Slovakia Wins First Men's Olympic Hockey Medal After Beating Sweden

For the first time in the team's history, Slovakia has won a medal at the Winter Olympics, beating Sweden 4-0 for the bronze on Saturday.

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Shades of 2015, anyone?

For the first time in the team's history, Slovakia has won a medal at the Winter Olympics, beating Sweden 4-0 for the bronze on Saturday.

It's the first men's medal in a major international tournament for Slovakia since winning silver in the 2012 World Championship. Ten years prior, Slovakia won gold in that same tournament.

Slovakia's most recent medal at the World Junior Championship level also came against Sweden, a bronze medal game victory back in 2015 in Canada.

Sweden has yet to win a medal since finishing second in Sochi eight years ago. Sweden's last bronze was in 1988 following a three-tournament run as the third-best team.

Juraj Slafkovsky, a top-10 projected prospect for the 2022 NHL draft, scored at 23:17 to break a deadlock. It was his sixth goal of the tournament, good for first in the tournament ahead of Sweden's Lucas Wallmark.

Nine minutes later, veteran Samuel Takac scored on the veteran to double the advantage, forcing Sweden to play catch-up the rest of the way. Unfortunately for Tre Kronor, the third period was dominated by Slovakia, highlighted by another goal for Slafkovsky for the 3-0 goal and one from Pavol Regenda to make it 4-0.