Slovakia wins bronze in men's ice hockey beating Sweden

Published : 19 Feb 2022, 20:29

Updated : 19 Feb 2022, 20:33

DF News Desk

Players of Slovakia pose after the awarding ceremony following ice hockey men's bronze medal game of Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics between Sweden and Slovakia at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Feb. 19. Photo: Xinhua by Meng Yongmin.

Slovakia claimed its first Olympic men's ice hockey medal after defeating Sweden 4-0 in the bronze medal match at Beijing 2022 here on Saturday, reported Xinhua.

The Slovaks were desperate to win as they lost the bronze medal game to Finland at Vancouver 2010.

17-year-old Slovak forward Juraj Slafkovsky scored his sixth goal in Beijing at 23:17, and Samuel Takac put the puck into the net at 32:47 in power play.

Slafkovsky scored again at 58:26 when Sweden's goalkeeper was out, and Pavol Regenda threw the puck into the net 20 seconds later.

Slovakia edged past the United States 3-2 through a shootout in the quarterfinals, before losing to Finland 2-0 in the semifinals.

Sweden advanced with an impressive 2-0 win over world No. 1 Canada in the quarterfinals, and was defeated by defending champions the Russian Olympic Committee 2-1 via shootout in the semifinals.

Finland will face Russia (ROC- Russian Olympic Committee in the gold medal match on Sunday.