The preliminary round tournament at the Olympic Games in ice hockey once again proved to be a waste: The USA had won all three games in Group A, including arch-rivals Canada 4-2.

The Americans were the only ones of the twelve teams to reach the quarter-finals with maximum points.

But in a tournament system in which all twelve teams at least progressed via the playoffs, this result was no more meaningful than first place in the seeding list for the knockout round.

There, Team USA met Slovakia, who conquered Germany, on Wednesday, and failed spectacularly with 2:3 in a penalty shoot-out.

The Slovaks, on the other hand, are reaching for their first Olympic medal.

The Slovakian team, eighth after the preliminary round, which also defeated the German selection with a 4-0 win in the playoffs, saved themselves against the favored Americans 44 seconds before the end of the third period with Marek Hrivik's goal to make it 2-2 (1:1, 0:1, 1:0) into overtime.

There were no more hits.

Only Peter Cehlarik scored in the penalty shootout, but as the Americans missed all five attempts, that goal was enough for victory and entry into the medal round.

“Now we have a chance for a medal.

But I'm trying to stay calm," said Cehlarik: "The job isn't over yet."

17-year-old Juraj Slavkovsky put the Slovakians ahead with his fifth goal of the tournament (12th).

Nick Abruzzese (20') and Sam Hentges (29') turned the game in favor of the Americans before captain Hrivik turned the game around again.

The team from Denmark, who played surprisingly briskly in the preliminary round, was also eliminated: The Scandinavians lost 1:3 (0:1, 1:1, 0:1) to Pyeongchang Olympic champion Russia.

Despite overwhelming superiority and one-sided shooting statistics in favor of the Russians, Vyacheslav Voinov, who was part of the team that defeated Germany in the final four years ago, scored the decisive goal just over four minutes before the end of the game with a majority.

Wadim Shipachev (14th) and Nikita Nesterow (35th) scored the other goals for the Russians.

Berlin's Frans Nielsen only managed to equalize temporarily 1-1 (23rd) for Denmark, who had won in the preliminary round against the Czech Republic and Switzerland and defeated Latvia in the playoffs.

Slovakia are now in the last four of an Olympic tournament for the second time since 2010.

At that time they lost to the Finns in the small final.

The Americans, who mainly relied on college players after the NHL cancellation, missed the semi-finals like they did four years ago.

The “Sbornaja”, which competes under the name of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), won the 2018 final against the German team 4: 3 after extra time.