Team Canada and Team USA will have their last preliminary Olympic games tomorrow, and how they rank could depend on the goals they score.
The Olympics are using a tricky way to figure out how teams are ranked, where the best team is chosen based on their standings or total goal difference. With Canada and the USA in a tight race, the results of tomorrow’s games will be very important for deciding who gets the 1st and 2nd spots.
Team Canada wants to score as many goals as possible tomorrow against Team France. To make sure they have the best chance as they move through the tournament, they need to aim for a big win against France. Experts are suggesting they should really push hard and try to score lots of goals.
There is some serious incentive for Canada to try and beat France by 10+ goals https://t.co/Cy6PTGKMam
— Tyler Yaremchuk (@tyleryaremchuk) February 14, 2026
Right now, Canada has scored 9 more goals than they have let in during this tournament. Team USA’s difference is 7 goals. Canada will be playing against a weaker team, France, but USA also has an easier game against Germany.
It’s important to point out that Canada has a better goal difference than the USA, even though they’ve faced tougher teams. Canada played against good teams like Czechia and Switzerland, who have several NHL players, while USA faced easier teams like Denmark and Latvia.
1 vs 8-9 winner
2 vs 7-10 winner
3 vs 6-11 winner
4 vs 5-12 winnerNo re-seeding until semis when highest seed plays lowest, 2 v 3. Cheers. https://t.co/CkuV1LOxBt
— James Duthie (@tsnjamesduthie) February 14, 2026
The team that gets the top seed will face the winner of the 8th and 9th placed teams in the first round of the bracket. The second seed will play against the team that comes from the 7th and 10th positions. There won’t be any changes in seeding until the semifinals.
No one in Group B of the Winter Olympic men’s hockey tournament will finish with 3 regulation wins.
The path is clear for Canada and Team USA to finish with the top two seeds in group play and set up a potential showdown in the gold medal game. #olympics pic.twitter.com/vZBl0a6yCT
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) February 14, 2026
It’s pretty clear that Italy and France are most likely to be knocked out in the preliminary rounds. For other teams, their final ranking will also be determined by goal difference in the last couple of preliminary games.
What is becoming obvious is that Canada and the USA are poised to face each other for the first time in the Gold Medal match.
We’ll be paying close attention to the scoreboard during all the games tomorrow at the Olympics. Team Canada needs to focus on their game and really aim to score a lot against Team France.
Leave a Reply