When you take a step back, you understand why the NHL missed the last two Olympics. The league generally doesn’t get much of a ratings bump for interrupting their season for three weeks so the competition can play out, the risk of injury is high and has reared its head a couple times this time around, and it creates headaches in the form of a condensed schedule before and after the event in order to squeeze it in.
Then you have days like Thursday and you wonder why on Earth they took this away from
us after 2014.
We now have Semifinals set for Friday, but it took three games going to the 3-on-3 overtime for thrilling finishes to get there. The teams left standing were the top four seeds going on. Every game featured at least some regular NHL players, and the drama was just ramped up to a substantial level.
So where does this leave the teams that have players we are rooting for, how are they doing, and what happens from here? Let’s update it.
Friday’s Semifinal Schedule
Here’s hoping you either found a way to take some time off or your phone’s data plan is all set so you can watch while away from home. The schedule for Friday is as follows:
- Sebastian Aho and Finland takes on Seth Jarvis and Canada at 10:40 AM ET
- Slovakia will face Jaccob Slavin and the United States at 3:10 PM ET
The two teams that lose will not get any rest as the Bronze Medal match will be Saturday at 2:40 PM ET. The winners will face off for the Gold Medal bright and early on the east coast at 8:10 AM ET
So if you are doing the math, you’re realizing that at a minimum two members of the Hurricanes will come back to Raleigh with a medal of some color. There’s also a not-to-small chance that each of them will come back with one medal of each color.
How they got here and how they are doing
Nikolaj Ehlers & Frederik Andersen
The Danes just had a tough draw in facing Czechia. Andersen gave up a total of three goals, including one to his former teammate Martin Necas, and you can really argue that none of the goals were his fault. He also held the fort down while Denmark attempted their comeback, drawing it to 3-2 by the end of the second period. Unfortunately the Danes couldn’t get that last goal to tie it up and Denmark was eliminated on Tuesday. There’s no word on when these two will be back in Raleigh, but they’ll at least get a chance to catch their breath before the season restarts.
Seth Jarvis
Even though Brad Marchand returned to the Team Canada lineup on Wednesday, Seth Jarvis remained while Sam Bennett was one of the healthy extras for Team Canada. That said, the lines released had Jarvis as the 13th forward, meaning he likely wasn’t looking at a lot of time. That changed once Sidney Crosby suffered a lower body injury and was ruled out for the rest of the game.
Thanks to the Olympic rule that allows teams to dress an extra forward and defenseman, Cooper was able to juggle things around to still have four complete lines—but the upshot was that Jarvis was on the ice a lot more. He rewarded Cooper with strong play, drawing a penalty and then assisting on the game-tying goal late in the third period. Canada went on to win against Czechia via a Mitch Marner goal in the thrilling 3-on-3 overtime.
The eyes now turn to Crosby and how healthy he is. Should he not be ready to play Friday, Jarvis will stay in and Bennett will likely be elevated into the lineup. If he’s healthy, it may be tough for Cooper to move on from Jarvis now as the analytics support him being on the ice and his play in the third helped Canada pull out a win.
Plus don’t we all want to see this
Sebastian Aho
While Canada was coming from behind against Czechia, Finland was also facing a significant deficit of their own. Switzerland—where former Hurricane Nino Niederreiter played—held a 2-0 lead over Finland. Finland would turn on the offense in the second period, but all it earned them was a scoreless period and the desperation started to hit.
Late in the third, though, Sebastian Aho turned the tide.
With about six minutes left, Aho pulled off one of his best moves, making a little fake before snapping a shot past Swiss goalie Leonardo Genoni. It was a beautiful shot that seemed to open up the floodgates for the Finns. With Juuse Saros pulled, Miro Heiskanen scored a goal with the extra skater to tie it. Then in 3-on-3 overtime, Artturi Lehkonen ended it lifting Finland to the win and guaranteeing that the Finns will play for a medal. With that, Aho and the Finns face the tall task of going up against Canada, and Aho will likely face his teammate in Jarvis. It should be fun to watch.
Jaccob Slavin
Now that the competition for the United States has ramped up and defense matters a lot more, Jaccob Slavin is once again showing the hockey world what Carolina fans have known for years—he is one of the most elite defenders in the world.
The United States defeated Sweden 2-1 in the third overtime game of the Quarterfinals, but the only reason it got to overtime is because when Sweden had the extra skater, Slavin was not on the ice. Why? Slavin had just skated a shift about a minute prior to the game-tying goal with 1:31 left, but Sweden took time to set up before entering the zone and one would have thought that US coach Mike Sullivan would have had a chance to put in the guy who just a few minutes priod had done this:
No harm was done though as Quinn Hughes ended the game in overtime, and the US is set to face surprising Slovakia on Friday. Slovakia was the only team to win their game easily on Tuesday, and a team that has beaten Germany and Finland won’t be intimidated to go up against the US squad.
One thing is for sure—Slavin will face a teammate this weekend. When and who will be determined as the games are played, but Canes fans have every reason to tune into every game remaining of this tournament.
