After last week’s qualifying tournaments, the Czech hockey players know all the opponents in the basic group at the Beijing Olympics in 2022. The most demanding bite will be Russia, while the local media unconditionally believes the choir.
The Russians will defend Olympic gold from South Korea in China, which they won in the absence of players from the overseas NHL, ie in not so tough competition.
The biggest hockey stars should arrive in Beijing. The NHL has also published a schedule for next season, in which it expects an Olympic break. The final decision has not yet been made, but according to a recent report by Emily Kaplan from ESPN, the league, the players’ unions, the IIHF and the International Olympic Committee are heading for an agreement. The verdict could fall this week.
The Czechs in Group B will meet Russia, Switzerland and Denmark, whose hockey team will go to the Olympics for the first time. The Danes secured their qualifiers in Oslo, where they defeated Slovenia (4: 3), South Korea (11: 1) and especially Norway (2: 0).
The Czech Republic can thus expect another unpleasant match. At the last World Cup, they defeated Denmark in raids.
The group’s main favorite, however, is Russia, which the domestic media predicts a smooth process, even though it will miss the Yevgeny Kuznetsov center, which is serving a four-year sentence for cocaine.
“Sborná has an acceptable and probably the simplest possible group,” wrote the championat.com server. “Even if NHL players come to Beijing, the Czechia, Switzerland and Denmark should not be a major problem for our team. It is not a boast, this is what the balance of power in today’s international hockey looks like.”
“It can be said that coach Valeri Bragin’s charges were lucky with the group. It is obvious that they took first place and made it to the quarterfinals in an easier way,” the server added.
From the three groups, the winners advance directly to the quarterfinals and then also the best team from the second place. The rest will play the qualification, or the round of 16.
Group A will be played by Canada, the United States, Germany and home China, which will face unequal competition in this competition.
Group C includes Finland, Sweden, Slovakia and Latvia. The last two teams secured their participation in the qualification. Latvians succeeded in Riga at the expense of France, Hungary and Italy. The Slovaks beat Austria, Poland and Belarus in Bratislava, although only the Poles beat more than one goal.
While the men’s Olympic tournament is already lined up, the women’s tournament has three more places open. For the first time in history, the Czechs, who will play a qualifying tournament in Chomutov against Hungarians, Norwegians and hitherto unknown rivals from the second round of qualifying, can occupy one.
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