Here's The Bracket Tuesday, Feb. 17 — Qualification Playoffs 6:10 a.m. ET - Germany vs France 6:10 a.m. ET - Switzerland vs Italy 10:40 a.m.

With the preliminary round coming to a close, It’s time to play for the gold medal in men’s hockey at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.

MILAN (AP) — Fans, try to keep up: Sometimes the hockey tournament at the Olympics isn’t just win and move on. Slovakia was all smiles after losing 5-3 to Sweden on Saturday. That is because Dalibor Dvorsky scored with 39 seconds left to make it a two-goal margin instead of three and it also gave Slovakia the tiebreaker it needed to win the group and advance automatically to the quarterfinals.

Slovakia opened the 2026 Winter Olympics with a decisive 4–1 victory over defending champion Finland, powered by two goals from Juraj Slafkovský and a 38-save performance from Samuel Hlavaj.

Slovakia is upsetting the power dynamics at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. It was expected that the Slovaks, who are in a group with Finland and Sweden, would f

Who is Samuel Hlavaj? Here's what to know about the Slovakia men's hockey goaltender who set a country record for saves at the Winter Olympics.

The Trencin native was overtaken by Juraj Slafkovsky and Simon Nemec at the 2022 NHL Draft at Bell Centre in Montreal. Slafkovsky, a forward, was chosen by the Montreal Canadiens with the No. 1 pick. Nemec, a defenseman, was taken by the New Jersey Devils at No. 2.

It’s been a lethargic start to the Olympics for Sweden’s men’s hockey club. As a recap: The Swedes let the Italians, who began the tournament with 100/1 gold medal odds, not only strike first, but settled for a 5-2 victory after spending 60 minutes of fruitless target practice.

Slovakia and Finland face off in this Group B men's ice hockey matchup during the 2026 Winter Olympics on Wednesday.