MILAN, Italy — Slovakia clinched Group B in Olympic ice hockey 2026 on a head-to-head goal-difference tiebreak despite a 5-3 loss to Sweden, while Finland, Latvia and the United States also won on the fourth day of the men’s tournament in Milan, Feb. 14, 2026.
A late Dalibor Dvorsky power-play goal proved decisive in a three-way tie atop the group, and Finland’s 11-0 rout of host Italy turned the standings into a math problem where every goal mattered. Full results and tournament context were outlined in a Reuters recap of Saturday’s games.
Olympic ice hockey 2026: Slovakia wins Group B by losing
Sweden beat Slovakia 5-3 at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, but Slovakia left the ice celebrating anyway after Dvorsky’s goal with under a minute left locked in a tiebreak edge. Dvorsky called it “the best loss of my life,” as Slovakia waited for Finland’s later result to confirm the group win.
Sweden’s Elias Pettersson scored twice, with Joel Eriksson Ek, Adrian Kempe and Lucas Raymond also finding the net. Slovakia got goals from Juraj Slafkovsky, Martin Gernat and Dvorsky, and the late strike meant Sweden could win the game but still lose the group. The IIHF game story on Sweden-Slovakia detailed the scenario and the late twist that flipped the Group B table.
How the Group B tiebreaker worked
Finland, Sweden and Slovakia all finished group play with two wins and one loss. Under the tournament’s tiebreak procedure for a three-team tie, the ranking came down to results and goal differential in the head-to-head mini-table among the tied teams — not overall goal difference. Slovakia’s late goal against Sweden gave it the edge in that mini-table and sent it straight to the quarterfinals in Olympic ice hockey 2026.
Finland runs up the score on host Italy, 11-0
Finland thrashed Italy 11-0 in the day’s most one-sided result, with Sebastian Aho, Mikael Granlund, Kaapo Kakko and Joel Kiviranta scoring twice apiece as the Finns piled on from the opening minutes. Italy went winless in the group stage and now heads to the qualification round.
Finland’s players acknowledged the scoreboard had real value: once they couldn’t win the group, the next incentive was maximizing goals for the best runner-up spot and the extra rest that comes with a bye. “We tried to figure it out,” defenseman Olli Maatta said, as the day’s tiebreak permutations became clearer. The strange day in Group B — and why Finland kept pushing — was unpacked in NHL.com’s recap of Finland’s 11-0 win over Italy.
Olympic ice hockey 2026: U.S. and Latvia shake up Group C
In Group C, the United States rallied from a 2-1 first-period deficit to beat Denmark 6-3, using a three-goal second period to seize control before adding two more in the third. Denmark’s early push briefly unsettled the Americans, but Jack Eichel (one goal, one assist) helped turn the game, and the U.S. moved closer to clinching the top seed in the group heading into the final day of round-robin play in Olympic ice hockey 2026.
“No game’s going to be easy,” Eichel said afterward, as the U.S. pointed to lessons learned rather than style points. The U.S. comeback and the details of Denmark’s early strike were covered in an AP report on the U.S. win over Denmark.
Earlier, Latvia stunned Germany 4-3, coming from behind twice before building a 4-2 lead and surviving a late German push. Dans Locmelis scored two goals, and goaltender Arturs Silovs made 26 saves. “I just want to be part of something big,” Locmelis said as Latvia celebrated a statement win that tightened the race. The IIHF recap of Latvia’s 4-3 upset of Germany noted Germany’s NHL-heavy lineup and how Latvia exploited its chances at key moments.
What’s next in Olympic ice hockey 2026
With Group B settled, attention shifts to the remaining round-robin finales. Groups A and C complete group play Sunday, and the qualification round begins next, with the three group winners and the best second-place team advancing directly to the quarterfinals.
For a tournament that’s already been decided by margins, the message is simple: keep scoring, keep defending, and assume tiebreakers will matter — because they already have in Olympic ice hockey 2026.
Continuity check: how recent history set the stage
Slovakia’s confidence at Olympic ice hockey 2026 didn’t appear overnight. The program’s modern breakthrough came when it won its first Olympic men’s hockey medal at Beijing 2022, including a 4-0 bronze-medal win over Sweden, as recalled in the IIHF’s report on Slovakia’s first Olympic medal.
Latvia, meanwhile, has carried momentum from its first-ever men’s world championship medal in 2023 — a 4-3 overtime bronze-medal win over the United States — chronicled in the IIHF recap of Latvia’s historic 2023 bronze. That belief showed again Saturday against Germany.
And the broader backdrop for Olympic ice hockey 2026 is the return of NHL players to the Games for the first time since 2014, a process finalized last summer and explained in NHL.com’s report on the NHL’s Olympic participation agreement.
