2026 Olympic Men’s Hockey Tournament: Who will Canada face in the semifinals?

Team Canada has booked their ticket to the semifinals of the 2026 men’s Olympic hockey tournament.

Canada is the second team through to the semi’s after a thrilling 4-3 overtime win against Czechia on Wednesday. Slovakia was the first team through after a 6-2 win over Germany.

With both semifinal games scheduled for Friday, who will Canada face? Let’s get into it.

Make sure to check out Sports Interaction’s complete list of Olympic hockey game odds, Olympic hockey futures and Olympic hockey specials and props.

Olympic semifinals

Because of where each team was seeded after the preliminary round, Canada cannot face the United States (second seed) or Slovakia (third seed) in the semifinals. As the top seed, Canada will face the lowest remaining seed, which will be one of Finland, Switzerland or Sweden.

Fourth-seeded Finland is facing fifth-seeded Switzerland in the quarters, while seventh-seeded Sweden will look to upset the Americans. Germany was the sixth seed.

Switzerland led Finland 2-0 after the first period of their Olympic quarterfinal matchup. If the Swiss win, they will end up as Canada’s opponent unless Sweden upsets the United States.

Switzerland is the only potential semifinal opponent Canada has already faced in the tournament, with the Canadians winning 5-1 in the preliminary round. Canada beat Sweden and Finland in group play at last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off. They also lost to the United States in group play before beating the U.S. in the final.

Team Canada

Regardless of what happens in the semifinals, Canada is guaranteed to play for a medal for the first time since winning bronze in 2018 Pyeongchang. Immediately following Canada’s quarterfinal win, oddsmakers had them listed as -200 favourites to win gold in Milan and -900 to medal.

Canada is looking for a third straight gold medal at the Olympics when there is NHL participation after winning in 2014 Sochi and 2010 Vancouver.

The Olympic semifinals are scheduled for Friday, with the bronze medal game set for Saturday. The gold medal game is set for puck drop at 8:10 a.m. ET on Sunday.