The men's Olympic hockey qualification playoffs wrapped up on Tuesday. The results determined which teams advanced to the quarterfinal round on Feb. 18th, and which countries are headed home.
Ahead of the playoffs, Slovakia, Canada, Finland and the United States secured byes to the quarterfinals based on their group-stage results.
Germany 5, France 1
Germany dismantled Italy 5-1 in the qualification playoff of the men's Olympic hockey tournament.
German captain Leon Draisaitl got on the board first for the German squad and added two assists in the win, including one to Joshua Samanski, his Edmonton Oilers teammate.
"The tournament is getting smaller and harder each round. The teams are going to get better, we know " Draisaitl said after the game. We have a big task ahead of us tomorrow [against Slovakia]. Today was a good step and we will get ready for tomorrow."
Germany plays Slovakia next in the quarterfinal round.
Switzerland 3, Italy 0
Switzerland took care of business against Italy in the men's qualification playoff and advanced to the quarterfinal round.
Philipp Kurashev, Roman Josi and Nico Hischier each chipped in a goal in the 3-0 Swiss win.
Despite the loss, Damian Clara saved 48 shots in goal for Italy
Switzerland will advance to take on Finland in a quarterfinal matchup.
“Every game is a knockout game now and Finland are a great team," Kurashev said after the win. "We’re going to give our best and hopefully do something great here,” he added.
Czechia 3, Denmark 2
Czechia edged Denmark 3-2 to move on to the quarterfinal round of the men's Olympic hockey tournament.
Roman Cervenka, David Kampf and Martin Necas each scored in the qualification playoff.
"Happy we made it to the next round, but we should control the game better. We were leading 3-1 and gave them more chances," Cervenka said after the game. "We gave them too many power plays and chances. If this happens tomorrow, we have no chance."
Czechia will face top-ranked Canada in the next round.
Sweden 5, Latvia 1
Sweden toppled Latvia 5-1 in the qualification playoff to advance onward.
The five-goal outing came from Sweden's Adrian Kempe, Gabriel Landeskog, Filip Forsberg, Mika Zibanejad and William Nylander.
"This is when the fun begins," said Landeskog. "It's important for us to regroup after this one, obviously recognize what we did well but understanding how our opponent's going to go up another level tomorrow and recognize what a great opportunity it is to see what we're made of," he added.
Eduards Tralmaks scored the only goal for Latvia.
Sweden will meet the United States in the quarterfinal round.
Reuters contributed to this article.