About a week after the Winter Olympics Milan Cortina has officially started, the competition I’m most interested in is about to start today. I can’t say I’ve watched much so far, but that should change with the men’s ice hockey tournament about to start on Wednesday. I have to say that I’ve been taking full advantage of the time away from NHL hockey to take a step back and do some of the tasks that I’ve been putting off because I’m always watching television.
Our Winnipeg Jets have sent four of their players to Italy Connor Hellebuyck & Kyle Connor represents the United States, Josh Morrissey donning the colors of Team Canada, and Nino Niederreiter captain of the team from Switzerland. While Mark Scheifele failed to make the cut and get the chance to wear the Maple Leaf, despite the club needing two right-handed forwards, there are a few former True Northers who will also be fighting for a medal. Quick Nikolaj Ehlers will be an important member of the Danish contingent in Milan Leon Gawanke will patrol the blueline for Team Germany.
The search for gold starts early Wednesday morning (at least here in Canada) when the round robin starts with a pair of matches. However, none of the above players will be in action today as it will be the Slovaks & Finns and the Swedes & Italians who will be the first to get the chance to play an official men’s hockey match at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. For most of us Winnipeg Jets fans who will be cheering on the Canadians, the action won’t start until Thursday.
With the time difference between Milan and Winnipeg, the matches will range from 5:10 a.m. to 2:10 p.m. Central begins… which at least gives all the avid hockey fans in North America a chance to see all the action. Here is the full round robin schedule:
The round robin portion of the tournament runs from February 11 to 15 before the qualifying and quarter-final matches take place on February 17 and 18. That sets the semi-finals for Friday the 20th, with the bronze and gold medal matches taking place on Saturday and Sunday.
Well, my SI joint has been bothering me again lately… so I can’t sit for much longer before doing some stretching. I’ll probably be in the comments section during most games, so if anyone wants to talk about the action, feel free to join me.
One final note: You may also want to keep an eye on Team Latvia as they have predicted the top 10 overall draft prospects Albert Smits in their lineup and he could be one of the players who is the Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff has the option to sign in June.
#Olympic #Games #mens #hockey #tournament