Winter Olympics 2018 schedule: When does USA hockey drop the puck?

Pros might not be heading to South Korea for the Winter Olympics, but there will be American hockey to watch anyways.

Action on the ice this year at the Olympics will not look like any of the most recent ventures. Rather than stopping the season to allow professional players to represent their countries, the NHL will not be allowing any player currently on a roster to be a part of any national teams.

This means that Team USA, in particular, will have a very different look than in years past. College and amateur players will be heading over to South Korea to represent the United States which actually makes things a little more interesting than they otherwise would be. The playing field is as even as ever and American hockey fans will get a good look at the future of the sport on the world’s biggest stage.

Here’s a quick look at the Men’s schedule:

2/14: USA vs. Slovenia, 7:10 am ET
2/15: USA vs. Slovakia, 10:10 am ET
2/17: Russia vs. USA, 7:10 am ET

And the Women’s schedule:

2/11: USA vs. Finland – 2:30 am ET
2/13: Russia vs. USA – 7:10 am ET
2/14: USA vs. Canada – 10:10 am ET

Those are just the qualifying games, so there will be more hockey played after. The first three games that a national team plays will determine if they qualify for the final tournament. Even if your team doesn’t make it in, or loses during the tournament, there will be one more additional game played to determine the final order.

These are called ‘classification games’. All it means is if your team loses in the first round, they will play another team that lost in the first round to determine who finishes 10th and 11th. It’s not the sexiest reason to root for a team, but the Olympics are all about national pride.