On Thursday, the United States won gold in women’s hockey in a thrilling overtime victory over Canada. On the men’s side, USA has to go through the semifinals before fixing its eyes on a gold medal run as well.
America earned its semifinal berth after a 2-1 overtime win over Sweden on Wednesday. Slovakia beat Germany 6-2 on their way to the semifinals, outscoring every other team in the quarterfinals.
In the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, America lost in a penalty shootout to Slovakia after the quarterfinal game ended 2-2 in regular time and overtime. Slovakia would go on to win bronze at Beijing, their best finish in the Winter Olympics to date.
Before 2022, Team USA won 3 straight Olympic games over Slovakia, including two games at the 2018 Sochi Winter Games (pool play and qualification round). Their first game at the 1994 Winter Games resulted in a tie in the pool play round.
On the other side of the men’s semifinals, Canada and Finland will face off on Friday as well. Finland looks to return to the finals, after winning the gold medal in men’s hockey in Beijing in 2022.
The men’s semifinal action can be seen on NBC New York, and also through streaming on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com.
