With just four preliminary games left in women’s hockey during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the final standings out of the preliminary round couldn’t be closer. Let’s take a look at where the teams will land based on their results in the next 24 hours.

As a reminder, regulation time wins are worth 3 points. A tie after regulation is worth 1 point, with the winner of the game receiving another point. Also, every team from Group A will advance while the top three teams in Group B will. For the quarter finals, A1 plays B3, A2 plays B2, A3 plays B1, and A4 plays A5.

Group A

Group A Standings as of the afternoon of Feb. 7

The top of the table is pretty clear: who ever wins between USA and Canada will take first place in Group A. The bottom three are a little more interesting. Switzerland is done playing with 3 points. ROC and Finland face off tonight. Here’s some situations that could play out:

If ROC get any points

The bottom three will remain as is — ROC 3rd, Switzerland 4th, Finland 5th — because ROC would have 4 or 5 points to Switzerland’s 3, and Finland’s 1 or 2.

If ROC loses in regulation

And the goal difference is less than two, the bottom three will remain as is.
This is because of the three-way tiebreak situation. The first step of it is to create a subgroup and look at just the games between those three teams. They would each still have 3 points because ROC beat Switzerland (3 points), Switzerland beat Finland (3 points), and Finland beat ROC (3 points). The next step is goal differential in games between those three teams. ROC’s goal differential is currently +3, Finland’s is -1, and Switzerlands is -2.

And Finland wins by between two to five goals

Finland will take third in Group A, ROC will take fourth, and Switzerland will take fifth.

And Finland wins by more than five goals.

Finland will take third in Group A, Switzerland will take fourth, and ROC will fall to fifth.

Group B

Group B standings as of the afternoon of Feb. 7

Once again, the top of the table is pretty clear. Both Japan and Czechia will advance, the question is just who will place first.

This situation is the easiest: the winner of their game will take first place and the loser second because the first tie break between two teams is head-to head. So even if Czechia wins in overtime/shootout and they end up tied in points, Czechia takes the head-to-head matchup.

The bottom of the table is super interesting because China’s fate is in the other team’s hands. Currently Sweden and Denmark are tied with 3 points at the bottom of the table and play at 8:10 a.m. China is done playing in the preliminary round.

If Sweden or Denmark win in regulation

The winner advances. China only has 5 points, and a regulation win would hopscotch that team over them with 6 points.

If Sweden wins in overtime or a shootout

Sweden will advance to the semifinals. They would be tied in points at 5 with China but they hold the head-to-head win over China from their 2-1.

If Denmark wins in overtime or a shootout

China will advance to the semifinals. Denmark and China would be tied at 5 points, but China holds the head-to-head win.

Schedule

Monday Feb 7 - USA v Canada at 11:10 p.m. EST

Tuesday, Feb 7 - Japan v Czechia at 3:40 a.m. EST

Tuesday, Feb 7 - Sweden v Denmark at 8:10 a.m. EST

Tuesday, Feb 7 - ROC v Finland at 8:10 a.m. EST

Check your local listings for how to watch.