The International Ice Hockey Federation has unveiled the schedule for the Men’s Hockey tournament at the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Made even more exciting by the return of NHLers to the event, the tournament will be played over two weeks in February, preceded by the NHL’s All-Star Weekend and during which time the league will have a scheduled break. Relayed by NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti, the full schedule can be found here.
The tournament will begin on February 9 and the impact of the time difference between the host nation, China, and North America will be felt immediately. Russia (Russian Olympic Committee) takes on Switzerland in the debut game at 3:40am ET/12:40am PT, a late-night time slot that will be very difficult for many viewers. Canada (vs. Germany) and the United States (vs. China) each play their first game on February 10 at 8:10am ET/5:10 PT, a morning time slot that is better but still not ideal. Of the 30 scheduled games, 19 will take place in one of these two time slots. There will also be a quarterfinal match-up held at 1:00am ET/10:00pm PT as well as at 9:30am ET/6:30pm PT.
Fortunately, the remaining nine games will take place at a more manageable 11:10pm ET/8:10pm PT time slot. This includes the much-anticipated group play collision between the U.S. and Canada on February 11. It also includes the gold medal game on February 19. There will be some quirky viewing times over the course of the 11-day tournament, but without any NHL games to compete and given the stakes and stellar talent on display at the Olympics, hockey fans will be able to figure it out.
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