Josh Samanski and Team Germany were eliminated after finishing with just 10 points in the preliminary round, leaving just four Oilers remaining in the tournament. Thursday saw all four quarter-final games take place, with Canada’s Evan Bouchard and Darnell Nurse taking on Isaac Howard’s U.S., while Mattias Ekholm’s Sweden took on Switzerland.

Let’s take a look at what went on in those games.

Canada defeats U.S., but lose Bouchard in the process

The Canadians defeated U.S. by a score of 4-0, but the bigger storyline of this game was Bouchard taking a nasty high hit about six and a half minutes into the first period. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t return to the game, and Seattle Kraken defenceman Ryan Lindgren was issued a five-minute major and a game misconduct.

Canada failed to score on that power play, but got on the board thanks to Macklin Celebrini’s goal with 89 seconds left in the first period. Midway through the second period, former Oiler Dylan Holloway gave the Canadians a 2-0 lead.

The Americans failed to score in the third, and the game was iced thanks to an empty-net goal scored by another former Oiler, Connor Brown. For good measure, Sidney Crosby scored an empty-net goal of his own for his first of the tournament.

While Canada moves on to the semi-finals, Bouchard’s tournament is likely done. Hopefully, it’s an easy recovery for the right-shot defenceman, who finished his tournament with a goal and six points in eight games, along with a +14.

There were two other Oilers involved in this game, Nurse and Howard. Starting with the former, Nurse played 19 and a half minutes of ice time, drawing a penalty and firing a shot on goal. The left-shot defenceman also was a +2, giving him six assists in eight games, with a +2 for the tournament.

Unfortunately, Howard’s tournament has concluded, as he played 15 minutes with three shots on goal in this game. Over the eight games that the forward played, he had three goals and four points, with two penalty minutes and a +1.

Mattias Ekholm’s tournament comes to an end with a loss to Switzerland

After just sneaking into the playoff round thanks to a victory against Slovakia on the final day of the preliminary round, Sweden’s tournament came to an end with a 3-1 loss to Switzerland.

Things started off well for the Swedes, as Linus Karlsson gave them a 1-0 lead just over six minutes into the first. But before the end of the opening frame, Roman Josi got the hosts on the board, sending the teams tied at one after 20.

Just three minutes into the second, Denis Malgin gave the Swiss their first lead of the game, which held up as the game-winner. Calvin Thürkauf scored an insurance goal for the Swiss six and a half minutes into the second, the final goal of the game despite Sweden’s 12 shots in the third period.

Chasing for most of the final 40 minutes, Ekholm’s ice time went from seven minutes in the first period to just under nine minutes in both the second and third. In the end, he finished as a -1 with no shots on goal. Over his eight games, he scored three goals and five points, and finished as a +6.

Other notes…

Elsewhere, the Finns defeated Czechia 4-1, while Norway defeated Latvia 2-0. The two semi-final games are on Saturday, with Nurse and the Canadians facing Jesse Puljujärvi’s Finland. That game has a 12:00 PM MT start time.

The winner of that game will face either Switzerland or Norway. Switzerland fell to the Americans in the gold medal game in the 2025 tournament, and the host team are one of the favourites to win it all since they’re 8-0-0-0.

Even if the Canadians lose their game on Saturday, they’ll play for the bronze medal on Sunday.