The Olympic men’s ice hockey schedule has been announced, and Team USA has preliminary games on Feb. 16 against Switzerland (3 p.m.), Feb. 18 against Norway (3 p.m.) and a Feb. 21 showdown with Canada (7:30 p.m.).
Olympic organizers have scheduled games for 3 p.m., 7:30 p.m. and midnight Eastern time. NBC has not announced its coverage plans as of yet, but you have to think the USA afternoon games will appear on NBC in the afternoon, leading into the local news. The Canada-USA matchup goes up against ice dancing on that Sunday night so that will be a tough call for the network execs.
You have to figure Team Canada would get a 7:30 p.m. quarterfinal contest on Feb. 24, and Team USA would go in the 10 p.m. or midnight games.
NBC will likely assign much of the ice hockey tournament to either USA, MSNBC or CNBC.
The schedule (all times Eastern):
MEN
Tuesday, Feb. 16
USA-Switzerland, 3 p.m.
Canada-Norway, 7:30 p.m.
Russia-Latvia, midnight
Wednesday, Feb. 17
Finland-Belarus, 3 p.m.
Sweden-Germany, 7:30 p.m.
Czech Republic-Slovakia, midnight
Thursday, Feb. 18
USA-Norway, 3 p.m.
Switzerland-Canada, 7:30 p.m.
Slovakia-Russia, midnight
Friday, Feb. 19
Belarus-Sweden, 3 p.m.
Czech Republic-Latvia
Finland-Germany, midnight
Saturday, Feb. 20
Norway-Switzerland, 3 p.m.
Latvia-Slovakia, 4:30 p.m.
Germany-Belarus, midnight
Sunday, Feb. 21
Russia-Czech Republic, 3 p.m.
Canada-USA, 7:30 p.m.
Sweden-Finland, midnight
Tuesday, Feb. 23
Playoff qualifiers, 3 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 10 p.m., midnight
Wednesday, Feb. 24
Quarterfinals at 3 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 10 p.m., midnight
Friday, Feb. 26
Semifinals at 3 p.m., 9:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 27
Bronze-medal game, 10 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 28
Gold-medal game, 3:15 p.m.
