting it will be to see a USA-Sweden quarterfinal game. Sure, it’s a bit early for this matchup to be happening.
But to see the Tkachuk brothers, Auston Matthews and the American squad go up against other NHLers like William Nylander, Elias Pettersson and Victor Hedman will be fascinating.
Sweden definitely has the talent to limit Team USA. The Americans have the depth and physicality.
We shall see if it happens!
If there are no upsets in the knockout round (ha!) the current paths to gold for Canada and USA could not be more different.
Canada's likeliest opponents are Czech Republic and Germany. USA's likeliest opponents are Sweden and Finland.
However, if Slovakia beats Germany, however, the U.S. would get Slovakia and Canada would get Finland in the semifinals.
All events have concluded. See full medal count.
Now that the preliminary stage is complete, we bring you the knockout bracket of the men's Olympic hockey tournament.
Teams will be reseeded based on their preliminary round ranking after the quarterfinals.
Reader Ray M. has emailed us to lament the structure of this tournament, which admittedly provided many mismatches in the preliminary stage and incentivized teams to run up the scores.
✉️ The inane format of this tournament, encouraging running up the score, invites cheap shots and chippiness. This needs to be rethought.
Remember, you can send us your thoughts, questions and predictions by emailing live@theathletic.com.
Below are the final stats of the USA-Germany game:
Saves:
SOG:
PIM:
Time on PP:
PP goals:
The U.S. finishes as the No. 2 seed heading into the knockout stage.
It's all over at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. A comfortable win for the U.S. A much more secure performance than yesterday's shaky 6-3 win over Denmark.
The preliminary stage at the Olympics is now entirely complete.
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