Team Canada enters the playoff round of the Olympic men’s hockey tournament at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing by beating China 5-0. With the win to finish Group A action, Canada improved to a record of two wins and zero losses, and will get the number five seed. Ironically, they will play China again, either on Monday evening or Tuesday morning.
In the 5-0 Canada win, four Canadians had a multi-point game. Kent Johnson of Port Moody, British Columbia, and Eric O’Dell of Ottawa, Ontario each had one goal and one assist for two points. Meanwhile, Tyler Wotherspoon of Surrey, British Columbia and Josh Ho-Sang of Toronto, Ontario each had two assists. The other three Canadian goal scorers were Corban Knight of Oliver, British Columbia, Adam Tambellini of Edmonton, Alberta, and Ben Street of Coquitlam, British Columbia. Meanwhile, Matt Tomkins of Edmonton, Alberta made 12 saves for the shutout.
The other three first round playoff games will be Slovakia versus Germany, Denmark versus Latvia and the Czech Republic versus Switzerland. The Russian Olympic Committee, Sweden, Finland and the United States have already qualified for the quarterfinals. Canada could have been among the top four teams if Sweden and Finland had not gone to overtime on Sunday. However after taking a 3-0 lead on Finland heading into the third period, Sweden blew their lead and then lost 4-3 in overtime.
