(A friendly reminder that consumption of all Canadian Maple Syrup is currently banned in America. Make sure that shit's from Vermont.)
All times US Eastern.
1. Sweden v. 4. Finland
The Swedes are finally tested.
Finland rolled over Austria and Norway, lost to Canada in overtime, then came into the quarters and sent the host Russians home early. This despite being without one center iceman, two center icemen, THREE center icemen, ah ah ah! How are they doing it? Why are they doing it? Nobody knows.
Meanwhile Sweden have faced exactly no competition. Czech Republic? Lost to Switzerland. Switzerland? Lol bro do you even goals? Latvia? Lost to everybody (except Switzerland). Slovenia? Beat awful Slovaks and hung-over Austrians but couldn't touch the Americans or Russians. Not sure when MC Hammer was allowed on both teams, but here we are.
So this will be the first real test for Team Sweden, and what a time for it to finally happen. They're already into the medal round. Team Sweden's MVP is the luck of the draw. Meanwhile the Finns have seen solid performance from Tuukka Rask (Michael Grabner not withstanding), Mikael Granlund, and Teemu Selanne against legit gold medal contenders. I don't know what to expect but we all hope Gabriel Landeskog does well, at least. Who ya got in this one? Who are you rooting for? Who would you rather North America face in the gold medal game?
TV: 7:00 am, TSN, NBC Sports
TAPE DELAY: 3:00 pm, NBC Sports
possible TAPE DELAY: 7:30 pm, TSN
2. USA v. 3. Canada
These teams got their signals crossed. See the US promised to only beat Russia in overtime, in order to make sure they could be a 2/3 seed to Canada's 1 seed, so they could repeat the gold medal game. But when it went to a shootout the Canadians become confused. Typical. They thought they needed to get the overtime win over Finland to be the 2/3 to USA's clear #1. So it looks like we have beavers, ham-as-bacon, and Don Cherry to thank for this matchup happening in the semifinals. Thanks guys.
Matt Duchene is in. 4th line center. No more introductions needed. The US men have some revenge to claim on their women's behalf after being outright robbed. What an otherworldly save that empty net made. Anyway if you can possibly swing it watch this fucking game. For freedom and stuff.
TV: 12:00 noon, NBC Sports, CBC
TAPE DELAY: 5:00 pm, NBC Sports
probable TAPE DELAY: 7:30 pm, TSN