Slovakia tops Germany, will face USA in Olympic men's hockey quarters; Denmark beats Latvia

BEIJING (AP) — Miroslav and Michaela Knies will have big smiles on their faces when their son Matt plays for the United States against Slovakia at the Olympics.

The quarterfinal matchup Wednesday is also special for Matt Knies, a University of Minnesota forward who has strong ties to his parents’ birth country, including playing for Slovakia in a youth tournament.

“It’ll be a moment I won’t forget for a long time,” said Knies, who also played for the U.S. against Slovakia in the world junior championship in December. “I love my roots. Obviously both my parents were both there and same with my older brother. All my relatives live there and I always go back when I can in the summer. I love Slovakia. Whenever I get to go visit there, it’s definitely a great time. But I’m born in the U.S., so I love representing my country. It’s going to be an exciting game.”

Slovakia earned a spot in the quarterfinals by beating Germany 4-0, knocking the reigning silver medalists out of the men's hockey tournament in the qualification round. Denmark moved on to face the third-seeded Russians by coming back to beat Latvia.

Second-seeded Finland faces the winner of Czech Republic-Switzerland. Fourth-seeded Sweden will face Canada, barring an incredibly improbable upset by host China.

“They have their way to play, like Canada always plays on the small rinks,” said Sweden forward Linus Johansson, who played for Canada assistant Jeremy Colliton in a lower-level Swedish league. “They’re going to go hard and they’re going to forecheck and they’re going to hit, so we’ve got to do the same.”

The U.S. practiced while Slovakia was playing Germany, and that's just as well because coach David Quinn would rather his players worry about themselves than