Slovakia Defeats Sweden to Win 2022 Olympic Men's Hockey Bronze Medal

Juraj Slafkovsky scored twice Saturday as Slovakia rolled to a 4-0 win over Sweden in the men's hockey bronze-medal game at the 2022 Winter Olympics at Beijing National Indoor Stadium.

Samuel Takac and Pavol Regenda also found the net for the Slovaks, who captured an Olympic medal in ice hockey for the first time. Patrik Rybar recorded a 28-save shutout in goal.

Finland and the Russian Olympic Committee will play for the gold medal on Saturday night at 11:10 p.m. ET.

Slovakia opened the tournament with back-to-back losses to Finland and Sweden by a combined score of 10-3. It bounced back to beat Latvia in its final game of the group stage, and the result appeared to provide a major spark for head coach Craig Ramsay's group.

The Slovaks crushed Germany in the opening round of the knockout stage, 4-0, and then upset top-seeded Team USA in the quarterfinals.

Their Cinderella run toward the gold medal ended with a 2-0 loss to Finland in the semifinals, but they still managed to secure a podium finish in one of the Games' marquee events.

Slafkovsky, 17, led the charge for Slovakia with a tournament-high seven goals, while Rybar paced all goalies with a .966 save percentage and two shutouts.

The strong showing by Slafkovsky should solidify his status as a likely top-10 selection in the 2022 NHL draft. No NHL players took part in the tournament at the Beijing Games because of concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, including long quarantine periods.

Slovakia's best previous finish in the Olympics was a fourth-place result in 2010.

Sweden just missed out on its 10th Olympic medal in men's hockey. It won gold in 1994 and 2006.

Looking ahead, the ROC will try to defend its gold medal from the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, which were also played without NHL involvement. It scored a 4-3 overtime win over Germany in the final four years ago.

The Russians will face a tough test from Finland, which is the only undefeated team left in the tournament and put up five straight wins to reach the gold-medal game.

It's one of the final medals that'll be handed out before Sunday's closing ceremonies in Beijing.