Men's ice hockey semi-final Round Up: ROC hold off Sweden, Finland defeat Slovakia

After a pair of thrilling semi-final match ups on Friday (18 February), it will be defending champions ROC against Finland in Sunday's gold medal men's ice hockey game at Beijing 2022.

"We'll try but it won't be easy. We know this," said ROC head coach Alexei Zhamnov to Olympics.com after his team survived a marathon game against Sweden that went to eight rounds in the penalty-shot shootout. "Finland are a very good team and we want to make sure we're ready."

Slovakia and Sweden will face off in Saturday's bronze medal match. A win would give Slovakia their first-ever medal in the event at the Olympics, while Sweden last reached the podium at Sochi 2014, taking silver.

In Friday's first semi-final game, Finland downed Slovakia in a shut out, 2-0.

Sakari Manninen found the net first, at the 15:58 mark, then, Harri Pesonen added an empty-netter late in the third period (59:21).

"It's a pretty special day. I knew coming into the Olympics that we'd have a good, solid team, a veteran team with a lot of experienced guys, but every tournament is a mystery how it goes and how it ends,” said Pesonen.

"I'm definitely happy. What a great opportunity for us to play for the brightest medal. It's pretty cool."

Slovakia will have to regroup in what has been something of a Cinderella story to this point of the Olympic tournament before they take the ice in Saturday's bronze medal game.

“For a lot of us, that part is new and everybody is pretty down after you lose a game like that. I just hope the boys will listen to the comments and understand the urgency of it,” said Slovakia's Canadian head coach Craig Ramsay. “It is a chance to showcase how Slovak hockey has moved forward. This is an opportunity to show the world who we are.”

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