For the first time in history, Slovakia won an Olympic medal in hockey. They beat Sweden 4-0 in the bronze medal final on Saturday morning.
Posted at 10:41 a.m.
After the elimination of Canada and the United States in the quarter-finals, the door was wide open for the Slovak team to win a first Olympic medal. And she took advantage of it.
After a scoreless first period, Slovakia’s Juraj Slafkovsky scored his sixth in seven games with an accurate shot into the top of the net early in the second frame. Samuel Takac added just under ten minutes later, widening the gap to 2-0.
The Slovaks defended very well in the third period. With less than two minutes to play in the game, the Swede Pontus Holmberg, alone in front of the opposing goalkeeper, came very close to closing the gap, but his shot did not hit the goal.
Juraj Slafkovsky scored his second of the game and his seventh of the tournament in an empty net late in the game. His teammate Pavol Regenda did the same a few seconds later to make it 4-0. The Slovaks, all smiles, celebrated this bronze medal as if it were gold.
Slovakia directed 43 shots at the keeper, against 28 for Sweden.
A Quebecer, Olivier Gouin, was also one of the officials.
The gold medal match between Finland and the Russian Olympic Committee is tonight at 11:10 p.m.