Sochi Olympics: Men’s hockey playoff schedule set; Kopitar feels better

SOCHI, Russia -- Host Russia, forced to play an extra game because it didn’t finish in the top four in preliminary-round play and didn’t get a bye into the hockey playoff quarterfinals, will face Norway at 4:30 p.m. (local time) Tuesday in one of four qualification playoff games. Russia, the No. 5 seed, will face No. 12 Norway at the Bolshoy Ice Dome.

In the other qualification playoff games, No. 8 Slovenia will face No. 9 Austria at noon at the Bolshoy Ice Dome, No. 6 Switzerland will face No. 11 Latvia at the same arena at 9 p.m., and No. 7 Czech Republic will face No. 10 Slovakia at 9 p.m. at the Shayba Arena.

The U.S., seeded No. 2, will face the Czech Republic-Slovakia winner in the quarterfinals on Wednesday at 9 p.m. at Shayba Arena.

In the other quarterfinal matchups scheduled for Wednesday, No. 1 Sweden will face the Slovenia-Austria winner at noon, No. 4 Finland will face the Russia-Norway winner at 4:30, and No. 3 Canada will face the Switzerland-Latvia winner at 9 p.m. Those three games will be played at the Bolshoy Ice Dome.

Here’s a link to the bracket.

Slovenia got some good news on Monday when center Anze Kopitar of the Kings -- his homeland’s only NHL player -- said he felt better after losing a bout with the stomach flu on Sunday and missing much of his team’s 5-1 loss to the U.S. Slovenia didn’t practice on Monday, so Kopitar was able to rest for his team’s game against Austria on Tuesday.

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