The United States women’s hockey team finished in second place in Group A after their 4-2 loss to Canada on Tuesday in Beijing, and now they await word on who their quarterfinal opponent will be in the tournament.
Depending on how the other games end in Group B, there are a variety of scenarios will come into play.
The Group B Standings:
Here are the standings in Group B heading into the final day of preliminary round play (wins, overtime wins, overtime losses, regulation losses) –
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1 Japan (2-0-1-0, 7 points)
2 Czech Republic (2-0-0-1, 6 points)
3 China (1-1-0-2, 5 points)
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4 Sweden (1-0-0-2, 3 points)
5 Denmark (1-0-0-2, 3 points)
Under Olympic rules, each team gets three points for a win in regulation, two points for an overtime win, one point for an overtime loss, and zero points for a regulation loss.
China has already played all four of its preliminary round games. Japan will take on the Czech Republic, and Sweden will battle Denmark in the final games of the round.
After the U.S. Loss vs. Canada....
With the American loss to Canada in the preliminary round finale, they have finished second in Group A, and will take on the second-place team in Group B in the quarterfinals.
Currently, there are three teams that could end up finishing in second place in Group B:
Japan – A loss of any kind to the Czech Republic would drop Japan to second place in the group.
Czech Republic – A loss to Japan would mean that the Czech Republic would likely remain in second in the group. Even if Sweden were to win their game in regulation, the Czech Republic holds the head-to-head tiebreaker.
The only way that the Czech Republic could drop to third is if they lose in regulation to Japan, and if Denmark beats Sweden in regulation. Denmark would then tie the Czechs with six points, and would jump them in the standings by virtue of their head-to-head win during group play.
Denmark – The above scenario could vault Denmark into second place in the group, dropping the Czech Republic to third.
