Olympic Hockey Wrapup: Erat picks up assist, Czechs and Swedes win unconvincingly

Only Martin Erat and Patric Hornqvist played in the early games today, with Erat picking up a primary assist on David Krejci game opening goal. Hornqvist had several good scoring opportunities on a line with Henrik Zetterberg and Peter Forsberg, but remains pointless through two games.

Sweden 4, Belarus 2

The Swedes jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Belarus stormed back to make it 3-2. Backup goalie Jonas Gustavsson started for Sweden, who, like Canada and Russia, have struggled with their early opponents. Daniel Alfredsson scored twice for Sweden, while Daniel Sedin and Johan Franzen scored their other markers. Sweden faces archrival Finland on Sunday.

Czech Republic 5, Latvia 2

In the absence of good play out of the Czechs' top line, the line of David Krejci, Martin Erat, and Tomas Fleischmann put together several solid shifts in the first period and finally broke through late on a goal from Krejci. The Czech Republic stormed out to a 4-0 lead before Latvia scored two in a row to make things interesting. Patrik Elias scored an empty netter, while Jaromir Jagr, Tomas Plekanec, and Tomas Kaberle also scored for the Republic. They play hated enemy Russia on Sunday afternoon to close group play.

Finland 5, Germany 0

Is Finland a dark horse to medal? It sure seems that way after they routinely dismissed Belarus and now crushed Germany while rivals Sweden had trouble with both teams. While its only been two games, the Finns are the only team without a "scare". Tuomo Ruutu, Kimmo Timonen (2), Jarkko Ruutu, and Joni Pitkanen scored for Finland who take on Sweden Sunday night.