Women’s Olympic hockey reactions

With group play concluded and quarterfinals beginning, let’s take a look at the women’s hockey tournament so far.

Nine days in, Japan remains winless while Sweden and the U.S. are undefeated. I expected Sweden to be good, but I think its placement in Group B is the main reason for success. Once they face the powerhouses in Canada and the U.S., they are sure to come back down to earth. On the reverse of Sweden, I expected Finland to win some games, but its placement in Group A has forced it to face its toughest competition to open the tournament.

As is often the case with international women’s hockey, most games have been lopsided, as a handful of teams hold most of the talent and stars.

The U.S. has allowed only one goal in its four games, which came from Czechia in its first game. Shockingly, they also shut out Canada in their highly anticipated, likely gold-medal game preview matchup. Its success has not been limited to the defensive zone; they have scored five goals in all four games, totaling 20 throughout the tournament.

Canada has posted shutouts in two of its four games, while also allowing one goal to Czechia and five to the U.S. in its beatdown. They’ve also scored 14 goals in those four games. Despite the tough loss against the U.S., Team Canada should be able to advance past a solid German team.

Germany has won three of its four games, a shockingly strong showing from a country that has not participated in this event for the past 12 years. However, due to their lack of experience and roster depth, with only three PWHL players, they will likely be eliminated soon.

Sweden is exactly where I expected it to be. They fell from grace with the top contenders as they had to compete for their spot in this year’s game after they dropped in the IIHF rankings. Despite this, they are succeeding in the tournament. Sweden will face Czechia in a Quarterfinal matchup that I can see going either way.

Czechia has not been very successful, with only one win so far. However, two of their losses came in overtime, and they fared better than expected against Canada and the US, scoring against both. They could shock a slightly weaker-than-normal Sweden, especially considering Sweden has not faced a top opponent yet.

Host team, Italy, has done well for their standards. They’ve racked up every possible game outcome, with one regulation win and one loss, and one overtime win and one loss. Italy has the nearly impossible task of defeating Team USA if they want to continue playing.

Japan only had one win and did not advance to a quarterfinal game. The group did not have high expectations coming in, and can be somewhat happy with their sole victory. France did not win a single game and will not be participating any further. Once again, an expected outcome.

Although Finland has struggled, its status as a Group A team secured it a quarterfinal game against Switzerland. Finland’s only win of the tournament came in a 3-1 victory over Switzerland. While Switzerland should put up a good fight, Finland will likely advance.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Canada and the US have been the main event. Both have been dominant thus far, along with Sweden, and the powerhouses clashed on February 10.

That was where the predictability ended, however. While the US has the edge in most pre-tournament predictions, coming off an incredibly strong performance in this year’s Rivalry Series, where they outscored Canada 24-7.

The matchup, which is generally regarded as the best rivalry in women’s hockey, and one of the best rivalries in women’s professional sports, and one of the best rivalries in all of sport, followed the trend of the Rivalry Series and was unusually one-sided. Team USA crushed Canada 5-0.

Canada will try to bounce back in their quarterfinal game on Saturday and will probably succeed. They will have to use the rest of the tournament to recover and regroup, as it is almost guaranteed these teams will clash again, this time for gold. Aside from the obvious superiority of the two North American teams, there could be some upsets and shocks throughout the elimination rounds, and an unexpected team could easily snag bronze.

Jenny Karamus is a first-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, email jrk6308@psu.edu.