What: Men's ice hockey tournament at the Olympics.
When: February 11–22.
Where: Santagiulia Arena and Fiera Milano Rho, both in Milan.
TV: SVT, TV4 and HBO Max will broadcast.
+ How the tournament works
Twelve teams have qualified and all advance from the group stage. The three group winners, along with the best second-place team, advance directly to the quarter-finals, while the other eight teams play a play-off to the quarter-finals (a kind of round of 16).
Group A: Canada, Switzerland, Czech Republic, France. Group B: Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, Italy. Group C: USA, Germany, Latvia, Denmark.
After the group stage, the teams are seeded from 1-12, where the decisive factors are: 1) placement, 2) number of points, 3) goal difference, 4) goals scored and 5) world ranking.
+ Star parade – after twelve years
After twelve long years, we finally get to see megastars like Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Zach Werenski and Victor Hedman on the Olympic ice.
The NHL chose to boycott the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and withdrew from Beijing 2022 at the last minute due to COVID-19.
Now they have agreed to play in Milan and in the next Olympics, 2030, in France.
+ Who can challenge the favorites?
Canada won the Four Nations tournament for NHL national teams a year ago after defeating the United States in the final. The two teams are also the main favorites among most experts.
But teams like Sweden, the Czech Republic and Finland are seen as strong contenders.
Finland is the reigning champion, Canada has won the last two Olympic tournaments with NHL players, in 2010 and 2014.
+ Sweden is betting on gold
Even though Canada and the USA are favorites, Tre Kronor is betting on gold in Milan - 20 years after the classic success of Olympic gold on Italian soil, in Turin.
This is how the national team has fared since then:
2010: quarter-final, 2014: silver, 2018: quarter-final, 2022: fourth.
+ The scandal arena is together - so far
There have been many problems with the main arena, Santagiulia, which was only ready for games in January. Not all areas are fully completed, and the ice dimensions, while meeting the International Ice Hockey Federation's regulations, are slightly smaller than NHL dimensions, which has angered the North American professional league.
A total of five women's matches will be played there before the men's tournament gets underway on Wednesday. The players say they are satisfied, but Hanna Olsson compared the ice to skating in the harbor of Hälsö in the Gothenburg archipelago because "the sound was tinny."
The arena itself is modern and magnificent, and the atmosphere during Italy's matches has been magical.
