U.S. Hockey Team Advances to Gold Medal Game at Olympics
MILAN (AP) — The much-anticipated but never guaranteed U.S.-Canada showdown for gold in men’s hockey at the Olympics is on.
Jack Hughes scored two goals, including one with a highlight-reel individual effort, and the Americans rolled into the final by routing Slovakia 6-2 in the semifinals on Friday night.
They’ll meet tournament favorite and top-seeded Canada on Sunday for the title, a year since the North American rivals played two memorable games against each other at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
That NHL-run event ended a drought of nearly a decade without an international tournament featuring the best hockey players in the world. Three fights in the first nine seconds in the first meeting put the 4 Nations in the spotlight, and their epic final won by Canada in overtime only built the anticipation for the Olympics.
After Canada did its part by rallying to beat Finland earlier in the day, the U.S. had no trouble against the Slovaks, who made an improbable run and were simply overmatched. They’ll face the Finns for bronze on Saturday night, looking for just the second hockey medal in the country’s history after getting the first with a third-place finish in Beijing in 2022.
The U.S. is playing for gold after the semifinals were a much easier go than the quarterfinals against Sweden, when overtime was needed to survive a scare. Dylan Larkin, Tage Thompson, Hughes and Eichel scored the four goals on 23 shots that chased Samuel Hlavaj out of Slovakia’s net past the midway point of the second period.
Thompson, one of just a handful of newcomers who did not play at the 4 Nations, exited later in the second after blocking a shot. He was held out the rest of the way, according to the NBC broadcast.
