MILAN — Canada general manager Doug Armstrong looked like he’d narrowly avoided a car crash after his team escaped overtime Wednesday against Czechia with a 4-3 win. NBC’s cameras caught Team USA GM Bill Guerin during his team’s overtime against Sweden looking like he had the flu.
And those were the guys who won.
So what of Slovakia, surprise entrants into the Olympic semifinals and Team USA’s opponents Friday in prime time in Italy and at 3:10 back on the East Coast?
“We play the sport we love, right?” Dalibor Dvorsky, 20-year-old St. Louis Blue who has been a revelation for his country in these Games, said Wednesday after Slovakia downed Germany, 6-2, in the only quarterfinal that did not inspire heart palpitations. “We should be having fun playing it and we are. So it’s great.”
Slovakia comes into this semifinal with no pressure whatsoever on their shoulders. Their goal here in Milan was a quarterfinal.
Now, despite a relative lack of pedigree — they’ve got some NHLers, and a legit star in Juraj Slafkovsky, but nothing like the talent up and down the lineup for Team USA or Canada — they’re guaranteed to at least have the chance to match their 2022 bronze medal. And they are having a blast.
“It’s probably 100 times better [than 2022],” Slafkovsky, the breakout player of these Games, said. “You’ve got the best players over here and we managed to come here and go to the semifinals. It’s big for me, big for our country, big for every supporter we have.”
It shows on the ice, where they’ve played a more connected game than many of their more-talented-on-paper counterparts such as Finland, which they beat in the group stage, and Sweden, which went home early on Wednesday night.
Slafkovsky, the 2022 No. 1 overall pick and Montreal Canadiens winger has looked every bit a superstar with seven points across four games in Milan, but Tuesday against Germany, it was everyone else who stepped up as he was held to just one assist. NHLers or not, it served as proof that Slovakia has players to be reckoned with across its lineup.
“I think it’s really huge for our team,” Capitals defenseman Martin Fehervary said. “It’s not just the one line. Felt like all of our lines can score. They proved it today. I feel like we just gotta keep it like this. It’s really huge.”
2026 WINTER OLYMPICS
To state the obvious, Slovakia is an enormous underdog on Friday against Team USA. But they were underdogs against Finland in the group stage, and underdogs to make it as far as this. So what does that matter?
“We’re in these Olympics, everybody’s looking ready now,” Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak said. “In every single game we’re playing like a team. Like a family.”
