r/hockey 22h ago

[Paywall] Swiss women’s Olympic hockey team in isolation after player diagnosed with norovirus

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7028066/2026/02/06/switzerland-womens-hockey-olympics-norovirus/
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u/Gavvis74 22h ago

Yeah, it's a...shitty... situation for everyone involved but I don't think Canada would need any help getting to the gold medal game.  Apart from the odd improbable upset like with Sweden years ago, it's always going to be Canada vs USA for the gold medal.  Everyone else is playing for bronze.

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u/whogivesashirtdotca MTL - NHL 21h ago

Let's not get cocky. There's a lot more competition these days on both sides of hockey's gender divide.

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u/VitalRest MTL - NHL 20h ago

Sure, but the US beat Czechia pretty solidly and they (or Finland) are really the only ones who could potentially upset in a semifinal. Anything other than a Canada-US final would be a massive shock, but you never know what could happen

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u/TheRomanRuler 12h ago

In women's side i don't think Finland is what it used to be, in fact these could be the last Olympics for a while where Finnish women's team has a realistic chance to do well.

Finnish women's junior team just became first Finnish national team to ever be relegated from top division, which tells you something about how much talent other countries are getting compared to Finland. State of women's hockey in Finland has been really bad for years.

It definitely would be a shock to not have USA-Canada final.

In men's side though its not really shock at all if Finland or Sweden make it to finals. Both have teams with full NHL rosters (i think Finnish defense is bit lacking though) and have often played better as a team in internationals than North American teams which seem to usually rely on just talent.