Before the Winter Olympic Games started, Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice was asked who he would be rooting for.
Maurice, a Canadian, will certainly be cheering on his homeland in this final stretch of games.
But he has many a rooting interest in these Olympic games.
The Panthers had a league-high 10 players in the tournament but that number has been cut to eight after Gus Forsling’s Swedish squad knocked Latvia (Uvis Balinskis, Sandis Vilmanis) out with a 5-1 win in the qualifying round on Tuesday.
“I’m pretty sure somebody’s coming back with a gold medal,’’ Maurice said. “That’s going to be awesome. There’s going to be at least one guy in our group who will be really, really happy.”
So, while Forsling kept his hope of winning a gold medal for his country alive on Tuesday, Balinskis and Vilmanis are out and will rejoining the Panthers soon enough.
Forsling may be joining them today.
Or not.
Sweden, considered to be one of the top teams going into the Olympics, lost a preliminary game to rival Finland and ended up in the qualifiers.
Now, they get a chance to knock off Team USA in a game that probably should be for a medal — only it is not.
Sweden will play Matthew Tkachuk and Team USA today at 3:10 p.m. (NBC/Peacock) in a win-or-go-home quarterfinal game.
From now on, a loss means the end of the road.
There are eight teams left.
The Panthers have eight players and all of their support staff remaining.
Canada and Finland have the largest concentration of Panthers players with three each.
Brad Marchand has been held out of Canada’s past two victories but Canada coach Jon Cooper said he will be good to go today against Czechia.
Canada (Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett) and Czechia play today at 10:40 a.m. (USA Network).
Finland (Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen, Niko Mikkola) can move on with a win against Switzerland today at 12:10.
2026 WINTER OLYMPICS
MEN’S HOCKEY SCHEDULE
All games without TV listed streamed on NBC Peacock in the United States
Today — Quarterfinals: Slovakia (3) vs. Germany, 6:10 a.m.; Canada (1) vs. Czechia, 10:40 a.m. (USA Network); Finland (4) vs. Switzerland, 12:10 p.m. (USA); United States (2) vs. Sweden, 3:10 p.m (NBC)
Friday — Semifinals: 10:40 a.m. (USA), 3:10 p.m. (NBC)
Saturday — Bronze medal game: 2:40 p.m. (USA)
Sunday — Gold medal game: 8:10 a.m. (NBC)
RESULTS THUS FAR
Day 1 — Group B: Slovakia 4, Finland 1; Sweden 5 Italy 2
Day 2 — Group A: Switzerland 4, France 0; Canada 5, Czechia 0. Group C: United States 5, Latvia 1; Germany 3, Denmark 1
Day 3 — Group B: Finland 4, Sweden 1; Slovakia 3, Italy 2. Group A: Czechia 6, France 3; Canada 5, Switzerland 1
Day 4 (Saturday) — Group B: Sweden 5, Slovakia 3; Finland 11, Italy 0. Group C: Latvia 4, Germany 3; USA 6, Denmark 3
Day 5 (Sunday) — Group A: Switzerland 4, Czechia 3 (OT); Canada 10, France 2. Group C: Denmark 4, Latvia 2; USA 5, Germany 1
Tuesday’s Qualifiers: Germany 5, France 1; Switzerland 3, Italy 0; Czechia 3, Denmark 2; Sweden 5, Latvia 1.
FLORIDA PANTHERS
2026 MILAN CORTINA OLYMPIC GAMES
United States (3-0-0): F Matthew Tkachuk (3 GP, 0-5, 5 points); D Seth Jones (injured), Bill Zito (assistant GM), Teddy Richards (equipment manager)
Canada (3-0-0): F Sam Reinhart (3 GP; 0-1, 1); F Brad Marchand (1 GP, 0-1, 1); C Sam Bennett (3 GP; 0-1, 1)
Finland (2-1-0): C Sasha Barkov (injured), F Eetu Luostarinen (3 GP; 0-3, 3); D Niko Mikkola (3 GP, 0-3, 3); C Anton Lundell (2 GP; 1-0, 1); Tuomo Ruutu (assistant coach)
Sweden (3-1-0): D Gus Forsling (4 GP; 1-1, 2); Myles Fee (video coach)
Germany (2-2-0): Jamie Kompon (assistant coach)
Latvia* (1-3-0): D Uvis Balinskis (4 GP; 0-1, 1); F Sandis Vilmanis (4 GP; 0-0, 0)
(*) — Eliminated
