The World Cup of Hockey continues on Monday with two games.
First at 3 p.m. ET, Team Europe — a collection of Europeans from various countries that didn’t have their national teams qualify for the tournament — will take on the Czech Republic. Europe handled the United States easily on Saturday afternoon, 3-0, while the Czechs are coming off a Saturday evening demolition at the hands of the Canadians.
It’s a must-win game for the Czechs — including Jakub Voracek and Michal Neuvirth — if they want to have any realistic chance at advancing out of the group stage and to the semifinals. Should they lose in regulation, they’ll only be able to max out at four points in group play, and they’d lose a tiebreaker to both Canada and Europe due to their losses against each. As long as you take the safe assumption that Canada will likely win another game in the group stage, the Czechs are done with a regulation loss today.
The Flyers are represented on Team Europe by France’s Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Switzerland’s Mark Streit.
In the night cap at 8 p.m. ET, the under-23 squad of young guns from the USA and Canada, Team North America, takes on the Russians. North America, which claims both Shayne Gostisbehere and Sean Couturier on its roster, defeated Finland 4-1 Sunday without really breaking a sweat. Russia, meanwhile, had a last-minute goal by Alex Ovechkin waved off in a frustrating 2-1 loss to Sweden on Sunday.
Russia is in the same boat as the Czech Republic, essentially needing a win to keep realistic hopes of the semifinals alive. An overtime or shootout loss would leave them hanging on by a thread, too.
Both games Monday are on ESPN2 in the United States and Sportsnet in Canada. Get a second screen and double up that North America game with the Eagles tonight. A little Ghost to go with your Carson Wentz.
Today’s schedule
Monday, September 19
Group A: Europe at Czech Republic
3 p.m. ET (ESPN2, Sportsnet, TVA)
Group B: Russia at North America
8 p.m. ET (ESPN2, Sportsnet, TVA)
Tournament results so far
Saturday, September 17
Europe 3, United States 0
Canada 6, Czech Republic 0
Sunday, September 18
Sweden 2, Russia 1
North America 4, Finland 1
Standings
Group A
- Canada: 1-0-0, 2 points (6 goals for, 0 goals against)
- Europe: 1-0-0, 2 points (3 GF, 0 GA)
- United States: 0-1-0, 0 points (0 GF, 3 GA)
- Czech Republic: 0-1-0, 0 points (0 GF, 6 GA)
Group B
- North America: 1-0-0, 2 points (4 GF, 1 GA)
- Sweden: 1-0-0, 2 points (2 GF, 1 GA)
- Russia: 0-1-0, 0 points (1 GF, 2 GA)
- Finland: 0-1-0, 0 points (1 GF, 4 GA)
