Fehervary pursuing Olympic medal with Slovakia to honor baby girl

MILAN -- Martin Fehervary has the perfect gift in mind for his new baby girl, Anna.

"I hope I'm going to bring her some medal," said Fehervary, a defenseman for Team Slovakia and the Washington Capitals.

It's been an emotional couple of weeks for Fehervary, who will have a chance to play for a medal if Slovakia defeats Team Germany in the quarterfinals of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 at Santagiulia Arena on Wednesday (6:10 a.m. ET; Peacock, CBC Gem, SN, RDS).

The winner will advance to the semifinals Friday.

Fehervary's girlfriend, Natalia, gave birth to Anna on Jan. 31, two days after the Capitals finished a six-game, 12-day road trip.

He was nervous throughout the trip that he would miss the birth.

"I said if she would not be born before the Olympics started, I would not go," Fehervary said.

He had a week at home after Anna was born before leaving for Milan on Feb. 7.

Now he's here representing his country as Slovakia's top defenseman, averaging a team-high 22:09 of ice time per game in the preliminary round. He's playing a huge role on a team that has become the darling underdogs of the tournament while trying to not miss out on all of Anna's firsts back home.

"I'm thinking about both of them every day," Fehervary said. "I'm trying to call them as much as I can. It's a little bit hard, especially for my girlfriend. She's just with her mother but still after labor it's tough, emotions are high and low. We're trying to get together and supporting each other."

The good news is Natalia and Anna are safe and healthy at home, which gives Fehervary some peace of mind while thousands of miles away, trying to accomplish something he used to only dream about.

Slovakia finished first in Group B to earn the No. 3 seed and an automatic bye into the quarterfinals in surprising fashion.

The Slovaks first upset Team Finland 4-1 in the tournament opener for both. They then won 3-2 against Team Italy before losing 5-3 to Team Sweden.

Dalibor Dvorsky's goal at 19:21 of the third period against the Swedes gave the Slovaks the highest goal differential among them, Sweden and Finland in the three games those teams played against each other. Slovakia officially clinched the group when Finland defeated Italy 11-0 a few hours later.

"Hockey is such a huge sport in Slovakia and everyone is pretty excited," Fehervary said. "I feel the atmosphere and I hope we're going to make them happy."

Now Leon Draisaitl and Team Germany stand in Slovakia's way for a chance at a medal.

Germany defeated Team France 5-1 in the qualification round Tuesday. Draisaitl, the Edmonton Oilers star center, had a goal and two assists. Oilers forward Josh Samanski had a goal and an assist. JJ Peterka from the Utah Mammoth scored and Tim Stutzle of the Ottawa Senators had two assists.

"We know we were kind of an underdog and it's going to be a huge game for us tomorrow and then moving forward, but we have to prepare for tomorrow," Slovakia forward Martin Pospisil said. "We have to be careful with some players on the German team. You can't give them too much room. We have to be physical on them. We have to be hard. If they're not going to like it, we have to keep doing it for the whole 60 minutes."

WATCH: Men's Hockey Highlights from the Olympic Winter Games

If they do, the Slovaks will earn an unexpected trip to the semifinals and a chance to go for gold.

For Fehervary, as much as he'd like to get home to Natalia and Anna, and really get to know his new baby girl, delaying that for a few days means he'll have a chance to bring home the best possible present from his business trip to Italy.

"I mean, obviously for myself I never really played for anything big like this," Fehervary said. "I never won anything, so for me it would be truly amazing, especially right now when my daughter was born a couple days ago. I feel like she can bring me some luck."