Granlund's Finland surges toward Olympic glory, while Gudas and Dostal's medal hopes end in a thrilling quarterfinal overtime loss.
The 2026 Olympic Games are coming to an end, as all four men’s hockey quarterfinals were played on Wednesday.
The Anaheim Ducks had three players in action: Lukas Dostal (Czechia), Radko Gudas (Czechia), and Mikael Granlund (Finland). Damian Clara’s Italy squad was eliminated on Tuesday, and Jackson LaCombe was a healthy scratch for the fourth consecutive game for the United States.
Radko Gudas (Czechia vs. Canada)
Czechia: 3, Canada: 4 OT
With the way the qualifying games shook out after the preliminary round, Czechia found themselves facing Canada for the second time in five games. They had lost 5-0 to open the tournament and were more prepared to face the gold-medal favorite in the quarterfinals.
An evenly-played first period saw Czechia take a 2-1 lead into the second period, and Canada handily controlled the majority of possession from there. Behind astute interior defending from Gudas and the blueline, Dostal made a handful of big saves and gave his team a chance to win.
Ondrej Palat gave Czechia a 3-2 lead late in the third period, but it was answered by Nick Suzuki four minutes later, and the game was sent to overtime, where Mitch Marner advanced Canada to the semis after a minute and a half of OT.
Gudas made his presence felt early and often on the defensive side of the puck, not only by providing his trademark physical play, but with keen anticipation skills that disrupted several Canadian attacks through the neutral zone.
Unfortunately, one of those neutral zone pressures sent Canada captain Sidney Crosby to the locker room for the remainder of the game with a lower-body injury. Gudas stepped up on Crosby, as an outlet in the second period, and Crosby seemingly attempted to dodge the hit, but folded on his right leg in an unfortunate way. No penalty was called on the ice.
Gudas had an up-and-down tournament, but saved his best hockey for when it mattered most in today’s game. Gudas finished this game with an assist, a high-skilled play where he picked off a cross-ice neutral zone pass and turned it the other way, starting a 3v2. He also registered two penalty minutes and two shots on goal in 19:57 TOI.
He finished his second, and what will likely be his last, Olympic Games with a point (an assist) in five games played, but he won’t bring a medal home with him.
Lukas Dostal (Czechia vs. Canada)
Czechia: 3, Canada: 4 OT
Much like the rest of the tournament and his entire 2025-26 season with the Anaheim Ducks, Dostal played very well. However, “very well” is below the superhuman level he needed to perform at if he was to carry his Czech team to the podium at these Olympics.
As mentioned, he did enough to earn a win in this game, but he didn’t solely win the game for Czechia. He brought his entire arsenal to this quarterfinal matchup: perfect lateral puck tracking, powerful pushes when pucks moved from the goal line to the slot or dots, and terrific rebound control.
The element that stood out most this tournament, with Czechia’s suspect blueline as a whole, was his ability to knock down dump-ins and individually start breakouts with pinpoint outlets to his defensemen or wingers up the wall.
Dostal finished this game by saving 37 of the 41 shots he faced for a .902 SV%. He finished his first Olympic Games medal-less, sporting a 1-3-0 record, and an .886 SV%.
Mikael Granlund (Finland vs. Switzerland)
Finland: 3, Switzerland: 2 OT
Switzerland gave Finland quite the scare, as Switzerland had been one of the more impressive and cohesive teams in this tournament, even without the services of star forward Kevin Fiala. Switzerland got a pair of goals late in the first period of what was a high-intensity back-and-forth affair.
Sebastian Aho and MIro Heiskanen dashed the Swiss’s hopes of winning in regulation with a pair of late goals that sent the game to overtime, as the Finnish firepower proved too overwhelming and unrelenting for Switzerland. On the ropes, the Finnish coaching staff threw their forward lines into a blender halfway through the game with hopes of igniting a comeback, and they were eventually rewarded.
Finland captain and Ducks’ forward Mikael Granlund started the game in the spot where he started the tournament: on the left wing of Roope Hintz and opposite Mikko Rantanen. As lines were tinkered with, he played with Sebastian Aho and Tuevo Teravainen for a stretch in the second, and played most of the third with Hintz and Kaapo Kakko. It will be curious to monitor how the lines shake out for Finland’s all-important semi-final game against Canada on Friday.
He was mostly a non-factor on the top line, but provided linemates with steady defensive habits, typically as an F3. When lines began to mix, he earned more puck touches, made several connecting plays to advance pucks up ice, and displayed elite edges multiple times when breaking down defenders along the offensive wall.
Granlund finished this game scoreless with four shots on goal in 20:12 TOI, third-most among Finnish forwards.