Team USA will play the quarterfinal round of the men’s hockey tournament at the Winter Olympics on Wednesday. It will be the fourth-straight game to begin after 9:00 p.m. local time.
That creates a disadvantage!
The United States is the only country to have this schedule at the Olympics. Everybody else gets to bed much earlier.
There are four main time slots for men’s hockey.
The men’s ice hockey tournament at the Olympics got underway last Wednesday with the preliminary round of competition. There have been four games per day every day since.
A majority of the tournament will be played at the Milano Santagiulia ice hockey arena. The Milano Rho ice hockey arena serves as the secondary venue to allow for crossover.
With the ability to use multiple rinks, games are played at one of four different times:
- 12:10 (12:10 p.m. local time)
- 16:40 (2:40 p.m. local time)
- 19:10 (7:10 p.m. local time)
- 21:10 (9:10 p.m. local time)
The quarterfinals will also feature a 6:10 p.m. start time instead of the 7:10. The bronze and gold medal games are standalone games at 8:40 p.m. and 2:10 p.m., respectively.
All of this goes to say that there is a structured schedule for men’s hockey at the Milano-Cortina Games. Nobody plays before noon. Nobody starts after 9:10 p.m. at the latest.
Team USA only plays night games at the Olympics.
The United States defeated Latvia, Denmark and Germany during the group stage of the tournament by scores of 5-1, 6-3 and 5-1. All three games were played at Milano Santagiulia. All three games were played at 9:10 p.m local time.
The quarterfinal game on Wednesday will be the same. As will the semifinal on Friday— should Team USA defeat either Sweden or Latvia (again) in the quarters.
This puts the United States in position to play four, maybe five-straight games at 9:10 p.m. The late start time puts them back to the athletes’ village around 1:15 a.m.
According to hockey insider Frank Seravalli, head coach Mike Sullivan admitted that his players have had a hard time falling asleep after games. They are up until two or three o’clock in the morning.
The awkward schedule only applies to the United States.
Others countries do not have this same issue. Only the United States will play every game at 9:10 p.m.
Why?
I would like to say that the International Olympic Committee and International Ice Hockey Federation gave Team USA this slot on purpose but I do not have any evidence. It is the only country to be on this consistent late-night schedule. No other country played every single one of its preliminary round games in the 21:10 time slot, and that is also true for the quarterfinals.
As much as I would like to cry conspiracy, I think the schedule probably has to do with television. All of the games in the United States are played at the most logical time for live viewing— late afternoon.
Plus, the consistent time slot for every single game allows for the athletes to adjust. They can alter their daily schedule to account for the late nights and inability to fall asleep. Push back the day by a few hours.
Although there are ways for Team USA to deal with the unusually late start time for all of its hockey games, it is the only team forced to do so. There is no doubt that it serves as a disadvantage!