Olympic Hockey Schedule 2022: Live-Stream Info for Group, Medal Games

The 2022 Winter Olympics ice hockey tournament got underway on Thursday with four group-stage games on the women's side. 

The women's tournament will be the only one in action for the next few days until the men's competition gets underway on Wednesday. 

The men's event was initially going to have NHL stars participate in Beijing, but the league withdrew players from the Games due to the disruption caused to its schedule by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Russian Olympic Committee is expected to be the favorite in the men's bracket because it boasts the best collection of professional players from the KHL.

On the women's side, the United States and Canada are expected to be on a collision course for the gold medal, and both teams opened their group-stage slates in China with victories. 

The Olympic hockey schedule can be found on the official Games website. All of the games can be live-streamed on NBCOlympics.com.

Previews

Men's Tournament 

The Russian Olympic Committee should establish itself as the favored side in the men's tournament. 

ROC is the title used for the Russian athletes after the nation's name, anthem and flag were banned from Olympic competition after a doping scandal. 

It is aligned with Switzerland, Denmark and Czech Republic in Group B at the 2022 Winter Games and is expected to win all three of those contests. 

The top competition to ROC's gold-medal quest resides in Groups A and C, with Canada, Sweden and Finland all expected to be in the medal hunt. 

Canada will play the United States, China and Germany in Group A. The Canada-USA group-stage game lost a lot of its hype after the NHL players were withdrawn. Both teams are now using younger players and some experienced players who are not currently on league rosters. 

Sweden and Finland headline Group C with Slovakia and Latvia. The clash between the Swedes and the Finns might produce the best group-stage battle. 

The 12 teams will be seeded based off group position and points ahead of the knockout round. The top four teams will get byes into the quarterfinals. 

The ROC won gold in 2018 with NHL players included in the tournament. They competed under the Olympic Athletes from Russia banner in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Anything less than another gold medal for the defending champions on February 20 would be viewed as a surprise because most of the other rosters have been depleted by the absence of NHL players. 

Women's Tournament

The United States and Canada should play twice in Beijing. 

The first meeting of North American powers takes place on February 8 to conclude the group stage. 

Canada and the United States are expected to finish in the top two in Group A, which would place them on opposite sides of the knockout bracket. 

The Canadians opened their campaign in China with a 12-1 victory over Switzerland in which four different players scored multiple goals. 

The U.S. kicked off its schedule with a 5-2 triumph over Finland. The Americans broke out to a four-goal advantage in the first two periods. 

Czech Republic and Japan picked up victories to start Group B play over China and Sweden, respectively. Denmark is the fifth team in Group B, while the ROC is the other Group A squad. 

Canada is looking to avenge its gold-medal game loss from four years ago. It fell in a shootout to the Americans in Pyeongchang. 

Canada won the four previous Olympic titles and the Unites States won the inaugural women's tournament in 1998. Finland, Sweden and Switzerland are the only other countries to medal in the women's event.