Hockey 2026 Winter Olympics: Slovakia faces Germany in the quarter-finals

Slovakia vs. Germany: A duel of stars in Milan

On Wednesday, 18 February, the Slovak ice hockey team will play one of its most important matches at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. In the quarter-finals, they will face Germany at 12:10 p.m. at the Santagiulia Arena, with the winner advancing to the semi-finals and just two games away from an Olympic medal.

Slafkovský leads Slovakia

Slovakia advanced to the quarter-finals directly as the winner of Group B, which secured them a valuable extra day of rest. The results in the group were convincing — a 4-1 win over Finland, a narrow 3-2 win over Italy and a 3-5 loss to Sweden, which did not change the overall triumph in the group.

The star of the Slovak team is Juraj Slafkovský of the Montréal Canadiens, who scored the first goal of the tournament and racked up an impressive six points (3 goals, 3 assists) in three games. He is closely followed by Dalibor Dvorský with four points. Samuel Hlavaj is performing reliably in goal with a save percentage of 93.4 per cent. The defence is held together by NHL duo Erik Černák and Martin Fehérváry.

Draisaitl and Stützle as German weapons

Germany had to fight its way through the round of 16 to reach the quarter-finals, where it convincingly defeated France 5-1. Although it lost to Latvia and the USA in Group C, the German machine got into full swing at the decisive moment.

Captain Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers is the most dangerous player on the German team with two goals and four assists. Tim Stützle of the Ottawa Senators also has six points, scoring four goals. Experienced Philipp Grubauer of the Seattle Kraken stands in goal, and young talent Moritz Seider of Detroit leads the defence.

Paper tiger or real contender?

According to an analysis by the Daily Faceoff portal, Germany is the slight favourite in the match. Analysts point out that, apart from the match against Italy, the Slovak team was outshot by Finland and Sweden in the group stage, and goalkeeper Hlavaj's high success rate may mask structural deficiencies in the defensive game. However, hockey expert Vladimír Vůjtek emphasised to Sportnet: "Slafkovský is a future star. The Slovaks are playing above their capabilities."

The two teams have already met on Olympic soil — four years ago in Beijing, Slovakia defeated Germany convincingly 4-0 in the round of 16. The question remains whether history will repeat itself.

Vlhová returns to slalom

Parallel to the hockey quarter-finals, another great Slovak sporting story is unfolding today. Petra Vlhová, defending Olympic gold medallist in slalom from Beijing 2022, is competing in Cortina d'Ampezzo in the slalom special with start number 23. This is only her second race since suffering a serious knee injury in January 2024 in Jasná, where she tore her anterior and medial cruciate ligaments.

According to Sportnet, coach Rastislav Mažgút believes she will finish in the top eight and emphasised that Vlhová did not return to fight for 20th place. The first round of the slalom starts at 10:00, the second at 13:30.

A day that could rewrite history

Wednesday, 18 February, is thus becoming one of the most important days for Slovak sport at these Games. The hockey team's progress to the semi-finals would be a historic success, and any place for Vlhová in the top ten would be a triumph of willpower after a break of almost two years. Slovakia is keeping its fingers crossed.