The market resolves YES if all six favorites—Canada, USA, Sweden, Finland, Germany, and Switzerland—win their opening preliminary round games. Opening games are: Canada vs. Czechia (Feb. 12), Germany vs. Denmark (Feb. 12), USA vs. Latvia (Feb. 12), Switzerland vs. France (Feb. 12), Sweden vs. Italy (Feb. 11), and Finland vs. Slovakia (Feb. 11). A win includes regulation, overtime, or shootout victory. The market resolves NO if any of these six teams loses their opening game. Resolution will be verified via Olympics.com ice hockey schedule.

Background

Canada and USA are the projected favorites to reach the gold medal game, with nine of 19 NHL.com staff members picking Canada for gold, six picking USA, and four picking Sweden. Finland are the defending champions, having won their first Olympic title in 2022. Twelve countries qualified for the tournament; eight automatically by IIHF ranking, Italy as hosts, and three through qualification. The NHL break for Olympic participation marks the first time since 2014 that NHL players compete in the Winter Olympics.

Considerations

Finland's loss of Aleksander Barkov to a preseason knee injury seriously limits their chances, as he is arguably the best 200-foot center in the world. Upsets in preliminary rounds are possible despite favorites' superior rosters, as demonstrated by historical Olympic hockey results.

This description was generated by AI.