Czechs win group, put pressure on Canada to reach quarters
Canadians need regulation win, regulation result in Finland-Sweden to clinch bye
By CBC Sports
The Czech Republic denied Canada a chance at winning Group A by defeating Switzerland 4-1 at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Michal Repik scored twice for the Czechs, with Dominik Kubalik and Roman Cervenka also adding goals in the win.
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The Canadians can still clinch a bye into the quarter-finals with a regulation win over South Korea and a regulation result in the Sweden-Finland game; the three group winners and the team with the next best record overall advance directly to the quarters.
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Canada would have seven points with a regulation win, but six with an overtime or shootout victory. If the Sweden-Finland game isn't settled in regulation, the losing team would finish with seven points.
Should a points tie between Canada and either Sweden or Finland occur, the first tie-breaker is the head-to-head game. Since Canada is in a different group than the two Scandinavian countries, the second tie-breaker — goal differential — would be required. Canada has a plus-three mark heading into the South Korea game, compared to Finland's plus-seven and Sweden's plus-five.
As for Canada's outlook for its final group-stage game, South Korea has lost both of its contests so far in regulation — 2-1 to the Czechs and 8-0 to Switzerland. Puck drop is at 7:10 a.m. ET.
With files from Tim Wharnsby