Preliminary Round Recap

In case you've been living under a rock for the past two days, on Sunday the US upset Canada to steal Pool A and the #1 overall seed for the medal round. While I left the door open for this upset to happen, I still didn't think it would. So now I'm going to examine my predictions from the preliminary round, and rework my predictions for the medal round.

Group A (W-L-OTW-OTL, Pts):
USA (3-0-0-0, 9)
Canada (1-1-1-0, 5)
Switzerland (0-1-1-1, 3)
Norway (0-2-0-1, 1)

Breakdown:
I predicted Canada to win the pool 3-0, yet they struggled against Switzerland, and blew it against the US. The US team played well enough to win all three games, and managed to lock down the #1 seed for the medal round. I was right that Switzerland would lose to Canada and the US, though I didn't see them taking Canada to OT. I also thought they would beat Norway in regulation.

Group B (W-L-OTW-OTL, Pts):
Russia (2-0-0-1, 7)
Czech Republic (2-1-0-0, 6)
Slovakia (1-1-1-0, 5)
Latvia (0-3-0-0, 0)

Breakdown:
I predicted the order this group would finish in perfectly, however, I didn't foresee Russia's OTL to Slovakia.

Group C (W-L-OTW-OTL, Pts):
Sweden (3-0-0-0, 9)
Finland (2-1-0-0, 6)
Belarus (1-2-0-0, 3)
Germany (0-3-0-0, 0)

Breakdown:
Finland was actually leading this group (due to goal differential) until they were dominated by Sweden last night. Sweden only won by three goals, so they finished with a lower goal differential than the US and ended up with the #2 seed for the medal round. Finland finished as the 4th seed due to a better goal differential than the Czechs. I didn't expect Germany to lose to Belarus either.

Seedings:
1 USA
2 Sweden
3 Russia
4 Finland
5 Czech Republic
6 Canada
7 Slovakia
8 Switzerland
9 Belarus
10 Norway
11 Germany
12 Latvia

Qualification Round Matchups (Predicted winners in Bold):
5 Czech Republic vs. 12 Latvia
6 Canada vs. 11 Germany
7 Slovakia vs. 10 Norway
8 Switzerland vs. 9 Belarus

Quarterfinals (Predicted winners in Bold):
1 USA vs. 8 Switzerland
2 Sweden vs. 7 Slovakia
3 Russia vs. 6 Canada
4 Finland vs. 5 Czech Republic

Semifinals (Predicted winners in Bold):
1 USA vs. 5 Czech Republic
2 Sweden vs. 6 Canada

Bronze Medal Game:
2 Sweden vs. 5 Czech Republic

Gold Medal Game:
1 USA vs. 6 Canada

It's hard to pick against USA after their huge win last night over Canada, and I think they will make it back to the gold medal game because I like the possible matchups they have from here on out. However, I think Canada will be riding a huge wave of momentum if they can get past Russia, and since they are playing on home ice, I have to give them the edge. However, as Team USA proved yesterday, with Ryan Miller in net, anything can happen. So go USA!