MILAN (AP) — Matthew Tkachuk insists he and his U.S. teammates were only focused on beating Germany in their preliminary round finale and never worried about scoring enough goals to pass Canada for the top seed at the Olympics.

The U.S. men’s hockey team defeated Germany on Sunday at the 2026 Winter Olympics and earned a bye to the quarterfinals.

Make no mistake, Germany wins plenty on the women's side. But the U.S. women have more than held their own, coming to this Olympics with the reigning world monobob champion in Kaysha Love, a five-time Olympic medalist in Elana Meyers Taylor and a three-time Olympic gold medalist in Kaillie Humphries Armbruster.