2026 Winter Olympics Daily: Feb. 17

It is qualification playoff day at the 2026 Winter Olympics as eight teams will compete for four spots in the quarterfinals at Milano Cortina.

Day 6 schedule (Feb. 17)

France vs. Germany – 6:10am ET / 3:10am PT
Italy vs. Switzerland – 6:10am ET / 3:10am PT
Denmark vs. Czechia – 10:40am ET / 7:40am PT
Latvia vs. Sweden – 3:10pm ET / 12:10pm PT

The day ahead: 

After a win in its tournament opener over Denmark, Germany fell to Latvia and USA to finish third in Group C. However, they will face a France side that went 0-3-0 in the round-robin after losses to Switzerland, Czechia and Canada.

With wins in two of its three games, Switzerland head into the qualification playoff surely quite confident. The Swiss shutout France 4-0 and beat Czechia 4-3 in a shootout with their only blemish a 5-1 loss to Canada. Hosts Italy fell in all three round-robin contests after losses to Sweden, Slovakia and Finland.

After they were blanked 5-0 by Canada in their Group A opener, Czechia doubled up France 6-3 for their first win of the tournament while they collected a point in a 4-3 overtime loss to Switzerland as they finished third in the group. They’ll face a Denmark squad that went 1-2-0 in Group C with their lone victory over Latvia.

Sweden won two of its three pool games but as part of a three-way tie, they finished third in Group A after tie-breakers. Sweden beat Italy and Slovakia but sandwiched between those two wins was a loss to Finland. As for Latvia, they beat Germany but fell to the USA and Denmark in Group C.

Canada, USA, Slovakia and Finland have already booked their spot in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.

CHL scoring leaders: