Already, with the first three days of round-robin group play, there have been some significant upsets. It started on the opening game of the first day of preliminary round play on Boxing Day.
Team Switzerland registered a 3-2 overtime win against Team Finland. Flyers 2021 fourth-round pick Brian Zanetti, a returning player for Team Switzerland from the 2022 tournament held in August, skated on the Swiss team's second defense pairing against Finland. He skated 17:30 of ice time and was minus-one. Zanetti recorded two shots on goal.
One day later, the Swiss earned a 3-2 shootout win against Latvia. This outcome was no unexpected but the Lavtian side put up a good fight. Zanetti contributed an assist on the Swiss' first goal; a rebound tally by Louis Robin off Zanetti's initial shot. Zanetti skated 20:26 of ice time across 36 shifts. He had two shots on goal in the game.
The most surprising outcome so far in the tournament was Team Canada's 5-2 opening day loss to Czechia (Czech Republic). By comparison, Team USA dispatched Latvia that day by an identical 5-2 score.
Flyers 2022 first-round pick Cutter Gauthier skated on the left wing of Team USA's top line. He did not record a point in the opener but had five shots on goal and hit the post on another shot attempt across 19:21 TOI. Team USA returns to action on Wednesday to play Slovakia.
Team USA had an off-day on Tuesday. On Wednesday, however, it was the Americans' turn to be on the wrong end of an upset. Team Slovakia defeated Team USA, 6-3. At 4:42 of the first period, Gauthier assisted on a power play goal by Tyler Boucher. The son of Flyers alum goaltender and a one-time Team Comcast player, Boucher would go on to score again on a 6-on-4 in the final five minutes of the game. Guttier also assisted on that goal, as Team USA came back within 5-3. The Slovaks subsequently tacked on an empty net goal.
Apart from the two helpers against Slovakia, Gauthier skated 17:51 of ice time. He was credited with two shots on goal.
On Thursday, Gauthier's team and Zanetti's team will meet head to head when Team USA takes on Switzerland. Game time is 4:00 p.m. ET. On New Year's Eve Day, which is the final day of preliminary round play, Team USA will square off with Finland while Switzerland faces Slovakia.
New Year's Day is an off-day.Single-elimination medal round play will be held on January 2. It is a near lock that, in Group A, the teams that will advance to the medal round will be Czechia, Sweden, Germany and Canada. In Group B, the probable medal round teams are Switzerland, USA, Finland and Slovakia. In the quarterfinals, the first place team from each group will play the fourth-place side from the other group and the second place team will take on the other group's third-place team.
