Olympic Hockey Results 2022: USA, Canada Wins Highlight Thursday's Top Scores

After a soft two-game schedule to start the men's hockey tournament at the 2022 Olympics on Wednesday, things kicked into gear on Thursday with four games. 

The United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland each won their first game. Team USA is looking for its first Olympic medal since losing to Canada in the gold-medal game 12 years ago. 

Head coach David Quinn got the Americans off to a good start with an easy 8-0 win over China. 

Thursday Results

Group A: USA 8, China 0

Group A: Canada 5, Germany 1

Group C: Sweden 3, Latvia 2

Group C: Finland 6, Slovakia 2

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Group A Standings (Goal Differential)

1. United States: 1-0-0-0, 3 points (plus-8)

2. Canada: 1-0-0-0, 3 points (plus-4)

3. Germany: 0-0-0-1, 0 points (minus-4)

4. China: 0-0-0-1, 0 points (minus-8)

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Group B Standings (Goal Differential)

1. Denmark: 1-0-0-0, 3 points (plus-1)

2. Russian Olympic Committee: 1-0-0-0, 3 points (plus-1)

3. Czech Republuc: 0-0-0-1, 0 points (minus-1)

4. Switzerland: 0-0-0-1, 0 points (minus-1)

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Group C Standings (Goal Differential)

1. Finland: 1-0-0-0, 3 points (plus-4)

2. Sweden: 1-0-0-0, 3 points (plus-1)

3. Latvia, 0-0-0-1, 0 points (minus-1)

4. Slovakia: 0-0-0-1, 0 points (minus-4)

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Team USA took things slow in their opener against China. Brendan Brisson's goal midway through the first period was the only scoring in the opening frame. 

The floodgates came open in the second period when Sean Farrell, Brian O'Neill and Noah Cates each scored goals to make it 4-0. 

There was more of the same in the third period. Ben Meyers and Matty Beniers got in on the goal barrage. Farrell scored two more times to get a hat trick and finished the game with five points.

Eight goals for the Americans marks their highest-scoring output in the Olympics since an 8-1 win over Belarus in 2002. 

U.S. goalie Drew Commesso stopped all 29 shots he faced in the win. He recorded the first shutout win for Team USA at the Olympics since the 2010 quarterfinals against Switzerland (2-0). 

The United States' top competitor in Group A also got off to a good start. Canada scored three goals in the first period en route to a 5-1 win over Germany. Eric O'Dell assisted on goals by Ben Street and Maxim Noreau. 

Canada and the U.S. will square off on Friday at 11:10 p.m. ET. 

The Finnish team is looking to get back to the medal stand after missing out in 2018. They won silver in 2006 and won back-to-back bronze medals in 2010 and 2014.

Sakari Manninen had a hat trick in Finland's 6-2 win over Slovakia. 

Slovakia took an early 1-0 lead on Juraj Slafkovsky's goal less than six minutes into the first period. The 17-year-old currently plays professional hockey for TPS in Finnish Liiga. He is the No. 2 prospect in the 2022 NHL draft among European skaters, per NHL.com. 

The most competitive game of the day saw Sweden hang on for a 3-2 win over Latvia. The Swedish team looked like they were going to cruise when Lucas Wallmark's power-play goal put them up 3-0 late in the second period. 

Renars Krastenbergs got Latvia on the board before the second intermission with a power-play goal of his own. Nikolajs Jelisejevs added a second goal for the Latvian squad with just over 13 minutes remaining in the third period. 

Goalie Lars Johansson and Sweden's defense tightened up down the stretch to keep the score 3-2 until the final buzzer.