Olympic Hockey Qualification Round Preview, Bracket: Canada Fights For Its Life

Elimination play finally begins today as the bottom eight teams in the tournament fight for their Olympic lives and four quarterfinals spots. Meanwhile, the United States, Sweden, Finland and Russia will sit back and watch the show and wait for an opponent. Below, a look at today’s matchups and an updated bracket, courtesy of SBN’s On the Forecheck.

3:00 PM ET / 12:00 PM PT: #8 Switzerland vs #9 Belarus

Broadcast details: Live coverage on USA Network and NBCOlympics.com

The first game of the day is also likely to be the closest and most entertaining. The winner gets the honor of moving on to face the USA tomorrow, but first they’ll see each other in this qualification round matchup. The Swiss have surprised a few people in this tournament, by playing USA tough in the first game and taking Canada to a shootout.