By USA Hockey, 02/20/26, 6:00PM EST
MILAN – Jack Hughes (Canton, Mich./New Jersey Devils) scored twice while Zach Werenski (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./Columbus Blue Jackets) recorded three assists to help lead the U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team to a 6-2 victory over Slovakia in the semifinal round of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.
With the win, Team USA advanced to the gold-medal game against Canada, set for Sunday (Feb. 22) at 2:10 p.m. CET (8:10 a.m. ET) at Milano Santagiulia Arena. The game will be broadcast live on NBC and streamed on Peacock.
“It was great to see us get off to a fast start and I thought that was important,” said Mike Sullivan, head coach of the U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team. “Our group continues to take steps forward and it's a really fun team to coach with an awful lot of personality.”
Team USA took a 1-0 lead 4:19 into the contest when Dylan Larkin (Waterford, Mich./Detroit Red Wings) came off the U.S. bench and received a pass from Werenski as he cut across the neutral zone, carrying the puck into the high slot before rifling home the game’s opening tally.
With 41 seconds remaining in the first, while the U.S. was on the power play, Jack Eichel (North Chelmsford, Mass./Vegas Golden Knights) slid a no-look pass to Tage Thompson (Orange, Conn./Buffalo Sabres) at the bottom of the left circle, who fired a one-timer short-side past Slovak netminder Samuel Hlavaj to double the U.S. lead.
Jack Hughes gave Team USA a 3-0 lead at the 12:14 mark of the middle stanza, beating a defender with a deke onto his forehand at the point before capitalizing with a snipe into the top-left corner. Werenski recorded a helper on the play.
Just 19 seconds later, a strong forecheck by Matthew Tkachuk (St. Louis, Mo./Florida Panthers) led to Brady Tkachuk (St. Louis, Mo./Ottawa Senators) forcing a turnover in the offensive zone and quickly sending a pass to Eichel in the slot, who deked onto his backhand and went top-shelf to beat Hlavaj.
With 1:36 remaining in the second, a shot from Werenski missed the net and bounced off the boards to Jack Hughes at the left circle, who registered his second tally of the contest with a one-timer to put the U.S. up 5-0.
Juraj Slavkovsky got Slovakia on the board 4:55 into the third period, scoring on a wrist shot from the slot.
With 9:08 remaining in the contest, Brady Tkachuk buried a breakaway chance with a backhand finish to make it a 6-1 game. Vincent Trocheck (Pittsburgh, Pa./New York Rangers) and Noah Hanifin (Norwood, Mass./Vegas Golden Knights) picked up assists on the goal.
An odd-man rush for Slovakia led to a Pavol Regenda tally with 6:43 to play to account for the 6-2 final.
Connor Hellebuyck (Commerce, Mich./Winnipeg Jets) made 22 saves to earn the win in goal for the U.S.
NOTES: Team USA outshot Slovakia, 39-24 … The U.S. went 1-5 on the power play while Sweden went 0-5
Tag(s): News Olympics/Paralympics Men's Olympics Home 2026 Milan-Cortina
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