Slovakia has long been hockey’s seventh member of the Big Six. A team that routinely produces great NHLers and provides upsets at the international level, but never deep enough to reach a gold medal game, much less win one. And in the late 2010s, it looked like they were vulnerable to being surpassed by other European programs like Germany and Latvia.

Sweden is one of the best hockey countries on Earth. But their dominance hasn’t translated into a ton of gold since Torino 2006, and the gap between themselves and teams like Canada and the US appears to be growing. Both of these countries have something to prove for different reasons, which meant we were in for a battle.

SWEDEN GOAL: Joel Eriksson Ek (1) – Assists: Adrian Kempe (2) – 1-0 Sweden

The Swedes had to come out flying with more to lose, so even though they took an early penalty, it makes sense that they scored first on a shorthanded jam play by Joel Eriksson Ek.

SLOVAKIA GOAL: Juraj Slafkovský (3) – Assists: Simon Nemec (2), Martin Gernat (3) – 1-1 Tied

The Slovaks needed only a minute and a half to answer back. Juraj Slafkovský continued his Olympic dominance with his third goal of the tourney, a gorgeous, post-and-in one timer buried behind former Canuck Jacob Markstrom. There’s a lot of hockey left to play, but Slafkovský is making a strong early case for tournament MVP.

SWEDEN GOAL: Adrian Kempe (1) – Assists: Rasmus Dahlin (4), Lucas Raymond (2) – 2-1 Sweden

In the second period, the Swedes found themselves on the right end of a controversial penalty. Pavol Regenda was whistled for kneeing another former Canuck, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and it took Sweden’s loaded power play just five seconds for Rasmus Dahlin to serve up a one-timer to Adrian Kempe for the 2-1 lead.

Dahlin ends the round robin with four assists and has been a driving force for Sweden in this tournament. If the Swedes ever settle down and play their game, he’ll be a real threat in the later rounds.

SLOVAKIA GOAL: Martin Gernat (1) – Assists: Peter Ceresnak (1), Adam Ruzicka (1) – 2-2 Tied

At the halfway mark of the hockey game, the Slovaks once again found a response with a power play goal of their own. After William Nylander was sent to the box for tripping, a shot block put the puck on the stick of Martin Gernat that he shot past Markstrom.

SWEDEN GOAL: Elias Pettersson (1) – Assists: Filip Forsberg (1), Victor Hedman (1) – 3-2 Sweden

Ladies and gentlemen, we have an Elias Pettersson goal.

EP40 took the puck from Filip Forsberg as the Slovak defenders closed in near the blue line, found his shooting lane, and slid the puck through the legs of Samuel Hlavaj to give the Swedes the lead back.

The emotions he had scoring that goal were the most we’ve seen from Pettersson in a long, long time.

SWEDEN GOAL: Elias Pettersson (2) – Assists: Lucas Raymond (3), Erik Karlsson (2) – 4-2 Sweden

In the third period, all the Swedes needed was to find two more goals and prevent the Slovaks from scoring. And with his teammates struggling to find the next goal, EP40 stepped up again. A lot of the play is courtesy of a great pass by Lucas Raymond from the corner that Pettersson read perfectly and smashed to the back of the net for his second of the game. A two goal lead and one more away from a first round bye.

SWEDEN GOAL: Lucas Raymond (1) – Assists: Mika Zibanejad (2), Erik Karlsson (3) – 5-2 Sweden

After setting up Pettersson’s last goal, Lucas Raymond scored the goal of the tournament.

Raymond deked out the Slovak defender with a between the legs move, and cut to the net and stuffed the puck between Hlavaj’s pads to give Sweden their sorely needed two goal cushion.

Jason Gold

@JayGold85

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What a move. What a goal. Lucas Raymond, oh baby!

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1:29 PM · Feb 14, 2026

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SLOVAKIA GOAL: Dalibor Dvorsky (2) – Assists: Juraj Slafkovský (3), Peter Ceresnak (2) – 5-3 Sweden

But right as looked like Raymond would be the hero, he ended up flipping the results upside down.

