Four of our local favorites took to the ice in Sochi as Sweden and the Czech Republic opened up their Olympic tournament. Sweden, one of the gold medal favorites, beat the Czechs 4-2 behind two goals by Erik Karlsson and one from Patrik Berglund and Henrik Zetterberg. Jaromir Jagr and Marek Zidlicky scored for the Czech Republic. None of the Blackhawks who played registered a point. Former Blackhawks’ prospect and Rockford IceHog Alexander Salak played nearly all of the final two periods and gave up just one goal on 15 shots. I don’t think many of us thought Salak would see the ice before Ondrej Pavelec. The Czech Republic coaching staff figured out in just a couple of practices what the Winnipeg Jets have yet see; Pavelec is not a good goalie.
Blackhawks Stats
| Team | Name | Goals | Assists | Points | PIM | SOG | +/- | TOI |
| SWE | Marcus Kruger | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 10:14 |
| SWE | Niklas Hjalmarsson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18:16 |
| SWE | Johnny Oduya | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 17:28 |
| CZE | Michal Rozsival | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 19:16 |
In Wednesday’s other action Switzerland knocked off Latvia 1-0 behind a power play goal by Simon Moser with just eight seconds left. Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller stopped all 21 shots he faced.