There won’t be a celebration in Bratislava this time.
Slovakia dropped the bronze medal match on Saturday, 6-1 to Finland.
It was 2-1 for most of the contest, but midway through the third period, the Lions scored two goals in 42 seconds. They then sealed the deal with a pair of empty-netters.
The San Jose Sharks’ Pavol Regenda skated 18:49 on Slovakia’s second line in a losing effort.
The 6-foot-3 winger had a solid Olympics, notching three goals and five points in six games, averaging 15:43 a night. He was also a power play net front staple for Slovakia.
Before the Olympics, Pavol Regenda spoke about what a medal repeat — Regenda was part of the Slovakia squad that took home the bronze in 2022 — would mean to his country. That medal celebration was capped off with a celebration in capital city Bratislava’s town square.
Medal or not though, Slovakia had an Olympics to be proud of. In the first Olympics with NHL’ers since 2014, Slovakia upset Finland 4-1 in round robin play, on the way to being surprise Group B winner ahead of traditional hockey powers Finland and Sweden.
The San Jose Sharks hope that Regenda can bring his Olympic scoring touch back to the NHL. Or, continue what he started in San Jose. In 16 appearances with the Sharks, Regenda has eight goals in 16 games.
Regenda, Sweden’s Alex Wennberg, and Switzerland’s Philipp Kurashev will all go home without an Olympic medal, so that leaves Canada’s Macklin Celebrini as the San Jose Sharks’ lone medalist at the 2026 Olympics.
Celebrini and Canada will go for the gold against the United States at 5:10 AM PT on Sunday.