5 things learned from Day 8 of men's hockey at Olympics

MILAN -- The quarterfinals of the men’s hockey tournament at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 took place Wednesday.

Team Canada, Team USA, Team Slovakia and Team Finland — the top four seeds — advanced to the semifinals, which will be Friday. Canada will play Finland, while the U.S. will take on Slovakia.

NHL.com is on site in Milan and will provide insights and observations each day.

Here are five things learned from Day 8 of the men’s hockey tournament at the Olympics:

The U.S. is resilient

Going home in the quarterfinals would not be acceptable for the United States here in Milan, but after allowing the game-tying goal with 1:31 left in regulation against Sweden, that sure felt like a real possibility. Sweden had all the momentum going into overtime, while the U.S. had all the pressure. But even though Sweden won the face-off to start overtime, the U.S. clamped down and didn’t allow Sweden a legitimate scoring chance in the extra session. And Quinn Hughes ended it 3:27 into overtime, saying afterward the U.S. relied on its experience in big moments to get the win. "I mean, it's hard. I don't want to say devastating, because you're still in the game, but here we go,” Hughes said, “and you got all those thoughts going on in your head, but we got guys that have won [Stanley] Cups, guys that have gone deep, guys that have won massive awards and been superstars in the League. So you just got to rely on that pedigree. And you're playing Sweden, who could beat anyone on any given day. So it's going to be tough.”

GAMECENTER SUMMARY: Sweden-USA

Canada can be defeated

Team Canada looked invincible in the preliminary round, winning three games by a combined score of 20-3 and earning the No. 1 seed for the single-elimination portion of the tournament. That included a 5-0 win against Team Czechia. Who could stop this team? Well, the Czechs almost did in the quarterfinals, even though they were playing the second game of a back-to-back set while the Canadians were rested. Czechia took a 2-1 lead in the first period, becoming the first team to take a lead against Canada in an Olympics involving NHL players since Team USA in the preliminary round at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The Czechs had a 3-2 lead late in the third period. It took an incredible deflection by forward Nick Suzuki to get the game-tying goal with 3:27 left in regulation, a big save by goalie Jordan Binnington to foil a breakaway by Czech forward Martin Necas with 1:10 to go, and a beautiful backhand goal by forward Mitch Marner 1:22 into overtime for the Canadians to escape. Even worse, captain Sidney Crosby’s status is uncertain after he left the game with a lower-body injury.

GAMECENTER SUMMARY: Czechia-Canada

End of an era for Sweden

The next time Sweden takes the ice in a Winter Olympics, there are likely going to be plenty of new faces. Defenseman Victor Hedman, 35, won’t be there. It’s unlikely defenseman Erik Karlsson, 35, will be at the 2030 Olympics either, and the same goes for goalie Jacob Markstrom, 36, forward Marcus Johansson, 35, defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, 34, and captain Gabriel Landeskog, 33. Instead, when the Olympics start in the French Alps four years from now, look for players like forwards Lucas Raymond and Leo Carlsson leading the way for the Swedes. It was an amazing run for this group of Swedish players, including taking the United States to overtime on Tuesday, but one late goal allowed to Slovakia in the preliminary round cost them the Group B title and put them on a road that had them play back-to-back in the qualification playoff round on Tuesday, followed by the quarterfinals Wednesday. You can bet they will have a whole new look in four years.

No quit in Finland

For almost 54 minutes, Finland looked like they were ready to go home. The Finns not only trailed Switzerland 2-0, but they were being smothered by the Swiss in the quarterfinal game at Rho Arena. But forward Sebastian Aho put Finland on the board with 6:06 left in the third period. Then, with goalie Juuse Saros pulled for the extra attacker, defenseman Miro Heiskanen tied the game 2-2 for Finland with 1:12 left in regulation. Then, in overtime, forward Artturi Lehkonen scored to give Finland the 3-2 win and a date with Canada in the semifinals on Friday. "I think everybody still believed in our team," forward Eetu Luostarinen said, "and that you can never, never give up. So even if there's a minute left and we're down two, you can still score two. We just have to believe." It’s that kind of attitude that will serve Finland well against Canada, which has a way of breaking a team’s spirit. But clearly Finland is in it until the final buzzer, so never, ever count them out.

GAMECENTER SUMMARY: Switzerland-Finland

“The Slovakian mentality”

The Slovaks arrived in Milan understanding no one was talking about them as a medal contender. In fact, they knew that long before they got here. It was all about the Americans, Canadians, Swedes and Finns. Then the conversation would turn to the Czechs, Swiss and Germans for the high-end NHL players on those teams. But Team Slovakia has something those teams do not, according to defenseman Erik Cernak. “The Slovakian mentality,” he said after a 6-2 dismantling of Team Germany in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Cernak further explained what that is: “If we’re going for something, we’re putting all in for it.” Slovakia, a team with seven NHL players on its roster, will now face the United States in the semifinals. But its mentality will be the same, and it will not allow the Slovaks to play with trepidation or fear. They do not believe they’re the surprising darlings of this Olympics. “Are we?” forward Martin Pospisil said. “I don’t think so. We have so much talent, so many hardworking guys that if everyone gives 100 percent, we can win against every team.” It’s believable now. The Slovaks are for real, and we will be talking about them and what they’ve done here for a long time.

GAMECENTER SUMMARY: Germany-Slovakia