Three under-the-radar men's hockey teams that could steal a medal in Olympics

The men's Olympic hockey tournament starts on Wednesday, and there are three pretty clear favorites at the top of the tournament. Canada, the United States and Sweden are entering with the best gold-medal odds, and it would take a series of pretty significant upsets for the gold medal to go to a team outside of that trio. 

Finland is also just outside of that group and is bringing a very formidable team to Italy that could contend for a medal. 

Those four teams are widely regarded as the best men's hockey teams going right now, and all four participated in last year's 4 Nations Face-off as a preview for the Olympics. 

They are are also a few teams outside of that big-four group that could surprise and play their way into medal contention this year.

Let's take a look at three of the sleeper teams that could unexpectedly steal a medal.

Switzerland

The Swiss have come a long way as a hockey nation in recent years and are coming off back-to-back silver medals at the World Championships. 

They have also held their own at previous Olympic tournaments that NHL players have participated in, and even scored a couple of big upsets against Canada in 2006 and 2010. 

They are always a tough out, and this year's team is the best one they have ever sent to the Olympics with some legitimate high-end NHL talent.

Roman Josi (Nashville Predators) is the big name here, but forwards Nico Hischier (New Jersey Devils), Kevin Fiala (Los Angeles Kings), Timo Meier (Devils), Philipp Kurashev (San Jose Sharks), and Nino Niederreiter (Winnipeg Jets), along with defensemen Jonas Siegenthaler (Devils)  and J.J. Moser (Tampa Bay Lightning) help form a very strong roster. They are not gold-medal contenders, but a second-place finish in their group and a trip to at least the quarterfinals is certainly on the table. At that point, you are only one game away from the medal round.

Germany

The German team does not have a ton of depth, but the star-level players on this roster are going to give them a chance.

Leon Draisaitl (Edmonton Oilers), Tim Stutzle (Ottawa Senators) and Moritz Seider (Detroit Red Wings) would be top-tier players on almost any team in the tournament, and they also have something a lot of other teams do not have — a goalie (Philipp Grubauer, Seattle Kraken) who is having a big season in the NHL. Among goalies who have appeared in at least 15 games this season, Grubauer's .916 save percentage is third-best in the NHL. Goaltending is always the biggest X-factor in hockey, and Grubauer is playing at a level that could make a big difference for Germany. 

Czechia

Speaking of goaltending, Czechia has three rock-solid goaltending options, and that is going to give them a chance in just about every game they play. The presence of David Pastrnak (Boston Bruins), Martin Necas (Colorado Avalanche) and Tomas Hertl (Vegas Golden Knights) also provide some big offensive talent up front that could change a game.

They won gold at the 1998 Nagano games (the first year with NHL players) on the back of future Hall of Fame goalie Dominik Hasek. While none of this year's goalies compare to Hasek, goaltending is still a big strength that could put them in the bronze discussion.