Beyond the Podium: Canada’s Olympic women’s hockey schedule

Coming off three straight Olympic gold medals, the expectations for Canada’s women’s hockey team will be high in Sochi.

Led by veterans such as captain Caroline Ouellette and Canadian flag-bearer Hayley Wickenheiser, the team is prepared to defend its most recent Olympic title, achieved on home soil at Vancouver 2010.

The team will have a new experience in this Olympic Games as the tournament’s structure has changed significantly, in order to have more competitive preliminary matchups.

For the first time the teams will be placed into two tiers based on world ranking, instead of being randomly placed into two groups.

This means top-ranked Canada will be in Group A with the U.S.A., Finland and Switzerland – ranked second, third and fourth, respectively.

Here’s what the women’s hockey schedule looks like for Team Canada:

Preliminary Round

• Saturday, February 8 vs. Switzerland @ 5 p.m. local time (8 a.m. ET / 5 a.m. PT).
• Monday, February 10 vs. Finland @ 7 p.m. local time (10 a.m. ET / 7 a.m. PT).
• Wednesday, February 12 vs. U.S.A. @ 4:30 p.m. local time (7:30 a.m. ET / 4:30 a.m. PT).

After the preliminary round, the top two teams from Group A will get an automatic semi-final berth. The bottom two teams in Group B will be eliminated.

The third place team from Group A will play Group B’s second-place team in one quarterfinal, while the team who finishes fourth in Group A will play the top team in Group B in the other.

Confused yet? Don’t be. Basically, the main goal of the new tournament structure is to have the best teams play against each other in the preliminary round while still allowing for the top two teams to face off in the gold-medal game (Canada and the U.S.A. have met in the gold medal match in three of the four Olympic women’s hockey tournaments in the past).

Playoff Round

Quarterfinals – Saturday, February 15

• Quarterfinal 1 @ 12 p.m. local time (3 a.m. ET / 12 a.m. PT).
• Quarterfinal 2 @ 4:30 p.m. local time (7:30 a.m. ET / 4:30 a.m. PT).

Semi-Finals – Monday, February 17

• Semi-final 1 @ 4:30 p.m. local time (7:30 a.m. ET / 4:30 a.m. PT).
• Semi-final 2 @ 9 p.m. local time (12 p.m. ET / 9 a.m. PT).

Medal Games – Thursday, February 20

• Bronze Medal Game @ 4 p.m. local time (7 a.m. ET / 4 a.m. PT).
• Gold Medal Game @ 9 p.m. local time (12 p.m. ET / 9 a.m. PT).