The Associated Press Sweden’s Adrian Kempe (19) celebrates after scoring his side’s opening goal against Latvia Tuesday.

MILAN — Like a shock to the system, hockey at the Olympics goes from nobody getting eliminated in group play to a single-elimination knockout round until one team is left standing. It’s Game 7 every time.

“The anxiety just goes up a little bit,” said Drew Doughty, a three-time Olympian for Canada. “But all these guys on our team are made for these situations.”

With Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby leading the way, Canada looks primed for another run to the gold-medal game after winning each of the previous two Olympics with NHL players in 2014 and 2010. The U.S. could be on a collision course to meet its northern neighbor in the final, but Finland, Slovakia and others are out to spoil the story line that fans in North America are rooting for.

The quarterfinals are up today, with Canada set to face Czechia and the U.S. playing Sweden. It’s Finland against Switzerland and Slovakia versus Germany in the other games.

“This is this when the fun begins,” Sweden captain Gabriel Landeskog said.

1 Canada vs. 8 Czechia 10:40 a.m.: McDavid has nine points in nine periods, Macklin Celebrini has four goals and Canada outscored opponents by 17 in the preliminary round. Top-four defenseman Josh Morrissey looks as though he’ll return from his injury absence, and two-time Stanley Cup-winning winger Brad Marchand is available for coach Jon Cooper.

Canada is absolutely the team to beat in Milan, and the Czechs know it all too well from getting beat 5-0 by Crosby and Co. in each team’s opener.

“This might be the best team ever,” Czechia’s David Pastrnak said. “So, maybe let’s put the respect aside a little bit and try to take their game to them. Offensively, their power is incredible. … We have nothing to lose, so we’re going to go out there and leave it all out there.”

2 U.S. vs. 7 Sweden 3:10 p.m.: Facing Latvia, Denmark and Germany in the preliminary round allowed U.S. coach Mike Sullivan to hone in on his optimal lineup and Connor Hellebuyck to show why he’s the clear-cut starting goaltender. Winning 5-1, 6-3 and 5-1 means the Americans have not been tested as much as some other top contenders so far.

That changes against Sweden, which had to play in the qualification round and beat Latvia just to get to this stage.

“As this tournament starts to move forward, the stakes get higher,” Sullivan said. “The competition gets stiffer, and I think our guys are excited for that challenge.”

3 Slovakia vs. 6 Germany 6:10 a.m.: Slovakia was the beneficiary of Sweden’s slip-up, but upsetting Finland last week put Juraj Slafkovsky and his teammates in an advantageous spot in the bracket.

4 Finland vs. 5 Switzerland 12:10 p.m.: Bouncing back from its surprising loss to Slovakia, Finland beat archrival Sweden and ran up the score on Italy to clinch the fourth spot and avoid the extra qualification game. Switzerland shut out Italy 3-0 to reach the quarterfinals.