MILAN — Of all the remarkable things that happened during Slovakia’s 6-2 quarterfinal victory over Germany on Wednesday afternoon, perhaps the most impressive feat belonged to the Slovak athletic trainer, who deftly managed to keep an ice pack on the nation’s most important neck as Juraj Slafkovský leapt to his feet in celebration of Milos Kelemen’s second-period goal.
Moments earlier, Slafkovský, the 21-year-old rising superstar who has put Slovakia back on the hockey map, had gone head-first into the boards, partially from his own momentum, partially from a nudge from a Moritz Seider fly-by. Slafkovský lay flat on the ice, face down, for several seconds before slowly getting up and trudging back to the bench, where he received a quick neck rub and an ice pack. A hockey-loving nation, which has been waiting for a player like this — for a team like this — since the days of Marián Hossa, Zdeno Chára, Peter Bondra, Pavol Demitra, Ziggy Palffy and Marián Gaborik, held its collective breath.
Then Kelemen went outside and inside around German defenseman Lukas Kälble, sending the pretzeled German off his feet and the fans at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena — and Slafkovský — onto theirs with a slick backhander over Philipp Grubauer’s outstretched glove. Thirty-three seconds later, Oliver Okuliar made it 3-0, and the rout was on.
Slovakia is back. Back in the spotlight. Back to international relevance. Back to playing for medals.
“I still kind of can’t believe we made it to (the) top four,” Washington Capitals defenseman Martin Fehérváry said. “Obviously, I believed in our group, but this tournament — NHL players, stars on the other teams — it seems a little bit unreal. I’m just so happy and excited. I never really made it to (the) top four at some big tournament.”
Slovakia is actually the defending Olympic bronze medalist after a stirring run in Beijing in 2022. But that tournament was held without fans because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and without NHL players. This is something entirely different, and it’s a shocking performance from a young team that’s at least four years ahead of schedule.
The upstart Slovaks, by far the story of this otherwise milquetoast tournament, will face either the United States or the winner of Wednesday’s Switzerland-Finland game in the semifinals on Friday, and are guaranteed to play in a medal game. When the tournament began, the thought of another bronze medal was almost laughable, a long-term goal that just didn’t seem realistic yet for this young group of players, most of whom toil in relative anonymity in leagues in the Czech Republic or Switzerland.
Now, they’re thinking about gold. Why the heck not?
“Yeah, for sure,” New Jersey Devils defenseman Šimon Nemec said. “If we’re in the semifinal, you have to think about that.”
That Slafkovský was on the bench for the 33-second span that turned this game from a taut affair to a laugher shouldn’t be overlooked. Slafkovský, the Montreal Canadiens winger who was the NHL’s No. 1 draft pick in 2022, has gotten the lion’s share of the attention in these Games, and understandably so. He’s a true star and a big-game performer, with 10 goals in 10 Olympic games entering the quarterfinals. He’s the hope of a nation.
But he’s not alone. Against a German team with high expectations and a much higher level of talent — Leon Draisaitl, Tim Stützle, JJ Peterka, Seider, Grubauer — Slovakia had a total team effort to advance to the semis. St. Louis Blues rookie Dalibor Dvorský has been consistently excellent in Milan and has three goals and three assists in four games after adding one of each against Germany. San Jose Sharks rookie Pavol Regenda had two goals and an assist as well. Nemec has been dynamic on the back end. Samuel Hlavaj, who struggled so mightily in the American Hockey League this season that the Minnesota Wild demoted him to the ECHL for a game — has been a rock in net, with a .932 save percentage in three starts.
And the rest of the mostly anonymous Slovaks — only seven are in the NHL — have completely bought in on a smart, physical, conservative-but-opportunistic team game that has allowed them to stun Finland in the opener, survive a scare from Italy, then give mighty Sweden a tough game in the group-stage finale. In that Sweden game, the Slovaks scored a late goal that made a loss effectively a win, as it gave them the edge in goal differential, meaning a Group B victory and a bye into the quarterfinals.
“It’s not going to be about Slafkovský or Nemec or other guys,” Slovakia coach Vladimir Országh said. “If we want to be successful, we can’t be about a couple guys. And our team is not about a couple guys. Our team is about 25 guys we have on the roster. They work, they stick together on the ice and every day somebody else is a hero. But for me, all the guys are heroes.”
Not only are the Slovaks playing well, but they’re also playing loose. They seem to be having more fun than any other team in the tournament, from their silly goal song to their joke-filled press scrums.
Turns out, playing hockey with your friends is fun.
“I don’t know how many games we’ve played together. We played so many games together,” Nemec said. “We know each other and it’s more fun to play if you know the guys, if you grow up with them. Like me, Juraj, Dalibor — we are really good friends. Then it’s easier to play with them.”
“We play the sport we love, right?” Dvorský added. “We should be having fun playing it, and we are.”
On the other side, the Germans were in almost disbelief. Given their star power and expectations, the 2026 Olympics were nothing short of a disaster for Germany, which brought its deepest roster ever to Milan.
“I think we threw way too many pucks away,” Stützle said through gritted teeth. “Especially if we had them in the O-zone, we were shooting into way too many blocks. It happened a lot this tournament, where we kind of got out-chanced in the second period, where they get two-on-one, three-on-one breaks. We did it again today.”
It was supposed to be Germany or the Czech Republic or Switzerland that upended this tournament. But it was Slovakia who crashed the party. And given the age and dynamic nature of their team — Slafkovský is 21, Dvorský is 20, Nemec is 22, Regenda, Martin Pospíšil and Martin Fehérváry are 26, Hlavaj is 24 — it’ll be the last time they’re overlooked.
The upstarts are just starting up.
“Coming into the tournament, seeing the roster, I don’t think anybody believed us,” Regenda said. “And probably neither did we. … In a tournament like underdogs can bite really hard, so we are really happy where we are right now. Top four, unbelievable.”
