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Olympics

Upset victory by U.S. forces potential Canada vs. Russia quarterfinal

By Helene Elliott

Reporting from Vancouver, Canada — The United States created a wide-open 2010 Winter Olympic hockey tournament with its 5-3 upset victory over Canada on Sunday at the Canada Hockey Place in Vancouver.

Before the preliminary rounds were completed Sunday, with Sweden defeating Finland, 3-0, and Russia beating the Czech Republic, 4-2, most experts had Canada vs. Russia as the likely gold-medal matchup.

The seedings after the preliminary round: 1. United States; 2. Sweden; 3. Russia; 4. Finland; 5. Czech Republic; 6. Canada; 7. Slovakia; 8. Switzerland; 9. Belarus; 10. Norway; 11. Germany; 12. Latvia.

The top four teams will get byes into the quarterfinals. In the play-in round, here are the matchups: Czech Republic-Latvia, Canada-Germany, Slovakia-Norway, Switzerland-Belarus.

In the quarterfinals, the U.S. will play the winner of the Switzerland-Belarus game. The winner of Czech-Latvia will face Finland, the winner of Slovakia-Norway will play Sweden, and the winner of Canada-Germany will take on Russia.

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Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

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