Orange&Black Going for Gold: Recap of the Preliminary Round

Today, the qualifying round of Olympic men’s hockey began with matchups between Slovenia and Austria (4-0 SLO win*), Russia and Norway (4-0 RUS win), Switzerland and Latvia (in progress), and the Czech Republic against Slovakia (in progress).

*With Slovenia’s win over Austria, Michael Raffl’s chance at an Olympic medal his first go-’round is now lost. He had the most successful first round out of all of the Flyers playing in Sochi.

With the preliminary round now completed, let’s take a look at how the five Flyers representing their home countries fared during the first week of play.

Michael Raffl – Austria

In Austria’s first matchup for Group B action, Raffl had two assists against Kimmo Timonen’s Finland. He played 15:45 in his Olympic debut. The left winger took 25 shifts and recorded one shot on goal in Austria’s 6-0 loss to Canada in the team’s second game of the Olympics. Raffl bounced back against Norway on Sunday, scoring the game-winning goal and bringing his point total to three in the preliminary round.

Kimmo Timonen – Finland

Timonen got an assist and three shots on goal in Finland’s 8-4 rout of Austria (sorry, Raffl!). Though he did not get a point in the next game against Norway (a 6-1 victory for Finland), he played just over 17 and a half minutes and recorded a shot. In Finland’s only loss in the first round, he got one more shot on goal in against Canada. The defenseman now has 12 points in 27 career Olympic games.

Mark Streit – Switzerland

Switzerland’s first opponent in these Olympic games was Latvia, and Streit had the only assist on the game-winning goal in the 1-0 Swiss victory. He recorded a shot on goal and a -1 rating in the team’s loss to Sweden in their second game, logging 19:24 in ice time. The Swiss beat Jakub Voracek’s Czech Republic on Saturday, and Streit sat two minutes for cross-checking… that was about all he did in that one.

Andrej Meszaros – Slovakia

Mesz’ Slovakia did not have a successful preliminary round, going 0-3 versus the United States, Slovenia, and Russia. He has had as quiet a first round as his team, failing to record a point in three games. It took him three games to even record a shot on goal, but he recorded two in Slovakia’s 1-0 loss to Russia, their last game in the prelims.

Jakub Voracek – Czech Republic

Voracek took four shots and had a -1 in his first Sochi appearance this year, a Czech Republic/Sweden matchup that resulted in a 4-2 win for the Swedes. In game two, the Czechs were on the winning end of a 4-2 score against Latvia, and Voracek tallied a goal on four shots. He played just over thirteen minutes against Mark Streit’s Switzerland, but did not score any points in the 1-0 Swiss win.