#mens-ice-hockey

#mens-ice-hockey

A day after the U.S. women captured gold in hockey, the U.S. men's team's quest for the same hardware continues Friday at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Team USA will face Slovakia in the semifinals after hanging on to defeat Sweden in overtime on Wednesday. Quinn Hughes, who scored the game-winning quarterfinal goal, called facing Slovakia in the next round "an extremely hard test." The No. 3 seed dominated Germany 6-2 to advance to play the U.S.

On an eventful afternoon/evening of hockey where three of the four quarterfinal games of the 2026 Winter Olympics men's hockey tournament went into overtime, Quinn Hughes proved to be the hero for the Americans. Hughes lit the lamp 3:27 into 3-on-3 overtime Wednesday, helping Team USA outlast Sweden, 2-1. Dylan Larkin also scored for the Americans, who suddenly found themselves on the ropes after Mika Zibanejad scored the equalizer for Sweden with just 1:31 left in regulation.

Slovakia follows shortly 2 minutes later at 29:48, tying the scores once again with another goal from Martin Gernát, assisted by Peter Čerešňák and Adam Ružička. Sweden dominated the boards once again from Elias Pettersson, recording his first ever WInter Olympics goal, assisted by Filip Forsberg and Victor Hedman, as fans cheered in the stands with Sweden making the scores 3-2.

Tkachuk was credited with the seconday helper on Auston Matthews' power-play goal at the 3:25 mark and then drew the primay assist on Brock Faber's even-strength marker with 2:25 left in the frame. He played 14:57, registered three shots on goal, took an unsportsmanlike conduct minor and finished the tilt with a plus-one rating as the Americans topped Group C with a perfect 3-0 record.

The game was somewhat reminiscent to Sweden's 5-2 win over Italy earlier in the week, with the States dominating on the shot clock but suffering from some less than stellar goaltending to keep the game tight headed into the final frame. The Danes pushed the States to the point where they trailed 4-3 going into the third period, but the States kept the pressure up and eventually scored two goals to ice the game and take the 6-3 victory.

Thursday marks the second day of the men's ice hockey tournament at the 2026 Olympics in Milan Cortina. On Wednesday, Slovakia stunned the hockey world by defeating Finland 4-1 in the first game of the tournament. Then, Sweden survived a spirited effort from the host Italians, winning 5-2 after allowing the opening goal in the first period. With four games on the schedule on Thursday, that means eight teams are in action, consisting of all four from Groups A and C.