The U.S. males’s hockey group rolled previous Slovakia in a 6–2 victory Friday, clinching a spot within the Olympic gold medal showdown towards Canada. The 2 sides will face off on Sunday.
Jack Hughes scored two targets, together with one with a highlight-reel particular person effort. The U.S. had no bother towards the Slovaks, who made an inconceivable run and have been merely overmatched.
It is the primary time in 16 years that the U.S. males’s hockey group has superior to the gold medal match.
Petr David Josek / AP
The final time the U.S. gained gold in males’s hockey was the “Miracle on Ice” group within the 1980 Winter Olympics, when the U.S. upset the Soviet Union 4–3.
In 2010, the U.S. took silver after dropping to Canada in time beyond regulation on Sidney Crosby’s well-known golden purpose. Crosby’s standing is unsure this time after getting injured within the quarterfinals Wednesday and never enjoying Friday towards Finland.
U.S. heart Vincent Trocheck instructed CBS Information profitable gold can be “all the pieces that we have all dreamed of since we have been children.”
“Watching ‘Miracle’ rising up, considering of the 1980 Olympic group, it is simply one thing that, as a child from the time we’re 5 years previous, watching that, we have all dreamt of being right here, dreamt of profitable a gold medal, and we have now the chance to do this Sunday,” Trocheck mentioned.
Winger Brady Tkachuk instructed CBS Information that with the sensation of a whole nation supporting them, “you are not simply enjoying for your self.”
Canada’s males’s hockey group beat Finland 3-2 within the semifinals on Friday. Finland and Slovakia will play for the bronze on Saturday. Slovakia is on the lookout for simply its second hockey medal within the nation’s historical past after getting the primary with a third-place end in Beijing in 2022.
A yr in the past, the U.S. and Canada performed two memorable video games towards one another on the 4 Nations Face-Off.
That NHL-run occasion ended a drought of almost a decade with out a global match that includes the most effective hockey gamers on the earth. Three fights within the first 9 seconds within the first assembly put the 4 Nations within the highlight, and their epic ultimate gained by Canada in time beyond regulation solely constructed the anticipation for the Olympics.
The U.S. is enjoying for gold after the semifinals have been a a lot simpler go than the quarterfinals towards Sweden, when time beyond regulation was wanted to outlive a scare. Dylan Larkin, Tage Thompson, Hughes and Eichel scored the 4 targets on 23 pictures that chased Samuel Hlavaj out of Slovakia’s web previous the halfway level of the second interval.
Thompson, one in all only a handful of newcomers who didn’t play on the 4 Nations, exited later within the second after blocking a shot. He was held out the remainder of the best way, in response to the NBC broadcast.
Hughes obtained his second simply after an influence play expired, and Brady Tkachuk scored on a breakaway with simply over 9 minutes left to offer some extra respiratory room.
Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck did his job as his teammates outshot Slovakia by a considerable margin. Every little thing he has executed on the Olympics has validated coach Mike Sullivan’s resolution to go along with Hellebuyck because the U.S. starter over Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman.
Hassan Ammar / AP 
The U.S. males’s win comes someday after the U.S. girls’s group defeated Canada and gained gold in a thrilling 2-1 time beyond regulation comeback.
U.S. males’s hockey defeated Sweden 2-1 in time beyond regulation in its quarterfinal on Wednesday.
Within the group stage final weekend, the U.S. beat Denmark 6-3 after overcoming an earlier deficit of 2-1 within the first interval. On Feb. 12, the U.S. opened the Olympics by rolling previous Latvia 5-1.
It is the primary time since 2014 that NHL gamers have been eligible to compete within the Olympic Video games. The league opted out of the Olympic Video games in 2022 on account of COVID-19, and restricted gamers in 2018, saying the video games would disrupt the NHL season.
