{"id":480916,"date":"2026-02-21T01:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T01:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/480916\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T01:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T01:01:08","slug":"u-s-sets-up-olympic-gold-medal-game-against-canada-by-cruising-past-slovakia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/480916\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. sets up Olympic gold-medal game against Canada by cruising past Slovakia"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILAN (AP) \u2014 Zach Werenski and his U.S. teammates tried not to look ahead at a potential gold-medal game against Canada at the Olympics<\/a>. After each went unbeaten in group play, there was no way the North American rivals could meet before the final, but there was work left to do.<\/p>\n

After routing Slovakia 6-2 in the semifinals on Friday night, the much-anticipated but never guaranteed U.S.-Canada showdown for gold is on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the matchup everyone wanted,\u201d Werenski said after his three-assist performance against Slovakia. \u201cNow that it\u2019s finally here, we can kind of shift our focus to Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two top seeds in the tournament, who went in as the favorites, will meet Sunday. It comes a year after the U.S. and Canada played two memorable games<\/a> against each other at the 4 Nations Face-Off<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sports Roundup<\/p>\n

Get the latest D-FW sports news, analysis and opinion delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, Kevin Sherrington’s A La Carte.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s the final that we wanted and the team that we wanted to play,\u201d winger Matt Boldy said. \u201cIt\u2019s exciting for the fans and for hockey and everything like that.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that it\u2019s all set in stone, everything happens for a reason,\u201d said Brady Tkachuk, who along with brother Matthew and J.T. Miller were involved in the 4 Nations fisticuffs. \u201cWe\u2019ll be looking forward to this one. You guys have been talking about it for a while. Now you get to enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Canada did its part<\/a> by rallying to beat Finland earlier in the day, the U.S. had no trouble against the Slovaks, who made an improbable run<\/a> and were simply overmatched. They\u2019ll face the Finns for bronze on Saturday night, looking for just the second hockey medal in the country\u2019s history after getting the first with a third-place finish in Beijing in 2022.<\/p>\n

The U.S. is playing for gold after the semifinals were a much easier go than the quarterfinals against Sweden, when overtime was needed<\/a> to survive a scare. Dylan Larkin, Tage Thompson, Jack Hughes and Jack Eichel scored the four goals on 23 shots that chased Samuel Hlavaj out of Slovakia\u2019s net past the midway point of the second period.<\/p>\n

Thompson, one of just a handful of newcomers<\/a> who did not play at the 4 Nations, exited later in the second after blocking a shot and did not return. Coach Mike Sullivan said Thompson \u201cwas held out for precautionary reasons more than anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see how he recovers, but I anticipate him being ready for game time,\u201d Sullivan said.<\/p>\n

Hughes got his second goal of the game just after a power play expired, and Brady Tkachuk scored on a breakaway with just over nine minutes left to provide some more breathing room.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was definitely one of our strongest games, for sure,\u201d said Quinn Hughes, who along with brother Jack have been the best U.S. players<\/a> in Milan. \u201cFor the most part, we played really well. A little bit looser there in the third, but it\u2019s a 5-0 game and you want to get out safe and feel good for the next game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck<\/a> did his job as his teammates outshot Slovakia by a substantial margin. Everything he has done at the Olympics has validated Sullivan\u2019s decision to go with Hellebuyck as the U.S. starter over the Stars<\/a>\u2019 Jake Oettinger<\/a> and Bruins\u2019 Jeremy Swayman.<\/p>\n

The U.S. last reached the final in 2010, when it lost to Canada in overtime on Sidney Crosby\u2019s famous golden goal. Crosby\u2019s status is uncertain this time after getting injured<\/a> in the quarterfinals Wednesday and not playing Friday against Finland.<\/p>\n

The last U.S. men\u2019s hockey gold came in 1980 with the \u201cMiracle on Ice\u201d<\/a> in Lake Placid.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt definitely motivates us,\u201d Werenski said. \u201cWe\u2019ve talked about. We\u2019re well aware of it. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s pressure. It\u2019s fun. It\u2019s exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Canada's<\/a>Nathan MacKinnon scores late as Canada beats Finland to reach Olympic gold-medal game<\/a><\/p>\n

Stars defenseman Thomas Harley will have the chance to play for the tournament\u2019s top prize.<\/p>\n

\"Amber<\/a>Dallas loves you, Amber Glenn<\/a><\/p>\n

We are proud of the North Texas native for her resilient performance. <\/p>\n

Find more Olympics coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN (AP) \u2014 Zach Werenski and his U.S. teammates tried not to look ahead at a potential gold-medal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,4825,218692,3,1082,99,1507,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-480916","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas-stars","10":"tag-jake-oettinger","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-olympics","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-stars","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}