With Raymond in the box, Dalibor Dvorksy scored arguably the biggest 5-3 goal in international hockey history. The power play goal ensured that Slovakia would win the head-to-head goal differential over Sweden and Finland, sealing Group B and a bye to the quarterfinals. It’s not often you see a team celebrate a loss at the final horn, but Slovakia sure did.

There’ll be some very good teams fighting for their lives in the 5-12 seed matchups.

Latvia vs. Germany

While Pettersson had the first two goal game by a Canucks at the Olympics, this game between two teams battling for ‘who finishes higher behind the US?’ gave us our first Canucks goal of the tournament!

GERMANY GOAL: Lucas Reichel (1): Assists: Dominik Kahun , Lukas Kälble – 1-0 Germany

The Germans would go on to lose this game 4-3 being played simultaneously with Sweden-Slovakia, but Reichel put his stamp on it two minutes in when he got behind the defence off a pass from Dominik Kahun, and snapped the puck over the blocker side of Arturs Silovs to open the scoring.

The Latvians would go on to score four of the next five goals and managed to keep Leon Draisaitl and Tim Stützle off the board right up until the final minutes of play. Teddy Blueger played 17 minutes of ice time, but put up bagels on the scoresheet. We’ll see if he rediscovers his scoring touch from Vancouver in their final game tomorrow against Denmark with a chance to clinch second place on the line. Meanwhile Reichel and the Germans will look to create an upset against the mighty United States.

Finland vs. Italy

I’ll be honest, there’s not much reason to go over this game. Whatever competitive home ice advantage Italy had in their first two games completely dried up against the Finns, who smashed them to the tune of 11-0. The game set records for goals scored by one team in an Olympic game with NHL players, and a record for shots on goal with Finland throwing 62 of them at the Italian net.

Mikko Rantanen, Kaapo Kakko and Artturi Lehkonen led the way with three points apiece. Joel Kiviranta, Mikael Granlund and Sebastian Aho scored a pair of goals each. And only two forwards – Roope Hintz and Eeli Tolvanen – ended up without single point. Needless to say, whatever rust Finland had in their opener against Slovakia seems long gone now, and whatever team they face in the knockout rounds is in for a rude surprise.

The Finn’s lone Canuck, Kevin Lankinen, did not suit up in this contest; Jusse Saros picked up the shutout with 15 saves while Joonas Korpisalo served in the backup role.

Canucks

Pettersson: He scored twice! A genuinely great night in just 11:15 of ice time, and impactful in giving Sweden a fighting chance to win Group B, even if it was for naught.

Reichel: He scored the opening goal in a losing effort, but he did earn nearly 17 minutes of ice time for Germany. Clearly they like what he’s bringing to the table.

Blueger: 17 minutes of ice time and nothing to show for it stats wise except the regulation win. In his team’s eyes that’s probably better anyway.

Ravinskis: He played less than four minutes. All there is to say really.

Around the Rinks

The Canadian women are off to the semifinals after beating Germany 5-1, in an effort led by a pair of Goldeneyes. Emerance Maschmeyer picked up the W with nine saves, while defender Claire Thompson’s first period goal ended up as the game winner. They’ll face Switzerland in the semifinals on Monday. It’s also worth noting that the Germans got the quarterfinal off the performance of another Goldeneye, North Vancouver native Nina Jobst-Smith. The defender scored a pair of key goals in round robin play – their first of the tournament and an overtime winner – to even get them to the knockout stages. Jobst-Smith played a team-leading 28 minutes in this game as well. Easily Germany’s MVP of this tournament.

In the lone non-Canucks related game of the day, the United States overcame the adversity of Jeremy Swayman allowing a centre ice goal to win 6-3 over Denmark and set themselves up to comfortably win Group C tomorrow.The Danes put up a decent fight and kept the game close with a 4-3 USA lead heading into the final period, but the Americans eventually pulled away with goals by Jake Guentzel and Jack Hughes. Germany is now the last hope to keeping them from stealing the top spot in the quarterfinals from Canada. We’ll see what tomorrow brings when the group stage closes.