If u want gold you're gonna have to play them at some point anyway.
Uh, yeah, no.
Canada was supposed to have to play Sweden for a chance to play for Gold in 2002, but Sweden was upset by Belarus and Canada cakewalked their way to the finals.
And more to the point, I'd rather go through Switzerland-one of Slovakia/Czech, Russia, Finland or Canada/USA and then Sweden or Slovakia/Czech than having to play one of Finland or Russia, then probably Sweden or Canada/USA before playing Finland/Russia or Czech/Slovakia for the Gold. That semi-final game will result in 3 of the big 7 being gone while you get to roll over the clear 8th best team.