MILAN — Three of hockey’s international powerhouses are in the semifinals at the Milan Cortina Olympics after getting a scare at the start of the knockout round.
The United States, Canada and Finland all won in overtime in the quarterfinals to move one victory away from playing for the gold medal. They may turn out to be better for it.
“You have that experience now as a group that you can come through some adversity, and I think it’s good,” Finland’s Sebastian Aho said. “I think it’s useful. At the end of the day, you either win or lose and that’s all that matters, but, yeah, maybe the way we came back (against Switzerland), I hope that’s going to give us some momentum.”
Slovakia is the underdog party-crasher making an improbable run in the tournament but also had little trouble reaching the semis with a dominant victory against Germany.
The U.S. faces Slovakia in Friday’s semifinals knowing it would be foolish to underestimate anyone at this stage. Canada may be without injured captain Sidney Crosby when it plays Finland.
Canada vs. Finland (4:40 p.m. CET/10:40 a.m. EST)
With or without Crosby, Canada is favored to reach the final at the Olympics for a third consecutive time with NHL players involved after winning gold in 2010 and ‘14. Getting through Czechia in the quarterfinals was a tougher test than expected and required a tying goal from Nick Suzuki with 3 1/2 minutes left in regulation and another from Mitch Marner in overtime.
Finland trailed by two goals for much of its quarterfinal against Switzerland. Aho finally got the Finns on the board with 6:06 remaining in the third period, Miro Heiskanen tied it with 62 seconds left and Artturi Lehkonen scored in OT to finish the comeback.
“Your tournament kind of flashes before your eyes,” Canada’s Connor McDavid said. “Makes you grateful for another day here in this tournament, grateful for another game. They feel the same way, I’m sure. I know we feel energized by it. I’m sure they are, too.”
When these teams met with largely the same rosters at the 4 Nations Face-Off a year ago, Canada won 5-3. Now they’re facing off for a spot in the final.
“I’m sure there’s a lot of juice to the game,” Finland captain Mikael Granlund said. “Two really good teams playing against each other. It’s going to be a tight game.”
Canada is undefeated. Finland has won all its games since losing to Slovakia in its opener and has found the usual structure that makes the country tough in international play.
“I don’t care where you are, what tournament it is, the Finns always seem to be standing when it comes to medal time,” Canada coach Jon Cooper said. “If you remotely take that team lightly, they’re going to bite you.”
U.S. vs. Slovakia (9:10 p.m. CET/3:10 p.m. EST)
The U.S. feels the same way about upstart Slovakia. Emerging Montreal Canadiens star Juraj Slafkovsky is producing at a high level for a second consecutive Olympics after he was the tournament MVP in Beijing in 2022.
“Their big guys and Slafkovsky, in particular, he’s a horse,” U.S. center Dylan Larkin said. “He’s been that for them. … They’ve been extremely dangerous.”
Quinn and Jack Hughes have been the best U.S. players in Milan, with Connor Hellebuyck also providing the reliable goaltending needed at an event like this.
“He’s just an unreal guy to play in front of because he gives you a chance each and every night,” winger Matthew Tkachuk said. “He’s so big. He plays the puck so well. Seems like when the puck hits him, it’s glued to him. I just love his confidence. I love his calmness. It’s exactly what you want in a No. 1 goalie.”
Slovakia has a puncher’s chance in large part because of Samuel Hlavaj’s play in net, which has been stellar so far. He and his teammates are oozing with confidence, four years after the country took home bronze for its first medal of any color at the Olympics in hockey.
Now the Slovaks are in the final four with the NHL involved.
“It’s different tournament, and we came here to defend the bronze medal and we’re still in that mix,” defenseman Simon Nemec said. “If we play like a team, we can beat anyone.”
